a smartphone connected to a file cabinet, a photo album, a compass, a calendar, a radio, and a notepad

The Ultimate Guide to Managing Smartphone Storage Effectively

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I remember my first smartphone. It was an iPhone 3GS. I can’t remember how much storage it had, but I had to be extremely judicious with its use. I had to pick a very limited music playlist, I had to keep photos cleaned up and stored on my computer, and I could only bring in a few days’ worth of podcasts. As a result of having to pay such close attention, I had developed a pretty good storage management system.
However, today’s smartphone capture photos and videos in very high resolution, and that takes up more storage. Apps are also getting more sophisticated, offering richer features. Download options for music and videos, and the fact that use our phones for just about everything – our storage requirements have dramatically increased.
Today’s smartphones do offer a lot more storage space even at the smallest level, but it’s still important to pay attention to it. If you run short of storage on your device, you may be unable to install new apps. You might also experience slow performance, you end up having to delete photos, videos, or apps to free up space, and, as a worst-case scenario, software updates might not install if there isn’t enough storage.

Types of Smartphone Storage

There are three types of smartphone storage: Internal, External, and Cloud. Internal storage is the available space on the device itself, what the device is built with. That’s going to be where the operating system and the applications live. If you don’t add any other type of storage or move items off the device, it’s all going to live there — photos, videos, files, everything.
External storage is SD cards that you insert into a slot on the device (Apple devices don’t have those slots – you get what the device came with.) These cards are available in many different capacities, even multi-terabytes. The prices have come way down on them, so they’re a viable solution to most storage situations. However, SD cards are not infallible. They can become corrupted. As a result, while they can expand your device’s storage, they can also lose the data stored on them. As I explained in my post on Backups, you more storage doesn’t equate to secure, always-available data.
Cloud storage is using an internet connection to transfer data to a server in a different location to store the data. Anytime you hear “the cloud,” you should think “someone else’s computer in a different location.” Cloud backups are usually quick and painless, assuming a solid network connection. You can probably get a decent storage plan for a few dollars a month, but in order for that to be money well spent, you need to use it. The downside to cloud storage is that if you want access to something you’re storing only in the cloud, and you don’t have internet access, you don’t have access to that thing you’re storing in the cloud.

How to Check Available Storage

Checking your available storage is easy on both Apple and Android devices. On an iPhone, go to Settings, General, and go to iPhone )or iPad) Storage. You’ll see something like this:


As you can see from this image, applications take up the majority of used space on my phone. You can also see that I still have plenty of room for updates. I do keep it cleaned up pretty well, and I don’t use my phone as a storage device.

For an Android device it may be Settings>Storage or it may be Settings>Battery and device care>Storage. Yours may be a little different, they change things around from time to time, but a quick search online will update you on where to find it.

In the image below, we see the storage for the device’s drive. Obviously I don’t use my Android device like I do my Apple device.

My SD card is almost empty, but it’s there, and it has lots of space for my drone videos. That’s the image below.

Tips for Managing Smartphone Storage

Here are a few ways you can manage your smartphone storage:

  • Delete unnecessary files. Look through your photos, your files, and the download location to identify and remove anything you don’t need anymore.
  • Go through all your apps and look at each one. If you haven’t used it in some time, ask yourself why not. Is it something you use most often in a different way, like on a computer? Can you get rid of it, knowing that you can still get it back later?
  • Take a look at how you use cloud storage, or if you don’t use it, could you? There are many services that offer a certain amount of free storage, and there are really very few files we absolutely need to keep on our phone.
  • Offload your data periodically. This may be something you can get away with doing on New Year’s Day and then forget about for another year, or it may be something you need to look at more often. Even if your phone has plenty of storage space and you’re not at risk of running out any time soon, it’s still a good idea to avoid carrying around files that may contain sensitive information if you don’t need them.

Smart Storage Features

There are some smart storage features in both iOS and Android that you can set to help you keep your device in good storage shape. The “Offload Unused Apps” feature for iOS automatically removes unused apps, but keeps any data associated with the app intact, so that if you reinstall it, if there’s any data associated with it, it’s able to access it again. The iOS system also offers an “Optimize Photos” feature. Optimize Photos replaces full-resolutions images on your device with smaller version, while keeping the originals in iCloud. Android Smart Storage deletes photos and videos that you’ve already backed up to the cloud. Both Android and iOS offer insights into storage usage by showing which apps and files take up the most space.
Here are some ideas for making the most of automatic management features:

  • Enable Enable cloud backups, and activate the automatic backup features. Understand, though, that if you use more than the free amount, you will be charged, or backups will stop.
  • Set up automatic deletion, to delete old items like unused apps or backed-up files.
  • Review regularly. Check the automatic recommendations you have set to make sure they’re adequate for your needs.
  • Don’t dismiss app-specific tools that offer storage optimization options. For example, WhatsApp has a built-in tool to clear media from the app.

Your Turn

Today’s phones are so much more than just phones. A smartphone is also a photo album, a mailbox, an address book, a calendar, a library, a notebook, a radio….and we use it all the time! Running out of space on your phone would feel like working in an office that’s way too small for the files, the computer, and your desk.
What’s your storage pain point? What solutions have you found? Do you need more ideas? Drop a comment below and let’s talk more about it!


My photography shops are https://www.oakwoodfineartphotography.com/ and https://oakwoodfineart.etsy.com, my merch shops are https://www.zazzle.com/store/south_fried_shop and https://society6.com/southernfriedyanqui.
Check out my New and Featured page – the latest photos and merch I’ve added to my shops! https://oakwoodexperience.com/new-and-featured/

Curious about safeguarding your digital life without getting lost in the technical weeds? Check out ‘Your Data, Your Devices, and You’—a straightforward guide to understanding and protecting your online presence. Perfect for those who love tech but not the jargon. Available now on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Your-Data-Devices-Easy-Follow-ebook/dp/B0D5287NR3

Similar Posts