iPhone Storage Full? How to Clean Up Photos and Videos

In short

Under Settings › General › iPhone Storage you can see how much space Photos takes. The biggest lever is almost always video: one minute in 4K takes many times what a photo does. Back up first, then sort by size and weed out. Deleted items stay 30 days in Recently Deleted; only after that, or once you empty that album, is the space freed.

Check first: where does the space go?

Under Settings › General › iPhone Storage your iPhone shows how much each app uses, plus cleanup suggestions. If Photos is near the top, cleaning up the library pays off. If it's a messaging or streaming app, the space is more likely in chat attachments or downloads.

Back up first

Cleaning up is no substitute for a backup. Before deleting a lot, make sure your pictures are in a second place: iCloud, a Mac or PC, or an external drive.

Important with iCloud Photos: when iCloud Photos is on, iCloud is not a backup but a sync. A picture you delete on your iPhone also disappears from iCloud and all your other devices.

What takes the most space

Videos. According to the iPhone's camera settings, one minute of video in High Efficiency format takes about 60 MB at 1080p and 30 fps and around 400 MB at 4K and 60 fps. The exact figures for your model are under Settings › Camera › Record Video. A photo usually takes just a few megabytes, so the ten largest videos often outweigh a thousand photos.
Bursts. Ten nearly identical shots, of which you need one.
Screenshots. Small one by one, often thousands nobody looks at again.
Duplicates. Since iOS 16, the Photos app collects them in a Duplicates album and can merge them there.
Forwarded pictures and videos from chats that land in the library automatically.

The Photos app can show videos, screenshots and bursts as separate media types, so the pile is already sorted for you.

How to clean up without getting lost

Biggest first. Go through videos sorted by file size. Every decision here frees the most.
Then the bulk: screenshots and bursts. Usually one shot from a burst is worth keeping.
Month by month. Instead of the whole library at once, take one month and finish it. A finished month is visible progress.
Keep or delete, not "maybe". If you deliberate over every picture, you'll stop after twenty. When in doubt, keep it and move on.
Delete in one go at the end and empty Recently Deleted if you need the space right away.

Recently Deleted: when is the space really freed?

Deleted photos and videos go to the Recently Deleted album in the Photos app and stay there for 30 days. During that time they still take up storage. Only after that does iOS free the space, or right away if you empty the album yourself. If you check iPhone Storage right after cleaning up and wonder why nothing changed, this is why.

The flip side: if you make a mistake, any picture can be recovered within those 30 days.

iCloud: Optimize iPhone Storage

With iCloud Photos, Settings › [your name] › iCloud › Photos offers Optimize iPhone Storage. The originals then live in iCloud and your iPhone keeps space-saving versions that download when needed. It requires enough iCloud storage and doesn't replace cleaning up: what nobody needs takes space in iCloud too.

What about Android?

Same idea: videos first, then screenshots and bursts, back up beforehand. Google Photos and most gallery apps also move deleted items to a trash first. How long they stay there is shown in that app's trash; only once it's emptied is the space freed. Google Photos also offers Free up space, which removes backed-up items from the device only.

As of October 23, 2026, iOS 26. Menu names may differ slightly between iOS versions.

The matching app

Clean up with a swipe: Wischy

Wischy shows one picture at a time: swipe left to toss, right to keep. Tossed items go to a trash inside the app first and are deleted together at the end. Completely free, for iPhone and Android.

Just videos, screenshots or bursts, sorted by date or file size
Take on a single month instead of the whole library
Videos play right on the card, with sound
Undo with a button or a shake; one confirmation for the whole stack

More about Wischy

Frequently asked questions

Why isn't my iPhone storage freed after deleting photos?

Deleted photos and videos stay in the Photos app's Recently Deleted album for 30 days and still take up storage. Only after that, or once you empty the album yourself, does iOS free the space.

What takes the most storage in the photo library?

Usually videos. According to the camera settings, one minute at 4K and 60 fps takes around 400 MB, a photo just a few megabytes. Next come bursts, screenshots and duplicates.

If I delete photos on my iPhone, are they deleted from iCloud too?

Yes, if iCloud Photos is on. iCloud then syncs rather than backs up: a picture deleted on the iPhone also disappears from iCloud and all other devices. Make your own backup first.

How do I find duplicate photos on my iPhone?

Since iOS 16, the Photos app collects duplicate pictures in the Duplicates album, where you can merge them.

What's the fastest way to clean up the photo library?

Back up first, then go through the largest videos, then screenshots and bursts. Month by month rather than all at once, deciding only keep or delete for each picture.

Storage full? Clean up photos