Device storage and iCloud storage are different problems
Get this straight first, because the fix is different for each. Device storage is the space on your iPhone itself. iCloud storage is the space in your Apple Account’s cloud: backups, iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, Mail and more. Freeing one doesn’t necessarily free the other. If it’s your iPhone that’s full, see iPhone storage still full after deleting photos. This guide is about iCloud.
See what’s using the space
Before deleting anything, check where your iCloud storage is going:
- Open Settings, tap your name, then tap iCloud.
- Tap Storage or Manage Account Storage.
- You’ll see how much each app and backup uses: Photos, Backups, iCloud Drive, Mail and others.
On iOS 17 and later, the iCloud screen also has Recommended for You, which suggests things you may not need anymore, such as photos, large files or old backups. It doesn’t replace the breakdown, but it’s a quick first pass.
For many people, Photos is the biggest item. Libraries only grow, and videos are large: a few long clips can outweigh hundreds of photos. Backups can be significant too, especially old backups of devices you no longer use. You can delete those under Storage (or Manage Account Storage) › Backups.
A bigger plan buys time
Upgrading to a bigger iCloud+ plan makes the message go away, but if your library keeps growing, you’ll reach the next limit too. Some people are happy paying for that convenience; others would rather keep less. Both are fine; it’s a real choice.
If it’s Photos: your two options
Pay for more storage. The simple option if you want to keep your whole library. You can upgrade from the same Storage screen.
Delete photos and videos you don’t want. This is what actually reduces the space Photos uses in iCloud. One common setting doesn’t: Optimize Storage (Settings › your name › iCloud › Photos) only changes what’s kept on your iPhone; the originals stay in iCloud either way. It fixes a full iPhone, not a full iCloud.
With iCloud Photos, a photo you delete on your iPhone is deleted from iCloud and your other devices too. It waits in Recently Deleted for 30 days in case you change your mind, and Apple doesn’t count that album against your iCloud storage. One exception matters here: if you’re already over your iCloud storage limit, iOS removes deleted photos right away, without Recently Deleted. So be sure of what you delete.
The hard part: deciding what to delete
Checking the breakdown takes two minutes. Deciding which of several thousand photos to let go is what stalls people, which is why “iCloud storage full” often ends in doing nothing.
deja is built for that part. It deals you one day from your past at a time, plays it full screen in the order you took the photos, and lets you mark the blurry shots, near-duplicates and everything you don’t need as you go. The context of the day makes each decision easy. At the end, it shows how much space the marked photos take and deletes them all with one iOS confirmation. Cleaning up is free, with no limit.
Checklist
- Check the breakdown: Settings › your name › iCloud › Storage (or Manage Account Storage).
- On iOS 17 or later, look at Recommended for You.
- Delete backups of devices you no longer use.
- If Photos is the biggest item, choose: pay for more storage, or delete photos.
- Remember that Optimize Storage won’t reduce iCloud usage; deleting does.
- If deciding is the slow part, relive a day and clean it up in deja instead of scrolling the whole library.
More on how deleting and Recently Deleted work: Recently Deleted photos on iPhone.
