This post will walk you through altering the default storage location for downloaded web contents on the 3rd generation special edition iPhone Safari browser. Here’s a quick guide to change the default location for Safari downloads on iPhone SE 3.
Where to find Safari Downloads on an iPhone?
Files that you downloaded from the internet using the Safari browser on your iPhone are automatically stored to your iCloud account by default. This allows you to access downloads through all your Apple devices with the same iCloud account setup. While this benefits users in terms of easy access, time will come that those downloaded files along with other contents would fill up your iCloud Drive. When this happens, you would need to either delete some of your iCloud files to free up space or pay extra for additional iCloud storage.
But if paying extra isn’t a good option for you, setting the download storage to a local drive can help.
Apple devices running in iOS 15 and later versions allow you to change the default storage location for Safari downloads from iCloud to a local storage directory in the device system.
Depicted below is the actual process of applying these changes on the new iPhone SE 3 device.
If you’re new to the iOS platform and need some input on how to access and manage this iOS setting, you can refer to the step-by-step walkthrough as follows.
Steps to Change Default Location for Safari Downloads on iPhone SE 3
Performing these subsequent steps will take you to the iOS menu where you can manage the default storage for downloaded contents on Safari. This method is also applicable when altering the default storage location for downloaded files in Safari browser on other iPhones running on the latest iOS version.
Feel free to start whenever you’re all set to configure the browser settings on your iPhone SE 3rd generation.
Step 1: To begin, tap Settings from the Home screen to open the Settings app.
Step 2: While in the Settings app menu, scroll down and then tap Safari. Another menu opens with a list of relevant options applicable to the iOS Safari browser application.
Step 3: Navigate to the General section then tap Downloads to proceed.
Step 4: In the Downloads screen, you can see two storage options for downloads including iCloud Drive and On My iPhone. By default, iCloud Drive is selected and thus, it has a check mark next to it.
To change this to a different storage location on your iPhone, tap On My iPhone and then follow the rest of the onscreen instructions.
Why change the default storage location?
Although selecting a folder in iCloud Drive as your download location is handy as it will let you access the downloaded files from your other Apple devices like Mac, iPhone or iPad, the limited 5GB plan may not suffice, especially if you frequently download huge files over the internet.
When Apple rolled out iOS 13, a Mac-like download manager was added to the inbuilt Safari app browser. This allows iPhone users to download various types of files online and store them in a local folder inside the Files app.
To make this happen, you will need to change the default storage location for Safari downloads from iCloud Drive to On My iPhone.
To easily access your downloaded files in Safari, save them inside the appropriate folder. You then can create a new folder that’s dedicated for storing relevant files that you downloaded through Safari. Just select Other from the Downloads section.
On the next screen, tap the New Folder icon on the top-rightmost side before Done.
Name the folder according to the type of files it stores then tap Done to create.
The recently created folder will then be added in the list of existing folders under the On My iPhone directory. Tap Done on the top-right corner to apply the recent changes.
After that, the new folder you create will be marked with a check. This means that it is now set as the target location for next Safari downloads.
How to Access Downloaded Files on your iPhone?
Safari downloads on an iPhone can now be accessed through the iOS Files app. To do so, just tap the Files icon from the Home screen to launch the app.
While in the Files app main screen, tap the Browse icon at the bottom-rightmost corner. Doing so will let you browse all folders that contain saved files including Safari downloads.
On the succeeding window, you will see available folders inside the iCloud Drive or iPhone Storage (depending on the default storage location you’ve set).
Open the Downloads folder and there you should see all files you’ve downloaded over the internet using the Safari browser. Just tap to open the file that you want to view or manage on your iOS device.
Downloaded files in the Safari Downloads folder can be shared through the iOS sharing apps like AirDrop, Messages, Mail, Notes and more.
And that’s all about altering the default storage location for Safari downloads on the 3rd generation special edition iPhone.
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