How-To

Quickly Create Extra Space on your iCloud Account and Save Money

By Dave Greenbaum

Updated September 25, 2023

Don’t assume that you always need to buy extra space in your iCloud account. Here’s how to create extra space and save money too.

Even though Apple gives iCloud users 5 GB of space, many people use up that small amount of storage. Instead of paying for extra space, you can clear up the room with just a few tweaks.

To check what’s taking up space on your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage. Here’s where you can see what’s taking up all the space.

Get Rid of Old Backups

If you switched iOS devices, you probably have an old backup hanging out in your account. If an old backup is taking up space, delete that backup. Tap on the name of the device and then tap Delete Backup.

Reduce the Size of Your Backups

Even if you get rid of your old backup, some device backups can take up a large amount of space. To keep the backup slim, prune what data iOS is backing up. On each device backed up from iCloud, go to Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage and click on your device. Here you can tell your iPhone or iPad what not to back up. You’ll probably find a few apps you use but don’t care about. Other apps have data you could probably download again. A good example is the Headspace app. I can download the lessons again, so there’s no need to waste space on my iCloud account for them.

Delete App Data From iCloud

Lots of apps store data on your iCloud account so you can sync between your devices. If you don’t need that function or no longer use the app, delete the information from iCloud. Again, go to Settings > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage. This time click Documents and Data. If you want to delete all the data for that app, tap Edit, and then either tap Delete All or tap the red circle next to each item to delete data from iCloud selectively.

Remove Mail from iCloud

Even if you’ve never opened it, most iCloud accounts also have an email address associated with it. Depending on when you first signed up for iCloud it could be a @me.com, @mac.com, or an @icloud.com address. Some people stop using that account, but Apple’s still storing your stuff. The easiest way to manage this account is from the iCloud website.

Go to the iCloud website and then log in to your account. Click the mail icon to put you into your iCloud mail. The first thing is to sort through your junk mail folder. Mark anything you want as Not Junk and trash the rest. Next, look for large messages. Click “Sort by Date” from your inbox and switch it to Sort by Size. Backup or forward those messages you want to keep, and then delete the other messages to save space.

If You Must Buy More Space

For about $12 a year, you can add 15 gigs of space to your iCloud account. For some people, that might be the easiest option.

Also, ensure not to let your iCloud account fully run out of space. That will prevent you from backing up to iCloud.