iCloud is great for storing images, videos, messages & other files on your Apple devices. The storage facility can be accessed from any family device on your network, so you only need a single plan per household. The thing is that only the 1st 5GB of space is free, thereafter you have to choose one of Apple’s paid iCloud plans & it can soon become rather costly.
However, there are strategies that you can employ to reduce usage & manage your storage:
iCloud
Open “Settings” on your device & navigate to your account. Select the iCloud tab & open it. You will see a graphical representation of your iCloud usage, showing you which types of media are filling up your space. Under the graphical chart you will see a list of apps that use iCloud. To start freeing up space, toggle the buttons on this list to “off” if you don’t think you need to store data from that particular app.
Next, select the “Manage Storage” link & a list of apps will be presented with their exact usage in megabytes or Gigs. By selecting an individual app, you can delete the stored data for that app & free up space.
On your device
It’s a good practice to go through the apps you’ve downloaded to your device & delete those that you no longer use. This will free up valuable space since each app uses “your” space on the device & there are usually several apps you’ve downloaded but never, ever use.
How to delete
Deleting files is the simplest way to free up space, but if you’ve got a lot of files on your iCloud, this can be a very tedious experience – for instance I have 9 300 images & videos stored on iCloud, for me to go through these & delete those I no longer need or want would take hours. The best strategy for pictures & videos is to delete on a weekly basis (or daily basis if you use your device to capture a lot of images). If you regularly clear out unnecessary files, you won’t end up with a bloated storage facility full of useless images & videos.
Messages
Go through your messages & attachments & delete those you do not wish to store.
The best strategy for freeing up space used by emails is to go through your subscription list & unsubscribe from services & Websites whose mail you never (or seldom) open. You’ll be surprised, I promise, at just how many of these types of emails are bloating your storage.
Use a 3rd party service
These days there are a host of fantastic storage options that you can use to lower the cost of your iCloud. Options to try include Google Drive (15GB free), Storj (150GB free) or Internxt (10GB free).
