{"id":30688,"date":"2020-03-30T14:01:29","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T18:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tcn.tidbits.com\/?p=7688"},"modified":"2020-03-17T22:19:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T02:19:51","slug":"what-to-do-if-you-run-low-on-icloud-storage-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/what-to-do-if-you-run-low-on-icloud-storage-space\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Do If You Run Low on iCloud Storage Space"},"content":{"rendered":"

By default, Apple gives every iCloud user 5 GB of storage space. That disappears quickly, given how it\u2019s shared between iCloud Mail, iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, Messages, and iCloud-enabled apps.<\/p>\n

Apple will, of course, sell you more iCloud space. $0.99 per month gets you 50 GB, $2.99 per month provides 200 GB, and for $9.99 per month, you can use a whopping 2 TB. The latter two plans can even be shared with others in your Family Sharing group.<\/p>\n

As we\u2019ve noted elsewhere, using iCloud Photos almost certainly requires you to pay for extra storage. But if you\u2019re paying $2.99 per month and nudge up against the 200 GB limit, you may not be enthused about increasing your payment to $9.99 per month when you\u2019re unlikely to need anywhere near 2 TB.<\/p>\n

That said, you don\u2019t want to run out of storage space. Email to your iCloud email address will be rejected, photos won\u2019t upload from your iPhone, and app data will fail to sync. Happily, Apple alerts you when you\u2019re running low on space, before things get bad.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s often easy to recover space that\u2019s not being used in a helpful way. First, check how much space you have and how much you\u2019re using. In macOS 10.14 Mojave, look at the graph at the bottom of System Preferences > iCloud. In 10.15 Catalina, the graph is in System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud. In iOS, you\u2019ll find a similar graph at Settings > Your Name<\/i> > iCloud.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Then, to clear space, work through these five approaches.<\/p>\n

1. Remove Unnecessary iCloud Device Backups<\/h3>\n

The biggest win comes from deleting iCloud device backups for devices you no longer use. It\u2019s common for these to stick around, so if you recently upgraded from an iPhone X to an iPhone 11 Pro, the iPhone X backup is probably still consuming gigabytes.<\/p>\n

Navigate to Settings > Your Name<\/i> > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups to see what you have. If you find backups for a previous iPhone or iPad, tap it and then tap Delete Backup.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

2. Delete Unnecessary Data from iOS Apps<\/h3>\n

While you\u2019re in the iCloud Storage screen (the leftmost screenshot above), look through the other apps at the top of the list. The Photos app will likely be using the most storage, but all you can do to minimize its space usage is delete unnecessary screenshots, duplicate photos, and accidental videos from Photos. That will likely require lots of manual effort.<\/p>\n

However, some other apps\u2014think about third-party camera or video apps\u2014may be using space unnecessarily. Investigate any apps reporting a lot of usage in the iCloud Storage screen, and if possible, clear out the unnecessary data.<\/p>\n

Finally, consider Messages. If you regularly trade photos and videos in chats, it could be another place you can save significant space. In the iCloud Storage screen, tap Messages > Top Conversations to see which conversations are the largest. Tap one to switch to Messages, tap the person\u2019s avatar at the top of the conversation, tap the Info button, scroll down to see the photos, and tap See All Photos. Tap Select, tap photos you have no desire to keep within that Messages conversation, and then tap Delete at the bottom-right of the screen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

3. Avoid Backing Up Apps with Massive iCloud Data Stores<\/h3>\n

If one of your apps is storing a lot of data that you don\u2019t want to delete, but that you don\u2019t care if it were to be lost, you can prevent it from being backed up by iCloud Backup and reduce the size of your backups.<\/p>\n

To find such apps, navigate to Settings > Your Name<\/em> > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups and tap the name of the device you\u2019re on. That screen shows which apps consume the most space in your backup. Tap the toggle switch next to an app to stop backing it up and delete its data from your backup.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

4. Scan for and Delete Large Files in iCloud Drive<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s hard to know if you\u2019re likely to be using lots of space in iCloud Drive\u2014it all depends on what iCloud-savvy apps you use and if you store other files in iCloud Drive via the Mac\u2019s Finder or the Files app in iOS.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no need to guess, however, thanks to free Mac apps that help you identify especially large files and folders. Our favorites are GrandPerspective<\/a> and OmniDiskSweeper<\/a>. GrandPerspective uses a graphical view so you can see at a glance where your space is going, whereas OmniDiskSweeper opts for a classic text-based approach that gives you hard numbers. In GrandPerspective, choose File > Scan Folder and select iCloud Drive in the sidebar of the Open dialog. For OmniDiskSweeper, choose File > Size Folder.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Whichever app you use, it\u2019s easy to select large files or folders and click Delete (GrandPerspective) or Trash (OmniDiskSweeper). You may have to set an option in GrandPerspective > Preferences to enable deletions if its Delete button is disabled.<\/p>\n

5. Delete Old Email from iCloud Mail<\/h3>\n

All the email you store at iCloud counts against your free space, so it can be worth clearing out unwanted old messages (and their large attachments). To delete individual messages using Apple\u2019s Mail, just select them and click the Trash button in the toolbar. Some messages are much bigger than others, however, and to find them, choose View > Sort By > Size. That puts the largest messages at the top.<\/p>\n

Of course, deleting messages normally just moves them to the Trash mailbox; to reclaim the space they occupy on iCloud, choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items > AccountName<\/i>. Once you do that, the messages are gone for good.<\/p>\n

