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Here's how to stop lack of phone storage stressing you out

This will make your life a whole lot easier.

#LIVE-A-BETTER-LIFE-banner-image-final (1)

ARE YOU CONSTANTLY getting notifications telling you that your phone’s storage is nearly full?

Have to delete photos every time you want to take a new one?

Then you’ve got a problem with phone storage that you need to tackle asap.

With the Live A Better Life series, we’re all about looking at our behaviour with our phones and then making small changes. A small thing like getting messages to say your phone storage is nearly full can turn out to be quite a pain, especially when you don’t know what to do about it.

So, what to do?

The simplest way to check what’s taking up most of your storage is to go to your settings:

iOS: Settings > General > Usage > Storage
Android: Settings > Storage
Windows Phone: Settings > Storage sense

There, you’ll be able to get a good look at what’s taking up space.

But that’s not the only thing you can do. Last year, we gave you a full guide to all the ways to clear up space on your phone, no matter what the model.

Just hop over there to get the full rundown, which includes:

  • Getting rid of some apps
  • Switching from saving to streaming
  • Dealing with photo overload
  • Investing in a micro-SD card

Here it is in full:

There are also numerous apps you can download which will help you store photos – usually the main offender when it comes to taking up precious storage space – and videos in the cloud.

These include:

Is storage an issue on your phone? Let us know in the comments.

Live A Better Life: The series so far>

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10 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chris lynch
    Favourite Chris lynch
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    May 5th 2017, 1:44 PM

    Live a better – put away phone and get outside

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chris lynch
    Favourite Chris lynch
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    May 5th 2017, 1:45 PM

    @Chris lynch: Live a better life*

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rob Hunt
    Favourite Rob Hunt
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    May 5th 2017, 1:45 PM

    Buy a 128GB storage phone, problem solved.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rob Hunt
    Favourite Rob Hunt
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    May 5th 2017, 1:46 PM

    Genuine answer, if you have the google photos app you can just sett hat to back up your pics (though a little compressed if you’re on a free account) and let your phone automatically delete the device copies for you. Unless you’re mad for large apps that’s all that the majority of people need to do.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ronan BBurke
    Favourite Ronan BBurke
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    May 5th 2017, 1:47 PM

    On an iPhone, if you’re running out of space, attempt to rent a large HD movie from iTunes Store. It will tell you you have insufficient storage and will clear out temporary files etc.
    I can regularly regain about 1Gb from about 250Mb

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Graham McNamara
    Favourite Graham McNamara
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    May 5th 2017, 2:18 PM

    @Ronan BBurke: went from 1.58gb to 4.24gb in 2 mins..cheers

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ronan BBurke
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    May 5th 2017, 3:53 PM

    @Graham McNamara: Just be aware – if you try this with a movie that will fit on your phone… you’ll get charged. I usually pick something new and long – at least 3-4GB. Use it maybe once a month or so. Haven’t gotten charged. It doesn’t work if you click ‘buy movie’, only with ‘rent’.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ⚡ Seánie ⚡
    Favourite ⚡ Seánie ⚡
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    May 5th 2017, 2:44 PM

    Back in the 3210 days when you had to delete your text messages if you had over 50!

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Cooke
    Favourite Alan Cooke
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    May 5th 2017, 2:27 PM

    Just use your phone to annoy other posters on the journal.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Derek
    Favourite Derek
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    May 5th 2017, 2:02 PM

    On Android, going to Apps and clearly the cache will save reclaim considerable space, the browser along could have 300Mb – 1Gb, YouTube app also can have a large cache. Work your way down through the list clearing the cache in each as you go can help when short. Also delete games or ones you don’t often use, they tend to be 100Mb+ generally.

    4
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