This is the easiest way to free up storage on the iPhone

No one likes having to run out of storage on their iPhone so here’s a little trick that should help you down the line.

Running out of storage on your iPhone sucks. When this happens, it usually means that you’ll spend hours deleting videos, pictures, and whatever files are taking up unnecessary amounts of space. But surprisingly, one of the easiest ways to free up storage on an iPhone is not in the pictures or videos it captures, they’re the ones sitting right in your messages.

Here’s how it works: video and audio messages delete themselves automatically after a couple of minutes, however, regular messages, pictures, and GIF’s are not. Unfortunately, these suckers hog up a good chunk of your storage, and if you’re not vigilant, they can sure put a damper on your storage if you don’t delete them.

Luckily, you can change this default setting to have them delete themselves after 30 days in your iPhone’s settings. Here’s the simplest way to get this done:

The first thing you want to do is tap on your settings icon and scroll down until you reach Messages:

Image: Tech Insider

Once in the Messaging screen, head on down to the bottom and tap on “Keep Messages.”

Image: Tech Insider

By default, it’s set to keep your messages stored “Forever.” To conserve space, tap on “30 days.” This way your iPhone automatically deletes your unwanted messages each month.

Image: Tech Insider

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com or find him on Mastodon or Post.