Both @codecrafter and @viaggiatoresolare already nailed the “normal” fixes, so here are some less obvious angles that don’t just repeat them.
- Tackle “Other stuff nobody checks”
- Mail app: open Mail → mailboxes list → scroll to bottom → see if you have huge mailboxes with tons of attachments. Delete old threads with big PDFs or presentations.
- Third‑party mail apps often cache attachments too. Check inside the app settings for storage options.
- Keyboard apps: some of them locally cache stickers, GIFs, etc. If you use alternatives to the Apple keyboard, consider removing ones you barely touch.
- Be strategic with iCloud & backups (slight disagreement with both)
They focus on cloud a lot. I’d actually say: if your phone is tiny (64 GB) and your internet is slow, avoid leaning too hard on iCloud Photos and giant iCloud backups. Instead:
- Plug into a computer occasionally and move old photos/videos off entirely. Local archive beats eternal iCloud rent for many people.
- On the computer, keep an external drive as “cold storage” for 4K videos and live photos you never want to lose but never need on phone.
- Focus on creation settings, not just cleanup
Preventing new bloat matters more than constantly cleaning:
- Camera → Formats → High Efficiency to save space.
- Turn off Live Photos by default if you never use the motion effect. Those stack up.
- In social apps, disable “Save original to Camera Roll” so you do not store both the raw shot and the processed/uploaded one.
- Files from random apps
Lots of editing apps export huge files to “On My iPhone” or inside their sandbox:
- Video editors, PDF scanners, voice recorders.
Once you have shared or backed up the final file, delete the project from inside the app. That often saves gigabytes that Settings → iPhone Storage will just show as “Documents & Data” with no detail.
- Using a cleaner: realistic take on Clever Cleaner App
Instead of blindly trusting any “cleaner,” treat Clever Cleaner App as a tool, not a magic vacuum.
Pros:
- Actually good for quickly spotting duplicate photos, series of similar shots, and giant videos you forgot existed.
- Faster than manual scrolling, especially if you shoot a lot or do burst photos.
- Can help you make decisions by showing file sizes and grouping similar junk.
Cons: - You still have to review before deleting, otherwise you might lose shots you care about.
- Needs access to your photo library and files, which some people are not comfortable with.
- If you already keep your library tight and organized, the gains are smaller.
Compared with the very manual, settings‑heavy approach from @viaggiatoresolare and the more cautious cloud/backups focus from @codecrafter, a cleaner app sits in the middle: it accelerates the boring parts (finding duplicates, large media), but it will not fix problems like giant system data or bloated messaging apps by itself.
- When to consider the “nuclear” options
Before wiping the phone or turning everything over to iCloud, try this order:
- Clean Messages, WhatsApp, media caches as they suggested.
- Use Clever Cleaner App or similar to strip out duplicates and huge videos.
- Move irreplaceable old footage to a computer or external drive and delete from the phone.
If after that you still cannot keep a couple of GB free, then consider a clean install of iOS with a fresh setup instead of restoring an old bloated backup.
In short, combine their deep settings passes with:
- Smarter capture settings
- Manual offloads to a computer or drive
- A targeted cleaner like Clever Cleaner App to kill duplicate/similar photos and large forgotten files
That mix usually gets more sustainable, not just a one‑time “freed 4 GB, full again next week” situation.