The biggest thing that takes up storage is photos. If you're running iOS 9 or later, then go to Settings -> iCloud -> Photos and enable iCloud Photo Library. Then, make sure optimize iPhone storage is checked. Also, delete any apps that you may not use. Pay close attention to games. They eat up the most space. Switching to a streaming music service like Music or Spotify will also let you free up space by deleting music on your device.

Answer from CSstudent on Stack Exchange
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Apple Community
discussions.apple.com › thread › 253606978
Iphone says full storage while its not - Apple Community
All I can suggest is that you update to iOS15.3 using a computer if you can, and restart the phone. If it continues to be a bother (ie it stops you updating, sync'ing, or backing up) then ... (2) Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to factory settings – Apple Support - Use the Erase all content ...
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Mobikin
mobikin.com › ios-recovery › iphone-storage-full-but-nothing-on-phone.html
[6 Fixes] iPhone Storage Full But Nothing on Phone
March 29, 2024 - Part 2. How to Fix "iPhone Storage Full but Nothing on Phone" > Fix 1: Update to the Latest iOS Version > Fix 2: Delete Old iCloud Backup File > Fix 3: Offload Useless Apps > Fix 4: Remove iCloud Photos > Fix 5: Reset iPhone and Restore Backup ...
People also ask

How do I reset my iPhone to clear system storage?
You can reset your iPhone to clear the system storage by opening Settings, selecting General, and choosing Transfer or Reset iPhone. Tap Reset and then choose Reset All Settings.
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news.macgasm.net
news.macgasm.net › tips › why is iphone storage full after deleting everything
Why is iPhone Storage Full After Deleting Everything (13 Fixes)
Do deleted photos take up storage?
Yes, Photos in the Recently Deleted folder do count towards your iPhone storage space. You can permanently delete these items as described above to free up more space.
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news.macgasm.net
news.macgasm.net › tips › why is iphone storage full after deleting everything
Why is iPhone Storage Full After Deleting Everything (13 Fixes)
Why is my photo storage so high when I have no photos?
You may have deleted most or all of the photos on your iPhone but still see the Photos app consuming space. This could be the result of existing photos in the Recently Deleted folder or copies of the originals that you synced to iCloud Photos.
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news.macgasm.net
news.macgasm.net › tips › why is iphone storage full after deleting everything
Why is iPhone Storage Full After Deleting Everything (13 Fixes)
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iMobie
imobie.com › home › support › fix saying iphone storage full but nothing on phone
[Fixed]Saying iPhone Storage Full But iPhone Nothing on Phone - iMobie
March 26, 2024 - If there are apps lying around but you don’t use them, it’s advised that you get rid of them to free up memory space on your device. This should help you resolve the iPhone storage is full but it actually does not issue on your device. ... To find out what app uses how much memory space, open the Settings app on your iPhone and head to General > Storage & iCloud Usage > Manage Storage.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/iphone › iphone storage once full, always tends to remain full no matter what.
r/iphone on Reddit: iPhone storage once full, always tends to remain full no matter what.
June 5, 2023 -

So I own a 128Gb iPhone 12 mini. Have experienced the same issue with my prev iPhone as well. My storage got full almost three days back. Now I deleted an app taking around 1.5 gb of space and then it got emptied as expected. But after sometime what do I see, the storage is full again with me not doing anything. Next I uninstall another app, storage empties and then it is full again… What the….

Now I delete some pictures and clear my bin too almost 2 gb.. After some time the storage is full again.. Don’t know why and what is happening, does this happen with you guys too ?

