resources, technology
Here’s how to free up iCloud storage!
Content Contributor
11 Nov 2025

Apple offers you 5GB of storage for iCloud free of charge, but if you need more than that, you have to pay for it. Most people don’t want to pay for extra storage, but at some point, you end up being pretty much forced to do that. Thankfully, if your iCloud storage is almost full, there are ways to manage the space and maybe even free up some space, where possible. Here’s what you need to consider.
Use a Mac cleanup tool
The role of a cleanup tool is to help you remove unnecessary and junk files from your device. That’s excellent, because you can learn how to free iCloud storage on Mac and do so without any worries. With this approach, it’s possible to save quite a lot of space, and you can do that at any given time, without issues. You have to give it a try, as it will provide you some excellent value in the long run.
Remove old backups
Another method you can use is to remove old backups. Your Mac will automatically add backups to the cloud if you set it up that way. Enter the iCloud Storage overview in your system settings and there you want to select backups. Choose which ones you want to remove, delete them and then you are good to go. This way, you can save quite a lot of space, and it’s always worth it.
Of course, you can choose to do that directly from your phone as well. The main focus is to try and keep only 1-2 backups at most. A lot of the time, you might have dozens of those laying around in iCloud. That’s why removing them is one of the easiest ways to save up some space.
Manage your images
You should enter your iCloud and see what photos you have uploaded. Once you are there, you may want to remove those quickly. It might not seem like a whole lot at first, but in the end, managing your images can be inherently effective. It’s highly recommended to try and remove images you don’t want to keep, and there could be a lot of those.
Remove old messages from your device
You can enter the iPhone iCloud storage overview and there you choose to manage account settings. Enter the Messages panel and you can choose to disable and delete in order to remove everything, while also stopping future messages from being saved in the cloud. That being said, you do want to create a backup for your current messages, if you choose to keep them.
Clean the iCloud drive
Enter the iCloud drive and in there you want to manually remove some files. Delete those large files and also files that you don’t plan on using anyway. A lot of people do this because they just want to better manage their iCloud solution. And the reality is that it could eat up quite a bit of space. At the end of the day, it does make a lot of sense to free up your storage, and every tiny bit of stuff you delete will help do that.
Remove old apps
Some of the apps could be added to iCloud as well. You want to check and see if there is any possibility to remove those apps from there. That way, you can save quite a bit of space, and it will make the process very streamlined. That’s a very good idea to consider, and being able to save some space in the process is even better. It’s definitely one of the top ways to remove some clutter and ensure you have some extra space in iCloud.
Delete large files
Large files in general tend to be a problem, especially when it comes to storing stuff in iCloud. For most people, it’s the large files that you might end up having to deal with. Deleting those or adding them to external storage, that’s totally something you must think about. At the end of the day, it’s always important to assess the file size and ensure that you have the best possible value and experience. And what really matters is to implement everything in a way that’s effective and comprehensive.
Conclusion
We all know how challenging it can be to manage the iCloud space. But what really matters is how you get to do that, and the ways you can use to free up space. At the end of the day, the methods shown above are very useful and they will allow you to free up storage fast, while implementing things more accordingly. We believe it’s an excellent idea to consider all the options, and once you start doing that, it will only make things better. Give these a try, and you can see how fast you can free up iCloud space!











