Manage the Storage on Your iPad

Running out of space on your iPad? As you use your iPad, files and apps will eventually accumulate, leaving you with less free space for new content. Because the files that you store is based on what you use your iPad for, there are a variety of places you can look when it comes time to clean house. Taking a few minutes to clear out the cruft can give you plenty of space for new apps and media, and can also help your iPad's performance.

Steps

Viewing Your Available Storage Space

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Select the "General" option.
  3. Tap "Usage". Your "Used" space and "Available" storage will be displayed in the "Storage" section.

Backing Up and Deleting Photos

  1. Understand the process. Photos stored on your iPad can take up a significant amount of space, especially if you have Photo Stream or turned on. The easiest way to reclaim this space is to connect the iPad to a computer, back the photos up to the computer's storage, and then delete all of the photos on the iPad at once after the backup process is complete.
    • If you are using the iCloud Photo Library on your iPad, it will always download a copy of every picture you have stored in iCloud to your iPad's local storage. Manage-the-Storage-on-Your-iPad by reducing the quality of the preview images.
    • If you don't have a computer to back up your iPad photos to before deleting them, you can use iCloud Photo Backup to store them in your iCloud storage. You'll then need to Delete-Pictures-on-an-iPad. Note that if you are using the free iCloud account, your photos may take up a significant percentage of your 5 GB of free storage.
  2. Connect your iPad to your computer. If you are using Windows, the Autoplay window should appear. If you are using a Mac, open the iPhoto program.
  3. Start the import process. Select "Import photos and videos" in the Autoplay window (Windows), or select your device and click the button in iPhoto (Mac).
    • If you are using Windows and the Autoplay window doesn't appear, open your Computer/My Computer window (⊞ Win+E), right-click on the iPad, and select "Import photos and videos".
  4. Set Windows to delete the photos after importing (Windows only). If you are using Windows to import the photos, you'll need to set the import manager to delete the files after importing before you start the import process. If you're using a Mac, you'll be prompted after the import process is complete.
    • Click the "More options" link in the "Import Pictures and Videos" box.
    • Check the "Delete files from device after importing" box.
  5. Set any other import options. Before importing the photos, you can change your import settings to organize the photos as they are added to your computer.
    • If you are using Windows, click the "More options" link to see all of your sorting options. You can change the folder that pictures are imported to, as well as automatically rename the files as they are copied. You can also click the "Add tags" button to categorize the photos before copying.
    • If you are using iPhoto on a Mac, the photos will automatically be grouped by the date they were taken when they are copied to iPhoto. You can manually move them to albums or sort them using a different method.[1]
  6. Wait for the import process to complete. This may take a little while if you have a lot of photos to copy. If you've backed up your photos before but didn't delete them from the iPad, only new images will be backed up.
  7. Delete the photos after importing. If you are using Windows, you checked this option earlier, and the photos will be automatically deleted from the iPad after the import process is complete. If you are using a Mac, click the button to remove all of the photos that were backed up from your iPad.

Uninstalling Unused Apps

  1. Understand why you should remove old apps. If you've installed a lot of apps on your iPad, they could be eating up a large amount of your iPad's limited storage. Games are one of the biggest offenders, with titles like Infinity Blade, Asphalt, Rage HD, and many others taking 1 GB each or more. Removing games and other apps that you don't use anymore can free up a lot more space than you may think.
    • While you can delete apps from your Home screen fairly easily, this method will sort your installed apps by their size and allow you to see how much space each app is taking up.
    • Don't worry about losing access to the apps you uninstall. All of your downloads are stored with your Apple ID, and you can redownload any app, free or purchased, from the App Store at any time.
    • If you want to back up an app, you can use iTunes to copy all of the documents and data associated with the app before deleting it. If you have iCloud Backup enabled, app data will be automatically backed up when your device is backed up to your iCloud storage.
  2. Open the Settings app and tap "General".
  3. Tap "Usage" and then tap "Manage Storage" in the "Storage" section.
  4. Wait for the app list to load. This may take a few moments.
  5. Tap an app you don't use anymore. You will see how much space the data associated with the app is taking up.
  6. Tap "Delete App". Tap "Delete App" again to confirm that you want to delete the app and all of its associated documents and data.
  7. Repeat for all of your unused apps. You can potentially free up a lot of space by regularly cleaning out your apps.[2]

Removing Media Files (Music, Videos, etc.)