And also , how do you deal with the issue once your storage is full…

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Macgasm
news.macgasm.net › tips › why is iphone storage full after deleting everything
Why is iPhone Storage Full After Deleting Everything (13 Fixes)
May 16, 2025 - By restarting your iPhone, iOS scans and recalculates your storage space, so you might just see an increase in available space. Think of it as refreshing your iPhone by turning it off and back on.
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IOTransfer
iotransfer.itopvpn.com › tips › iphone-storage-full-but-nothing-on-phone-714.php
How to Fix iPhone Storage Full But Nothing on Phone
If you find that no much stuff is really stored on your iPhone while you still get the iPhone storage full error, the first thing you should try is force-restart. If you use iPhone 6s/Plus or an earlier version of iPhone, press and hold the ...
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EaseUS
mobi.easeus.com › ios & mac topics › [6 tips] how to fix iphone storage full but it's not
[Solved] iPhone 5/6/7 Storage Full but It's Not? Fixes Here! - EaseUS
September 1, 2025 - The photos and videos in your photo library are always in large sizes, which can easily eat up the 5GB space on iCloud. Therefore, disabling iCloud Photo Library service is a good way to stop iCloud storage full, then your iPhone won't says ...
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Top answer
1 of 3
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The biggest thing that takes up storage is photos. If you're running iOS 9 or later, then go to Settings -> iCloud -> Photos and enable iCloud Photo Library. Then, make sure optimize iPhone storage is checked. Also, delete any apps that you may not use. Pay close attention to games. They eat up the most space. Switching to a streaming music service like Music or Spotify will also let you free up space by deleting music on your device.

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You mean your iPhone storage is full and you you want to back up some data on iCloud so that you can have more storage on your iPhone, am I correct?

Now, I'd like to share with you how to turn on and use iCloud.

Go to Settings → iCloud to see all the settings and options on your iPhone or iPad. If you have not turned iCloud on already this is where you can log in to iCloud with your Apple ID and password. After you log in you will see options to turn on iCloud options which control what iCloud can do. Most users will want to leave these iCloud options turned on. When turned on, the options sync to iCloud so that they are accessible on iCloud.com and on your other Apple devices.

You can toggle any options you don’t want to the off position to stop syncing that data with your devices and iCloud. Any of the settings with an On > option offers more information and settings that you can control. These include iCloud Drive, Photos, Backup, Keychain and Find My iPhone.

If you want to know how to make more space, you can try other ways, such as clean up caches and temporary files, maybe iMyfone Umate is a good choice for you.

Have you installed the app "WhatsApp"? Seems it was the app "WhatsApp", creating lots of cache files and stealing storage from the phone. You should try to install the update and see whether the storage came back to normal.

