iPhone storage full? Here's what to delete first
When storage is critically full, order matters. Delete by megabytes-per-minute-of-effort: 1) old videos (biggest wins by far), 2) screenshots (hundreds of easy calls), 3) duplicates and burst photos, 4) blurry shots. Ten focused minutes usually frees several gigabytes — enough to take photos, update iOS, and breathe again.
Why 'Storage Full' is almost always photos
Check Settings → General → iPhone Storage. Apps have fixed sizes; your photo library grows every day, silently — 4K video at ~400 MB/minute, Live Photos at 2× normal size, and every screenshot forever. That's why the fix is your camera roll, not your apps.
The triage order
- Videos first. In Sift, tap the Videos filter. Ten deleted videos can equal a thousand deleted photos. Tap to play any you don't recognise.
- Screenshots second. The Screenshots filter deals every one of them into a single deck — swipe left almost on autopilot.
- Duplicates third. Swipe month by month; copies sit next to each other, keep the best.
- Blurry and pointless last. The failed food pics, the pocket shots, the seventeenth angle of the same sunset.
Emergency vs. maintenance
In an emergency, do videos + screenshots only — that's the 80/20 and takes ten minutes. When the pressure's off, finish the months one by one; Sift tracks your progress and shows exactly how much space each cleanup returned.
Do it in minutes with SiftSwipe left to toss, right to keep. Free — 60 swipes a day, photos never leave your iPhone.
Download free