  1. Consider signing up for iTunes Match. If you keep a lot of music on your iPad, its likely taking up a sizable chunk of your storage space. iTunes Match is a paid service from Apple that allows you to stream your entire iTunes library to your iPad (or any other Apple device or computer). This can free up tons of space, as you'll no longer need to keep any music files stored on your iPad. Click here for instructions on setting it up.[3]
    • There are some drawbacks to the service. Besides costing $25 per year, you'll only be able to stream when you have a network location. You can always download any of your songs to your iPad ahead of time if you're anticipating being without a network connection.
    • iTunes Match allows you to upload songs that you didn't purchase through the iTunes Store. You can also use services like Get-Google-Play-Music to upload and stream your music.
  2. Delete all of the music on your iPad. If you opt for a streaming service, or make the switch to internet radio, you can delete all of the music files from your iPad at once. Any purchased music will still be downloadable from the iTunes Store.
    • Open the Settings app.
    • Tap "General" and then select "Usage".
    • Tap "Manage Storage" in the "Storage" section.
    • Tap the Music app. You may have to wait a few moments for it to appear. If your Music app isn't listed, you don't have any music files actually stored on the iPad.
    • Tap the "Edit" button.
    • Tap the "-" next to "All Songs" and then tap "Delete". You can also delete individual songs this way.
  3. Delete individual songs from the Music app. If you just want to delete certain songs, you can do so from within the Music app. Be aware that depending on your settings, songs may be visible that aren't actually stored on your iPad (iTunes purchases, iTunes Match songs, etc.).
    • Open the Music app on your iPad.
    • Find the song or album that you want to delete. Songs that are not downloaded to your iPad will have an iCloud icon on the right side of the song.
    • Swipe the song or album to the left to reveal the "Delete" button. If you cannot swipe a song, it means that it is not downloaded to your iPad and therefore not taking up space. If you cannot swipe an album, it means that one or more songs on the album are not downloaded on your iPad. You'll need to delete individual songs from within the album.
    • Tap "Delete". This will delete the song or album from your iPad. If you see the "Remove" button instead of the "Delete" button, it means you are in Playlist view. You must delete songs from the Songs, Albums, or Artists view.
  4. Delete movies and videos. If you've downloaded movies, TV shows, or music videos from the iTunes Store, they could be taking up a lot of space. HD videos in particular can be huge. Removing videos after you watch them can make room for a bunch of other things.
    • Open the Settings app on your iPad, select "General", and then "Usage".
    • Tap "Manage Storage" in the "Storage" section.
    • Select the Videos app. If you have a lot of videos downloaded, it will likely be one of the last apps to appear, and should be located towards the top of the list.
    • Review your videos. You will see each video stored on your iPad, along with the size. TV shows will display the size of all the episodes on the iPad, and you can tap the show to see the size of individual episodes.
    • Tap "Edit" and then tap the "-" next to the video you want to remove. Repeat for any other videos you want to remove from your iPad.

Clearing Out Old Messages

  1. Open the Messages app. If you use your iPad to send messages through iMessage, saved messages could be taking up a large amount of space. This is especially true if you send and receive a lot of images and video through the Messages app.
  2. Tap the Edit button. This is located at the top of the list of conversations.
  3. Tap each conversation that you want to delete to select it. You can select multiple conversations.
    • When you delete a conversation, all of the messages and images in it will be erased. Be sure to copy down any important information and save pictures you want to keep to your Camera Roll.
  4. Tap "Delete" at the bottom of the conversation list. All of the selected conversations will be deleted.[4]

Managing Your iCloud Photo Library

  1. Understand how the iCloud Photo Library works. With the iOS 8 update, Apple introduced the iCloud Photo Library beta. This program allows you to automatically upload and store all of your photos on your iCloud Drive, making them instantly available on any of your devices. What this means is that every device that has iCloud Photo Library enabled will download and store a copy of each photo onto the device's local storage.
    • To save space on your iPad when using the iCloud Photo Library, you can opt to only store smaller versions of the image on your local storage, while keeping the high-quality version on your iCloud drive. This can save you a lot of space if you value having access to all of your images at any time.
  2. Open the Settings app.
  3. Select "iCloud" and then tap "Photos".
  4. Select "Optimize iPad Storage". This will make the iPad download optimized versions of the photos to reduce the amount of local storage needed. Optimized versions of your iCloud Photo Library photos take up about half as much space as the full-quality versions.
  5. Open a picture to download the full-quality version. After enabling "Optimize iPad Storage" you can still seed the full-quality version by opening a photo. Opening a photo will download the full-quality version from iCloud, which may take a moment.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://support.apple.com/kb/ph2328
  2. ↑ http://osxdaily.com/2012/04/24/6-tips-free-up-storage-space-ipad-iphone-ipod-touch/
  3. ↑ http://www.komando.com/tips/12001/simple-ways-to-increase-storage-space-on-your-iphone-ipad-or-icloud/all
  4. ↑ http://technologyfueled.com/ipad-tricks/2014/8/29/how-to-reclaim-storage-space-on-your-ipad
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