Do you feel like your iPhone is suddenly slowing down? Over time, it’s normal for your iPhone (or any other smartphone) to become less responsive. This may indicate that it’s time to say goodbye to your current iPhone and get a new one, but it’s not necessarily the only solution. Sometimes a simple cleanup of your iPhone’s “Other” storage can be enough to improve its performance.
If you’ve ever run out of storage space and tried to free up space manually, you may already be familiar with Other storage. If not, let’s see what it is before looking at how to reduce it.
What is iPhone “Other” storage?
The Other section is a mysterious, catch-all corner of your iPhone’s storage. Think of it as a place where things like system files and Siri voices can be stored. It can also be a real memory drain, mainly due to caching.
In fact, your cache memory stores elements of applications or websites to load them more quickly the next time you use them. This cache accumulates data when you browse the internet, stream videos or movies, and send text messages containing images or videos. In apps like Google Maps and Chrome, cached data can quickly reduce the storage space available on the device.
To check the space used by the Other storage application, you must go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. After iPhone has done its calculations, you’ll see a bar graph of the categories that are taking up your iPhone’s storage space. The Other section is usually the gray part on the far right of the chart. If your Other category is taking up more space than necessary, here are some steps that might help you fix it.
Offload apps
Not to be confused with deleting an app, unloading an app means that the app is removed from your device, but all its data is retained, in case you decide to reinstall it. Use this tip, especially if you have apps like Google Maps that use a lot of space, but don’t store a lot of data. To unload an application, return to Stockage iPhone In Settings > General, tap the app you want to unload, then tap Download the app.
Tip: In the iPhone Storage section, you’ll find a list of apps with a number next to each name indicating how much storage space it uses. You can immediately get an overview of which apps are taking up a lot of memory or using little. This can help you decide which ones to unload.
Clear Safari cache and close tabs
If you use Safari often, your iPhone may be storing web page history and data that you simply don’t need. To clear the Safari browser cache, go to Settings > Safari and select Clear history and site data. If you use Chrome, here’s how to clear Google’s browser cache.
Closing tabs also helps free up storage space and keep your device running smoothly. You can manage how often Safari will close open tabs by going to Settings > Safari > Close tabs. You can continue to close tabs manually or let Safari close tabs that haven’t been viewed in a day, week, or month.
Stop keeping messages indefinitely
By default, your iPhone keeps all the text messages you send and receive indefinitely. This is handy if you need to find a 15-month-old conversation, but not so handy if you need to reclaim storage space.
To stop your iPhone from keeping your messages forever, open Settings and touch Messages. Scroll down until you find Message History and tap Keep messages. Change Indefinitely in 30 days or 1 an. A pop-up asks if you want to delete old messages; press DELETE to continue.
Reset your iPhone
If all else fails, a surefire way to remove a lot of the junk in Other storage is to reset your iPhone, even if you can’t completely empty it.
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