If you want to remove an entire mailbox and its contents, select it in the sidebar and choose Mailbox > Delete Mailbox. That deletes all of its messages immediately and can\u2019t be undone.<\/p>\n

When you put all these space-clearing techniques together, you\u2019ll likely be able to clear enough cruft that you won\u2019t have to pay Apple for more iCloud storage space. But if you\u2019re uncomfortable deleting such data, there\u2019s no shame in upgrading to a larger iCloud storage plan.<\/p>\n

(Featured image by stokpic<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running low on iCloud storage space? Rather than automatically paying Apple for a larger iCloud plan, check out these tips on how to recover gigabytes of wasted space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[161,39,328,67,68,326,48,5,107,57,125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backup","category-blog","category-email","category-how-to","category-icloud","category-icloud-drive","category-ios","category-mac","category-mail","category-tip","category-troubleshooting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/what-to-do-if-you-run-low-on-icloud-storage-space.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6YLEm-7YY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27291,"url":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/stop-paying-too-much-for-a-familys-icloud-drive-storage\/","url_meta":{"origin":30688,"position":0},"title":"Stop Paying Too Much for a Family\u2019s iCloud Drive Storage","author":"computeradv","date":"November 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Apple gives iCloud users 5 GB of free storage, but that fills up fast with iCloud Photo Library, iOS backups, iBooks, and more. Until iOS 11 and macOS 10.13 High Sierra, each person in a family had to buy extra iCloud space separately. Happily, Apple has now made it so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple Pros"","block_context":{"text":"Apple Pros","link":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/category\/apple-pros\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Family-Sharing-iCloud-Drive.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Family-Sharing-iCloud-Drive.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Family-Sharing-iCloud-Drive.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Family-Sharing-iCloud-Drive.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Family-Sharing-iCloud-Drive.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30686,"url":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/how-to-choose-between-icloud-photos-and-my-photo-stream\/","url_meta":{"origin":30688,"position":1},"title":"How to Choose Between iCloud Photos and My Photo Stream","author":"computeradv","date":"March 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Apple provides two ways of moving photos from your iPhone to your Mac: iCloud Photos and My Photo Stream. Which should you choose? We run through the pros and cons of each.","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/how-to-choose-between-icloud-photos-and-my-photo-stream.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/how-to-choose-between-icloud-photos-and-my-photo-stream.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/how-to-choose-between-icloud-photos-and-my-photo-stream.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/how-to-choose-between-icloud-photos-and-my-photo-stream.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/how-to-choose-between-icloud-photos-and-my-photo-stream.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25945,"url":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/understanding-desktop-and-documents-folder-syncing\/","url_meta":{"origin":30688,"position":2},"title":"Understanding Desktop and Documents Folder Syncing","author":"computeradv","date":"October 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In macOS Sierra, you can use Desktop and Documents folder syncing via iCloud Drive to create unified Desktop and Documents folders across all your Macs, and as an added bonus, you can access the contents of those folders from all your iOS devices. But you should be aware of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Folder syncing in Sierra","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DD-folder-syncing-photo-1080x675.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DD-folder-syncing-photo-1080x675.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DD-folder-syncing-photo-1080x675.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DD-folder-syncing-photo-1080x675.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DD-folder-syncing-photo-1080x675.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34154,"url":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/where-to-check-macos-ios-ipados-and-icloud-storage-status\/","url_meta":{"origin":30688,"position":3},"title":"Where to Check macOS, iOS\/iPadOS, and iCloud Storage Status","author":"computeradv","date":"February 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u2019s little more frustrating than running out of space, which always seems to happen at just the wrong time. Luckily, Apple makes it easy to check any time, before it becomes a problem. On the Mac, choose About This Mac from the Apple menu and click Storage. On an iPhone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/where-to-check-macos-ios-ipados-and-icloud-storage-status.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/where-to-check-macos-ios-ipados-and-icloud-storage-status.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/where-to-check-macos-ios-ipados-and-icloud-storage-status.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/where-to-check-macos-ios-ipados-and-icloud-storage-status.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/where-to-check-macos-ios-ipados-and-icloud-storage-status.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1660,"url":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/share-photos-via-icloud-photo-sharing\/","url_meta":{"origin":30688,"position":4},"title":"Share Photos via iCloud Photo Sharing","author":"computeradv","date":"August 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The best part of photos is sharing them, but if you don\u2019t want to put them on Facebook and risk everyone seeing them, you can use iCloud Photo Sharing to create an album that you share with just a few select people. Better yet, they can add photos to it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/icloud-photo-sharing-photo-1080x675.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/icloud-photo-sharing-photo-1080x675.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/icloud-photo-sharing-photo-1080x675.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/icloud-photo-sharing-photo-1080x675.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/icloud-photo-sharing-photo-1080x675.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28508,"url":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/icloud-services-being-wonky-check-apples-system-status-page\/","url_meta":{"origin":30688,"position":5},"title":"iCloud Services Being Wonky? Check Apple\u2019s System Status Page","author":"computeradv","date":"February 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Many Apple users rely on mac.com, me.com, or icloud.com email addresses, along with plenty of other iCloud-related services. So if you can\u2019t send or receive email, if photos aren\u2019t transferring via iCloud Photo Library, or if some other iCloud-related service isn\u2019t responding, the first thing to do is check Apple\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple Pros"","block_context":{"text":"Apple Pros","link":"http:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/category\/apple-pros\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Apple-System-Status-page.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Apple-System-Status-page.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Apple-System-Status-page.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Apple-System-Status-page.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.computeradvantage.us\/v3\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}