One of the most annoying problems that fifth-generation iPhone owners often face is the lack of free space. This is especially true for owners of 8 and 16 GB models. You have to constantly monitor the number of megabytes and ask yourself: “How to free up space on the iPhone 5S?”
Users are forced to put up with the fact that almost any media content needs to be moved to a personal computer, and supposedly unnecessary applications are simply deleted. Alas, memory cards for iPhone 5S are not provided, so you have to look for some way out. What we will do in our article. The material is designed for users of all categories, so beginners should not have any problems, at least some serious ones.
So, let's try to figure out how to free up space on the iPhone 5S and do it as painlessly as possible for both the gadget and the owner himself. Along with the traditional actions, we will also consider a number of more cardinal and advanced methods.
Force reboot
The very first and easiest way to clear memory fromunnecessary garbage is to reboot the iPhone 5S. In addition to performance gains, local OS tools will remove the cache accumulated during the session. The latter grows day by day after almost every user action.
Naturally, it is impossible to completely clear the cache on the iPhone 5S in this way. Reloading only reduces it. But if you have not done it for at least a week, then the memory gain can be quite significant.
Remove unwanted apps
Despite the obviousness of this method, many users ignore it. Some even completely forget that they have this or that program installed. Therefore, to clear the internal memory, it is worth conducting a regular audit of applications on the iPhone 5S.
Temporary program files
Some applications may leave "garbage" behind even after being uninstalled. The latter are video, audio, PDF, presentation, text documents and other content created or somehow used in this program.
Some apps move their files to temporary folders that are very difficult to access. But after a few days they disappear on their own. This moment also allows you to clean up the memory on the iPhone 5S.
Opt out of over-the-air updates
Of course, getting updates via wireless protocols is much more convenient. But in this case, the whole process is implemented through the internal memory of your phone. Over the air updates are a lot of temporary files,some of which, alas, remain even after the successful installation of the operating system.
Itunes acts as a panacea. To free up space on your iPhone 5S, update using the desktop client. In this case, all the "garbage" is stored on a personal computer, and only a clean OS without any temporary folders and files is installed on the mobile gadget.
Prohibition of current OS versions
It is also worth noting that not all users have a desire to upgrade to the latest version of the operating system. But in the default settings, in the meantime, the current platform is loaded. The latter is stored in the internal memory of the device and is waiting in the wings. The size of the OS distribution kit can reach 2 GB, which is a lot, especially for devices with 8 GB of memory.
To uninstall downloaded updates and free up space on your iPhone 5S, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings.
- Click on the "Basic" item.
- Find the line "Storage usage and iCloud".
- Click on "Management".
- Remove saved OS distributions from the presented list.
Voicemail
Individual voicemail files take up almost no space, but the volume accumulated over several months is quite impressive megabytes. If the existing messages are of no value to you, then you can delete them.
Voicemail clearing procedure:
- Go to the Phone app.
- Open the "Autoresponder" item.
- Mark all (or some) messages.
- Click on "Delete" and agree with the consequences.
Next, follow these steps:
- Go to "Phone".
- Select the item "Deleted messages".
- Click on the "Clear All" button.
After that, all your voicemail, including cached ones, will be permanently deleted.
Audio, video messages and SMS
If you often use this functionality, then obviously it would be useful to configure the settings for deleting such messages. Otherwise, they can hang like a dead weight for more than one month and take precious megabytes on the drive.
To do this, go to the "Messages" section and set the frequency of automatic cleaning using the "Expires …" item. Another optimization method, but already SMS, is located in the same section, in the “Leave messages” sub-item. Here, the period after which they will be deleted is limited to one month. Less exhibit, alas, impossible.
Photostream
The Photo Stream feature organizes the storage of your photos on iOS devices and makes them shared. The solution is quite interesting and extremely convenient in some cases, but it requires too much space to implement. Therefore, on phones with 8 and 16 GB of internal memory, it is better to disable this feature.
Procedure for disabling "Photo Stream":
- Open "Settings".
- Go to the "Photos and Camera" section.
- Find the line "Upload to My Photo Stream".
- Turn the beacon to inactive position.
The same can be done with iCloud sharing, where album sharing is implemented. It is enough in the same section to move the beacon opposite the "iCloud Photo Sharing" item.
Mail cache
Even if you regularly clean up your mailbox, all text information, along with attachments, ends up in the cache. The application responsible for receiving emails can grow up to several gigabytes in this way.
To clear the cache on the "iPhone 5S" in the mail program, you must perform the following procedure:
- Open "Settings".
- Go to the "Basic" section.
- Find the sub-item "Storage usage and iCloud".
- Press "Control".
- In the "Storage" section, delete the "Mail" application.
Unfortunately, there is no other way to clear the mailer's cache. After uninstalling the program, you need to reinstall it in the normal mode through the App Store. Fortunately, this procedure should be carried out no more than once a month.
Browser cache
"Safari" neatly puts everything on its shelves, which require a lot of space on the internal drive. Here we are talking about search queries, downloads, visits and other user data.
Clear the Safari cache as followsway:
- Open "Settings".
- Go to the "Safari" section.
- At the bottom of the group there is a line "Clear history".
- Click "OK" and agree with the warning about deleting the cache.
Safari Reading List
If you use a regular browser as an offline reading list, then it would be useful to delete all previously downloaded data. The fact is that this function involves saving individual web pages for later familiarization with them when the Internet is turned off. Each such page takes up a lot of space on the internal drive.
To delete an offline list, do the following:
- Open "Settings".
- Go to the "Basic".
- Click on the "Storage usage and iCloud" section.
- Click on "Management" and "Storage".
- In the list that appears, find the "Safari" browser and click "Change".
- Click on the line "Offline list" and agree with the cleaning.
App Cache
iPhone games and other apps leave behind temporary files. The volumes of the latter can reach several gigabytes, especially when it comes to modern and serious gaming programs.
Deleting the application cache:
- Open "Settings".
- Item "Basic".
- Select the section "Storage usage and iCloud".
- Click on the "Management" item.
- In the "Storage" section, select the desired application from the list.
- In the window that opens, click on the buttonClear cache.
Social networks
Social networking applications are the real "pests", which, not only put down long roots in the platform, but also clog it with a large number of temporary files. Moreover, in the usual way described above, it is not always possible to delete the accumulated cache.
As an effective method, the complete removal of applications and their subsequent installation helps. In this case, the platform completely clears the temporary folders attached to the programs from the accumulated "garbage". A similar procedure is recommended to be done at least once a month.
After re-installing social applications, authorization will be required, so it would be useful to take care of logins and passwords in advance in order to avoid unpleasant situations. This procedure significantly adds free space on the drive.
