The fastest way to make room in iCloud

The quickest way to free up iCloud space is to delete photos and videos from your Photos app — they take up the most room and are usually the first thing to go over your limit. Open the Photos app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, find the photos or videos you no longer need, select them, and tap Delete. After you delete them, go to Photos > Albums > Recently Deleted, select all the items there, and tap Delete again to remove them permanently and free up the space immediately.

If you do not want to lose photos, you can move them to your computer or an external drive instead. This removes them from iCloud but keeps them safe. On a Mac, you can use Image Capture or Photos to export them. On Windows, you can download them through iCloud.com, then delete them from iCloud after they are saved locally.

The second-largest space user is usually email. If your iCloud email account has thousands of old messages, deleting them — especially those with large attachments — can free up several gigabytes. Open Mail, select old emails or entire folders, and delete them. Empty the Trash folder afterward to make the deletion permanent.

Key Takeaways

  • Photos and videos are almost always the reason you run out of iCloud space, and deleting them is the fastest way to make room.
  • After you delete items from Photos or Mail, you must empty the Recently Deleted or Trash folder to permanently free up space.
  • You can move photos to your computer or external drive before deleting them from iCloud if you want to keep them.
  • If you regularly hit your limit, upgrading your iCloud storage plan costs less than buying a new external drive and keeps your files synced across all your devices.

What takes up the most iCloud space

Photos and videos stored in your Photos library consume far more space than anything else. A single high-resolution photo from an iPhone camera is typically 3 to 5 megabytes, and a one-minute video can be 50 to 150 megabytes depending on quality. If you have years of photos backed up, you can easily use 50 gigabytes or more.

Email comes second. Messages with attachments — especially photos, PDFs, or files sent to you — add up quickly. A single email thread with five large attachments might use 100 megabytes. Old email folders you never delete can accumulate gigabytes over time.

iCloud Drive files, app data, and device backups take up the remainder. Device backups include your settings, app data, and messages, but not your photos if you have iCloud Photos turned on. Most people do not realize their backup is running in the background and can be surprised by how much space it uses.

How to check what is using your iCloud space

On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Manage Storage. You will see a breakdown showing how much space each category is using: Photos, Mail, Backups, Documents, and other apps. Tap any category to see more detail — for example, tapping Photos shows you how many photos and videos are stored and how much space they use in total.

On a Mac, go to System Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Manage. The same breakdown appears. You can also click on a category to see what is inside it.

On any device, you can visit iCloud.com, sign in, and click Settings (the gear icon). Scroll down to Storage and you will see the same breakdown. This method works from any computer or phone, even if it is not an Apple device.

Deleting photos without losing them

If you want to keep your photos but remove them from iCloud, export them to your computer first. On a Mac with Photos app, select the photos you want to move, then go to File > Export. Choose a folder on your computer or an external drive, set the format to Original, and click Export. The photos are now saved locally and you can delete them from iCloud.

On Windows, go to iCloud.com, sign in, click Photos, select the photos you want, click the download icon, and save them to your computer. Then return to iCloud.com, select the same photos again, click the delete icon, and confirm. The photos are now on your computer and no longer using iCloud space.

On iPhone or iPad, you cannot directly export photos to your computer from the device, but you can use AirDrop to send them to a Mac, or use a third-party app like Google Photos or Dropbox to back them up separately. After they are backed up elsewhere, delete them from your iPhone and empty Recently Deleted.

Managing email to free up space

Open Mail on your device and look for folders with old messages. Select multiple emails by tapping Edit, then tapping each message you want to delete. Tap Delete to move them to Trash. Repeat this for any folders with large attachments or old conversations you no longer need.

After you delete emails, go to the Trash folder, tap Edit, and tap Delete All to permanently remove them. This step is important — emails in Trash still use iCloud space until you empty it.

If you have thousands of old emails, deleting them one folder at a time can take a while. A faster method is to use iCloud.com: sign in, click Mail, select old emails by clicking the checkbox next to each one (or use Ctrl+A to select all in a folder), and click the delete icon. Then go to Trash and empty it the same way.

When to upgrade your iCloud storage plan

If you delete photos and emails and still run out of space within a few months, upgrading is usually cheaper than buying an external drive. iCloud+ plans start at 50 gigabytes for a small monthly fee and go up to 2 terabytes. The cost varies by region and plan tier, but the smallest upgrade is typically less than the cost of a physical external drive.

Upgrading also keeps your files synced across all your devices — your iPhone, iPad, and Mac all see the same photos and documents without you having to manually transfer files. If you use multiple Apple devices, this convenience often justifies the cost.

Before upgrading, make sure you have actually deleted items from Recently Deleted and Trash. Sometimes users think they are out of space when they have simply not emptied these folders, and upgrading is unnecessary.

Turning off iCloud Photos to stop using space

If you do not want iCloud to back up your photos at all, you can turn off iCloud Photos and use a different service like Google Photos or OneDrive instead. On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Photos and turn off iCloud Photos. A prompt will ask what you want to do with your photos — you can keep them on your device, delete them, or download them to your computer first.

On a Mac, go to System Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud, uncheck Photos, and choose what to do with your existing photos. After you turn off iCloud Photos, your device backups will no longer include photos, which frees up significant space.

Keep in mind that turning off iCloud Photos does not delete your photos from iCloud — it only stops new photos from being uploaded. You still need to manually delete existing photos from iCloud to free up space, which you can do through the Photos app or iCloud.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does deleting photos from Recently Deleted free up iCloud space right away?

Yes. Once you empty Recently Deleted, the space is freed immediately and your iCloud storage shows the increase. The 30-day waiting period only applies to your device — iCloud does not hold onto deleted photos for 30 days.

If I turn off iCloud Photos, do my existing photos disappear?

No. Turning off iCloud Photos stops new uploads but does not delete what is already there. Your existing photos stay in iCloud until you manually delete them. You can download them to your computer first if you want to keep them.

Can I delete my device backup to free up iCloud space?

Yes. Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Manage Storage, tap Backups, select your device, and tap Delete Backup. This frees up space but means your device will not be backed up to iCloud anymore. You can turn backups back on anytime.

Why does my iCloud storage still show full after I deleted photos?

You may not have emptied Recently Deleted. Open Photos, go to Albums > Recently Deleted, tap Select All, and tap Delete. If that does not work, restart your device and check again — sometimes the storage count takes a few minutes to update.

Is it safe to delete old emails to free up space?

Yes, as long as you are sure you do not need them. If you are worried about losing important information, search for emails from specific people or with certain keywords, export them to a folder on your computer, and then delete the rest from iCloud.