Getting ominous warnings about your phone’s storage? Ever pulled out your phone to show someone a photo and had to scroll for minutes to find it? If you’ve amassed gigabytes of images over the years, you can reclaim that space by streamlining your photo library and ditching other unnecessary apps and files. Here’s a guide to doing just that using free tools that are likely already on your phone.
Check storage
Start your cleanup process by noting how much free space you have on your device and what is taking up that space.
On many Android devices, open the Settings app and select Storage to check available space.
On a Samsung Galaxy device, open the Settings app, select Device maintenance or Device care, and then tap Storage. On some phones, you can scroll all the way down to Storage.
On an iPhone, open the Settings app and select General, then iPhone Storage to see how much space is left on your phone. The steps are similar for an iPad.
Remove duplicates
Zap duplicate photos is an easy way to regain some ground. While there are subscription apps available to collect duplicate files of all types (such as Duplicates Cleaner for Android or Phone Cleaner for iOS), you can also consider the free options on your phone.
In Apple’s iOS Photos app, tap the Albums icon at the bottom of the screen and scroll down to the Utilities section. Tap Duplicates. The next screen will display the photos and videos with multiple copies in your library, all next to a Merge button. The Merge option keeps the highest-resolution copy (and embedded information) and moves the lesser versions to the app’s Recently Deleted album.
Samsung has a similar tool for finding duplicate files on its Galaxy devices. Tap the My Files icon and choose Analyze Storage from the menu. On the next screen, select Duplicate Files to see the list.
Open the Files app, tap the menu icon in the upper-left corner, and choose Clean Up. The next screen will offer a variety of things you can remove to save space, including duplicates, downloads, screenshots, rarely used apps, and large files.
Personal assessment
It may be annoying, but scrolling back and manually removing the duds is a precise way to prune your photos and videos. If you have a huge library, you can gradually reduce your collection by breaking the project into daily sessions while you’re on public transportation (or otherwise waiting). Don’t forget to check any third-party photo apps that store photos, too.
A deleted photo doesn't disappear immediately. Most systems keep all recently deleted photos and videos for at least 30 days before they are permanently deleted, unless you manually empty the trash or deleted items folder.
If you want to keep photos and don't use online backup, export copies to a computer via email, Android Quick Share, Apple AirDrop, or another transfer method. (Also, make sure you have a backup system for your computer.)
Accept suggestions
Need more help? Apple’s support site has tips , and the iPhone storage screen offers recommendations for deleting old files and apps . Samsung’s site has ideas for Galaxy owners . In the user account settings, Google Photos has tools called Free up space and Manage storage that show files you can review and delete.
Suggestions are usually to move your photos from your phone to an online server or to an external SD memory card if your phone has a card slot. This will help free up space on your phone when you transfer the files.
Apple’s iCloud for Photos, Google Photos, Samsung Cloud, or a service like Dropbox frees up space because the device isn’t physically storing the files, even though you can see the images on it. You get a free amount of space to start, but have to pay for more once you fill it up.
When you delete a backed up or synced photo (on an iPhone, in Google Photos, or wherever), it disappears from all devices connected to that account.
Being sorted
Once you’ve cleaned up your photo library, you can further organize it. Android and iOS have for years automatically grouped images into albums based on who’s in them, where they were taken, and other factors, but you can also create your own collections.
To move photos to your own albums in Google Photos, Samsung's Gallery app, or Apple's Photos, tap the option for a new album, give it a name, and select the photos you want to add to it. Apple's Photos can also create folders and then create separate albums within those folders to group similar albums together.
Yes, it takes time to clean up your device, but you'll be able to find your photos faster when you want to show them off and there's room to install more stuff.
