The title basically explains it. Every single time i open the camera app to take a picture or try to download a new app something pops up saying that i don’t have enough storage. I have an iphone 11 pro max

Hi all, attached supporting photos. My phone keeps saying it is running out of storage (and clearly it is), but my photos are taking up 10GB’s when I have them backing up to the iCloud.

So here’s my issue- correct me if I’m wrong, but even with the photos backed up onto the iCloud, if I delete photos from my phone, I get a prompt saying that photo will be “deleted across all devices including iCloud”. So, how in the heck am I supposed to free up space on the phone?

Also, before it is recommended- since the photos are backed up to iCloud, I cannot transfer them to my computer/external hard drive. I tried but the folders were just empty. :/

Any help is appreciated because other than this my phone still works just fine.

why is that since all my photos were downloaded to icloud and i choose not to keep the originals in gallery? My storage is the same as before i bought the extra icloud storage

ps i have ip14 and i didnt upgrade to 18.2

I’ve had this issue for a while, but I think it’s only been with my iPhone 12. I’ve spoken to Apple Support twice in the last year, and they can’t assist me. The closest Apple store is over an hour away, so I am hoping someone here can help?

What I have tried:

• My iCloud backup is on.

• I constantly delete old text threads/pictures etc. under the storage area

• I upgraded my iCloud storage

Also, can someone tell me why my 2TB is not being used? When I try to downgrade it to save money, it doesn’t allow me to it says I don’t have enough storage? Is there a way to transfer all my iPhone storage to my icCoud storage?

Here’s what my phone is saying:

Please help!!!

I pay the 29.99 a month for iCloud storage 6TB. I’m using about 2TB right now. I need to update my iPhone to the latest version as nothing is working I’m on iOS 18 I think. iPhone 15 Pro max. I thought the whole point of me paying $30 a month for space is so I could back everything up via sync and then delete photos but they’d still be on my iCloud but NOT on the iPhone device. 😭 I’m so confused if I delete them after backing up they still delete off of iCloud I have 55,000 photos who knows how many videos. My phone is gonna fry if I can’t get storage to update, I need help idk what to do and I can’t make my way to a Apple Store to ask atm 😭 my storage is at 251.34 out of 256. I’m gonna crash out.

UPDATE: I’m really confused because there’s like 5 different responses I want to fallow and over all one easy answer I’ve gotten that seems to go to be true and almost 70 replies I appreciate all of it. SO WITH THAT SAID I updated my phone I’m hoping it stops acting like it’s dying and not a new phone.

My optimize is on IT HAS BEEN ON since I bought it. My storage is still almost full tho mainly from photos… I do ALOT of editing I’ve deleted about 20,000 photos SS AND older videos I don’t need I’m still at very high storage usage. I’ve deleted everything out of the recently deleted file. ;-; i’ve deleted almost every app on my phone I don’t use a that was taking up storage. I deleted every message besides my GMs LMAO. I deleted every download media IDK WHAT ELSE TO DO. Besides re start the device and idk what I’ll lose doing that. Mind you I was having this problem on the iPhone 12 Pro and when I finally upgraded my entire iCloud restored to the new phone 🥲 I work with animals for a living OF COURSE I have I have pics and vids LMAO but also 55,000 photos ranging from 2015 to 2025. I think I’m just using my iCloud’s WRONG and I need to learn to use it. And I’m confusing my self. Sighhhhhh

My iPhone said that I am out of storage. I had the same issue with a previous version of iOS, so I bought storage and followed the steps here

https://www.quora.com/I-just-bought-more-iCloud-storage-but-it-still-says-it-s-full-how-do-I-fix-this

, and it worked after merging. My phone had enough storage then. Now, I have used all my storage, so I had to buy 2TB of storage. I am also using the latest version of iOS, which is 17.5.1(iPhone 15pro). I followed the same steps, but my phone is not asking me to merge. And it’s just not using the storage I bought.

The problem is the photos.

Do you know what I should do, please?

I have an iPhone 11 and an iPad and they're constantly reporting storage full, no matter how many photos & apps I delete or offload. This is a constant problem.

I'll go through with a cleaner program and I'll delete about 4GB of photos and videos, and even the storage indicator will show that I have tons of room left. Then, an hour later, I’ll still get “storage full” messages.

This happens on both my iPhone and iPad.

I have iCloud storage and also pay extra for added storage; it's nowhere near full on my iCloud account.

Is this a bug? Known issue?

My iCloud backup size is 4.6 GB.

The only things I have turned on to backup are passwords/keychain (202 items), notes (8 items), contacts and voice memos (32.2 MG).

I do not have any apps turned on to backup. I don't backup my photos on iCloud either.

So why is my backup size that large?

I never have enough storage to update or to download new apps because my storage always seems to be full and I can’t remove any of these apps cause I need them all and why is my photos out taking out almost a gigabyte? I have often my storage on.

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…

Hi,

how can I "tell" my phone to use more space on my iPhone storage insted of iCloud? My 200GB iCloud are almost full (most of it photos/videos) but I still have around 150GB free space on my iPhone 15...

Thanks!

Currently trying to clear up space on my iPhone storage - I’ve deleted all large attachments but it still shows that it’s taking up 12.75GB. When I click Messages it says it’s photos within my messages that are taking up space. But I’ve deleted it all? Anyone have any advice? I’m at wits end with this storage stuff - and I pay $9.99 for iCloud too!