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Tenorshare
tenorshare.com › iphone-fix › iphone-says-not-enough-storage-but-there-is.html
iPhone Says Not Enough Storage but There Is? All Answers Here
September 25, 2025 - After the repair is done, your iOS device will automatically reboot and all your data will not be deleted. Besides, the iPhone storage full but nothing on phone issue will be sure fixed.
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Coolmuster
coolmuster.com › home › iphone recovery › how to fix iphone storage full but nothing on phone? [9 tips]
iPhone Storage Full but Nothing on Phone? - 9 Quick Fixes
May 29, 2024 - If the "iPhone storage full but nothing on phone" problem persists after you've tried the fixes mentioned above, you might want to consider wiping your iPhone's settings and returning it to factory defaults. This technique won't erase your data or information, but it can clean some settings off your iPhone that might be causing storage space issues.
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iPhone Life
iphonelife.com › how-to › device management
Fixed: Notification Says iPhone Storage Almost Full When It's Not
January 9, 2024 - Although there isn't a fix for this annoying problem just yet, you now know that you can safely disregard this message once you've checked your storage. If your iPhone says storage is full but it's not, you do not need to delete files or buy more iCloud storage; you should still be able to take photos and receive text messages and other content.
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TunesKit
tuneskit.com › ios-repair › why-is-my-iphone-storage-full-after-deleting-everything.html
iPhone Storage Full After Deleting Everything [Reasons & Solutions]
If the iOS version installed on ... calculation on iPhone storage may be effected. It means your iPhone is not able to accurately calculate storage for you, so you will find iPhone storage full but nothing on ...
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Quora
quora.com › Why-does-my-iPhone-storage-say-full-when-I-have-18-GB-available
Why does my iPhone storage say full when I have 18 GB available? - Quora
Answer (1 of 2): You have likely used up the storage space, to free up the storage you have to delete or of load apps On your phone go to system settings -looks like a cogwheel -tap system setting go to storage All the application that are on ...
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uBackup
ubackup.com › phone backup › my iphone says i have no storage but i deleted everything
My iPhone Says I Have No Storage But I Deleted Everything
October 8, 2024 - Cache data: The applications you’ve already downloaded on your phone will typically not use a lot of storage, but the app data does! Cached data is the culprit of low storage issues. Old iCloud backup: If you have iCloud backup turned on and iCloud storage is full, you will see the iPhone storage full message on your phone, even if there is nothing on your local iPhone or you deleted some large files just now.
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Mobikin
mobikin.com › data-clean › iphone-storage-full.html
How to Fix iPhone Storage Full Issue? 11 Best Fixes Here
May 11, 2023 - When you turn off the HDR option, the photos you take will be saved on your phone at a small size. Go to the "Settings" option on your iPhone. Tap on "Camera". Check the "Keep Normal Photos" option. This is the last resort to solve iphone storage full but nothing on phone.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/iphonehelp › i have so much space available but my iphone is saying storage full and isn’t letting me open apps, take pics/vids, and is showing blank apps and background. why?
r/iphonehelp on Reddit: I have so much space available but my iPhone is saying storage full and isn’t letting me open apps, take pics/vids, and is showing blank apps and background. Why?
July 28, 2023 - People think upgrading their iCloud plan makes the iPhone have more storage, and that only applies for the photo's app and iCloud synced files, which yes, it frees iPhone's storage but only that apps 💀 ... Not the first time I've seen such a post on this sub either. Continue this thread Continue this thread ... iCloud is not your device's storage, you cannot expand your storage using iCloud. iCloud is used for offloading of photos (iCloud Photo Library) and backups. It's likely your actual device storage is full. ... As others mentioned, iCloud storage and local phone storage is different.
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iMyFone
imyfone.com › iphone-space-saver › iphone-storage-full
iPhone Keeps Saying Storage Almost Full, But It's Not
Junk & temp files are usually the main culprit for slow and lagging iDevices. Combined with unique cleaning technique, iMyFone Free iPhone cleaner can clear all these invisible files.
Published   April 1, 2016
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InsanelyMac
insanelymac.com › blog › iphone-memory-full-message
iPhone Memory Full Message: 9 Simple Ways to Deal With It
February 27, 2025 - Enable “Optimize iPhone Storage” to keep smaller, device-sized versions of photos on your iPhone while the originals are stored in iCloud. This replaces full-resolution photos with smaller versions while keeping the originals in cloud. If your iPhone is low on space, this might instantly free up gigabytes without much effort. If you want to keep the originals on your phone—or maybe you don’t want to pay for extra storage once the free plan runs out—you’ll need to take a closer look at your library.
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iBoysoft
handyrecovery.com › icloud-says-full-but-isnt
How to Fix the ‘iCloud Storage Is Full But It's Not’ Issue
October 2, 2023 - Re-logging into your iCloud can potentially solve the ‘iPhone storage full but not iCloud’ issue by refreshing authentication and updating the iCloud storage status.
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iMyFone
imyfone.com › home › iphone issues › how to fix iphone stuck on apple logo due to full storage in 5 ways?
[2025 Guide] Fix iPhone Stuck on Apple Logo Storage Full
To solve the issue of iPhone storage full phone not working, the last method would be trying to clear your iPhone storage on Windows or Mac by deleting certain data like pictures or videos. This method may not work since a completely dead iPhone may not be able to connect with the computer, but it is still a method that worth trying.
Published   September 26, 2025