These hidden settings eat up your phone’s entire storage space
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You thought 128 gigabytes sounded like enough when you first bought your phone, didn’t you?
But a few years later, many of you will be hit by the dreaded storage full message.
You can delete photos and videos to free up space (I mean, do you really need all six photos of your bagel or the three blurry videos of your dog being cute?)
There are guides to remove the duplicates quicklyand you may not know this, but you get free photo storage as part of your Amazon Prime membership.
And of course there are four other storage options pictures in the clouds. But there’s a little-known setting that could be to blame if you’re running low on storage space.
You thought 128 gigabytes sounded like enough when you first bought your phone, didn’t you? But a few years later, many of you will be hit by the dreaded storage full message
But first of all, to see what’s taking up space, open Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
You’ll see a graph showing how much free space you have — and which apps, files, and photos are eating up your phone’s memory.
Do you notice that your videos and photos use a lot? Sounds logical.
The quality, length, resolution, bit rate, and format all affect file size.
One minute of 1080p footage takes up about 130MB. The same 60 seconds filmed in 4K? 475MB. A 10-minute 4K video can take up nearly 4 GB of space.
Photos can also eat up quite a bit of space.
Again, it depends on factors such as resolution, format, and compression. A decent quality optimized JPEG is about 3 to 5 MB. An uncompressed 12 megapixel photo can eat up to 36 MB.
Just like videos, photos can also take up a lot of space on your smartphone. The size of an image file depends on several factors, such as the resolution, the format in which it is saved, and the amount of compression applied.
The institution that fills the room like no other
You want your videos to look great, so enabling 4K is a good idea, right? If it’s good enough for your TV, it’s good enough for your phone!
It’s available on the iPhone 8 and later models and is great if you want to display your videos on your TV or somewhere larger than the standard phone screen.
The problem is that those files are much larger than the standard resolution videos.
To check your video settings, go to Settings > Camera > Record video and select from the list of options. Turn off 4K.
What about photos?
When you take a photo with your phone or digital camera, it is saved as an image file, such as JPEG, TIFF, or RAW. A JPEG is an edited, compressed image ideal for everyday use.
RAW files are huge in comparison and can take up a lot of storage space. RAW files are just that: the raw photo data. Your camera saves the photo as it was taken, with no editing or compression.
RAW photos take up an enormous amount of storage space and Apple itself puts a warning in the camera settings
RAW photos take up a lot of storage space and Apple itself puts a warning in the camera settings, stating that each file is 25MB. Compare this to the standard JPEG photos on your phone which take up about 1MB of space.
The result is a much larger file, but with more control. With a RAW file you can edit the white balance, color and exposure of a photo more accurately.
Not so long ago, the RAW image format was reserved for digital cameras. Apple introduced its ProRAW format with iOS 14.3 for iPhone 12 Pro and later. If you’ve turned it on and find yourself running out of storage space, it might be time to downgrade.
To disable it, go to Settings > Camera > Formats, then disable Apple ProRAW. You can also switch between photos with a resolution of 12 MP or 48 MP here.
Photo settings 101
Your phone’s camera does much more than point and click. Here are the settings you’re most likely to see and what they do.
Resolution: By adjusting the resolution, you can control the quality and file size. The higher the resolution, the higher the quality and the larger the file.
HDR (High Dynamic Range): HDR combines multiple exposures of the same scene to create a high-contrast, vibrant image.
Night Mode: Use it in low light. Advanced algorithms to brighten and reduce noise in dark environments.
Portrait mode: Depth-sensing technology creates a shallow depth-of-field effect, so the background is softly blurred and the subject is sharp.
Pro/Manual mode: Take full control over settings such as ISO, shutter speed and focus, similar to a DSLR camera.
Panorama: Capture sweeping landscapes. Pan your camera and it will automatically merge the images into one photo.
Burst mode: Press and hold the shutter button to take a series of photos faster than manually. It’s great for action shots, sports, kids, and animals