CleanuplyGuides
iPhone photo and storage guides
Clear, careful answers for a full iPhone, a full iCloud and a photo library that has got out of hand. Each guide follows Apple's own instructions and links to them.
When your iPhone or iCloud is full
Plain explanations of where your space goes, what the storage settings actually do, and how to clear room without losing anything you meant to keep.
How to clear System Data on iPhone
What System Data on iPhone actually is, why it grows, and the steps that shrink it, from clearing Safari data to reinstalling heavy apps.
What Optimize iPhone Storage does to your photos
What the Optimize iPhone Storage setting does to your photos, where to find it, what it needs from iCloud, and the trade-offs before you turn it on.
What an iPhone storage cleaner app can and can't do
What an iPhone storage cleaner app can and cannot touch, the warning signs of a misleading one, and what to check before you give it access to your photos.
How to free up iCloud storage when it's full
What happens when iCloud storage is full, how to see what is using it, and the steps that clear the most space, from old backups to photos and Mail.
How to delete apps on iPhone, and when to offload instead
Three ways to delete an app on iPhone, the difference between deleting and offloading, and what happens to subscriptions and app data afterward.
How to check storage on iPhone, and what the numbers mean
Where to check storage on iPhone, how to read the colored bar and app list, how it differs from iCloud storage, and what to clean up first.
How to delete large message attachments on iPhone
How to find and delete large photos and videos in Messages on iPhone, delete attachments per conversation, and stop old threads piling up.
Is that iCloud storage full email a scam?
How to tell a fake iCloud storage full email from a real Apple notice, the warning signs to look for, and what to do if you already clicked.
Why your iPhone storage is still full after deleting photos
Why iPhone storage can stay full after you delete photos, from Recently Deleted and optimized libraries to Messages and System Data, and what to do next.
Managing the photos on your iPhone
Step-by-step help for deleting, recovering, hiding, organizing and backing up the photos and videos in the Photos app.
How to recover deleted photos on iPhone
How to get deleted photos back on iPhone from Recently Deleted or iCloud.com, how long you have, and where else to look when they are not there.
How to delete photos on iPhone, one or many at a time
How to delete one photo or many at once on iPhone, including the drag-to-select trick, what iCloud Photos does with deletions, and how to undo a mistake.
How to delete all photos from your iPhone
How to delete every photo from your iPhone, what to back up first, how iCloud Photos changes the result, and how to make the deletion final.
Burst photos on iPhone, from shooting to tidying up
How to take burst photos on iPhone, find the bursts album, keep only the frames you like, and stop bursts from quietly filling your library.
The Hidden album on iPhone, explained
How to hide photos on iPhone, where the Hidden album lives, how the Face ID lock works, and how to make the album disappear from Photos entirely.
How to organize photos on iPhone, without sorting every picture
A realistic system for organizing photos on iPhone, using albums, favorites, people, search and a little cleanup, without sorting every picture by hand.
How to delete photos from your iPhone but keep them in iCloud
Why deleting a photo on iPhone also deletes it from iCloud, and three ways to free the phone while keeping your iCloud library intact.
How to back up iPhone photos so a copy really exists
The ways to back up iPhone photos to a computer, a drive or another service, why iCloud Photos alone is not a backup, and how to check the copy worked.
How to permanently delete photos on iPhone
How to permanently delete photos on iPhone by emptying Recently Deleted, what Delete from All Devices means, and when photos are gone for good.
How to turn off Live Photos, and keep them off
How to turn off Live Photos in the iPhone camera so it stays off, how to turn Live off on an existing photo, and whether Live Photos use more space.
Why you can't delete some photos on your iPhone
Why some photos on iPhone can't be deleted, from photos synced from a computer to shared albums and Shared Library items, and how to remove each kind.