This Sneaky App Is Probably Sucking Up Your iPhone Storage. Here’s How To Free Up Space.

When your old-school digital camera got full, you could just switch out the memory card and keep snapping pictures. (And before that, you could simply buy new film.) iPhones, however, are more complicated.

For starters, our phones use a lot of data — between photos, videos, apps, messages — and once you run out of space, it takes a bit more work to get going again. Paying for more iCloud storage is always an option, as is deleting everything but the bare minimum, but there’s another way that tech experts use to save space on their phones. This will let you take even more photos — without an extra cost.

With a surprisingly easy-to-use, built-in tool, you can see if your iPhone is sneakily holding onto extra data. Then you can delete it with a simple swipe and open up more storage.

The secret? Look at your texts.

If you are a person who keeps text chains for weeks (or months or years), then you might not realize all the data those old exchanges take up on your device. Especially when you have been sending and receiving photos, videos, GIFs and other files. Your phone might be holding onto these files and taking up storage, even though you never intended to save them. Deleting them ― while still keeping your messages ― will give you more space.

See if your iPhone has an abundance of large text attachments and delete the ones you don’t need in a few steps:

• Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
• Under “Recommendations,” select “Review Large Attachments.” (You may need to click “Show All” to see this recommendation.)
• A list of attachments that are stored in your Messages app from texts you’ve sent or received to various people will appear here, sorted by date and file size. This might include duplicate photos, screenshots and videos you don’t need saved to your phone.
• Review each one, then slide to delete the ones you don’t need.
• To delete multiple items at one, click “Edit” and select multiple items, then click the trash can icon on the top right corner.
• Note: You can also go to iPhone Storage > Messages to see large attachments listed by “Top Conversations,” “Photos,” “Videos,” “GIFs and Stickers,” and “Other,” and delete them the same way.

Tech experts back up this storage hack. Alan Chen, President and CEO of DataNumen, Inc., a data recovery software company, told HuffPost that this “is a great way to free up some space on your iPhone.”

“These mostly include those photos, videos and files you’ve unknowingly accumulated over time through your messages, especially if they’re duplicates,” he continued.

Cache Merrill, founder of the software company Zibtek, also endorsed this method. “[This] is a practical way to quickly reclaim space,” he told HuffPost. “The feature neatly compiles photos, videos and files that might already exist elsewhere on your device. Deleting these can indeed offer a fast boost in free storage.”

There’s one caveat: Before you start deleting attachments willy nilly, Merrill recommended waiting until you have time to really review each item.

“While [this tip] is effective, it’s best to review the list carefully rather than deleting everything outright,” he said. “This ensures you don’t inadvertently remove attachments that you may need later.”

Merril noted that sometimes attachments saved in your Messages apps may appear to be useless duplicates, but they actually have “contextual significance,” such as being “part of a conversation thread with important details.” In that case, you wouldn’t want to delete them.

Chen emphasized using caution as well. “If you delete something you actually need, it can be a hassle to recover it. I always advise people to be mindful of what they’re deleting.”

Both experts recommend double checking that what you are deleting is already backed up on iCloud, your computer, or an external hard drive just in case you need it later.

Going through your iPhone’s list of items under “Review Large Attachments” isn’t the only way to clear out the files stored in your messages. You can also go through each individual text thread to see the files that have been sent and received.

“Open the chats where you are frequently active but have files you can afford to lose,” Chen said. This could look like friend group chats or family groups with long videos of kids.

“Go to the media sections of those specific chats and delete the large attachments from there,” he continued. You can do this by selecting a text thread in your Messages app, then clicking on the contact’s name. Click on “Photos” or “Links” to see files sent and received by you and this contact, then select the ones you want to delete.

“This way, you can avoid losing important data, such as business-related conversations you might want to keep, or that video of your favorite niece you can’t let go of,” Chen said.

If you are an “Inbox Zero” type of person, chances are you already regularly practice deleting everything after reading it. But for everyone else, sometimes it’s hard to know if it’s better to delete or save.

There are some benefits to deleting. “Deleting an entire conversation can free up substantial storage, especially if that thread is media-heavy,” Merrill said. However, he recommended asking yourself two things before you do so.

First, decide how important the conversation is. “If a conversation holds critical information — like addresses, directions or sentimental memories — it might be better to archive or back up the text elsewhere before deletion,” Merril explained.

Second, opt for a more balanced approach. “Remove the heavy attachments without losing the text content or selectively delete portions of a conversation rather than clearing it out entirely,” he suggested. That way you don’t feel regret after removing a conversation that you might want to look back on later.

But keep in mind, if you delete these threads, you can’t get them back unless you have a phone backup saved, Chen reminds us. (By the way, it’s always a good idea to make regular phone backups on iCloud, your computer or an external hard drive.)

To avoid having to go through a full phone storage every few months (or sooner depending on how much you’re texting), our tech experts recommended backing up your phone’s storage regularly and doing regular clean-outs.

“Regularly checking your storage and cleaning out old files can help keep your device running smoothly,” Merril said. “Keep in mind that iOS links attachments to the conversation threads, so the cleanup process might sometimes be less straightforward than simply deleting a file.”

He also suggested considering another phone clean-out hack: using the automatic deleting messages feature “if you’re comfortable with periodic purging of older messages to maintain storage efficiency.”

Access this setting by going to Settings > General > Messages > Keep Messages. You can select “Forever” if you want to delete the messages yourself, or “1 Year” or “30 Days” if you want messages to permanently delete after either of these time periods.

Chen noted that freeing up space like this is “just one piece of the [storage] puzzle.” “Phones tend to store a lot of data in various apps and caches, and it’s always good to regularly check your overall storage,” he said.

Chances are, you don’t need every screenshot of funny memes your friend sent you three years ago. This iPhone storage hack can be a super easy way to clear out some space for things you really need (like memes from this week, obviously).