Make more room on your iPhone!

You are busily preparing to take a video of the crazy neighbor’s cat. He is hanging from your fan while your dog, in your daughter’s tutu, keeps jumping for the cats tail at each swish, and you think, “This video is going to go VIRAL!” Suddenly your iPhone protests…

You quickly fumble to delete your niece’s birthday party photos and videos, YET you KEEP getting the message that your phone is full! WHAT HAPPENED?!?  In the latest iPhone OS updates, our friends at Apple decided we needed a bit more “oops room” and added a “Recently Deleted” folder in your Photos App. The recently deleted has become the bane of existence for many clients, as it holds every photo for 30 days from deletion before purging them completely. 30 DAYS – kind of like a detox program! They want to make sure you haven’t made a mistake.

UPDATE – 4/2017 – To better prolong your “Deleted Photos” holding tank time (and perhaps leave you thinking you need to upgrade your iCloud storage tank) Apple has increased the “recently deleted” timeline to 40 days!

Here are the steps to permanently clear your iPhone of those undesirable and random photos of your feet, purse, or self, and make room for your next viral hit!

If you check in Settings → General → Storage & iCloud Usage you will discover your current data byte sizes (and note that my phone isn’t full, so I am really just demonstrating how to check that you have more room when this process is complete.)

1)    Go to Photos → Select Albums change to Album View	2)    Scroll down through Albums
3)    Select  “Recently Deleted”	4)    Hit Select in upper right corner
5)    Drag your finger from top row over and down to multiple select photos (rather than 1-at-a-time)Select Delete in the lower left	6)    Confirm Delete of items
7)    This area should now be clear!	8)    Your storage size should indicate a larger number for available space & less space used

And that process should make a big difference if you have already been deleting and still couldn’t make space! I absolutely advise that you go in regularly and delete those extra photos, or clear out the “bursts” & videos you don’t need! This saves on your iCloud space for backups as well – especially if you haven’t changed the defaults! And if you ever need my help, I am just a phone call away!