This post highlights some significant methods and tips that will help you manage memory and expand storage space on your #Apple iPhone 7 (#iPhone7) to give it significant boost in performance. Apple’s newest iPhone device is indeed embedded with a powerful set of features but it does not offer a micro SD support. This also denotes a limit for users to expand storage space with external SD cards. And to fill this gap, high-storage capacity models of this new iPhone flagship are made available like the 128GB and 256GB versions. The same goes for the larger iPhone 7 Plus. Nevertheless, a higher built-in memory storage capacity does not mean that this phone will remain at its best performance in time, especially with more new applications installed.
Various factors can affect performance on your device including extensive usage, apps, and processes, to name a few. Using your iPhone for an extended period of time will likewise fill its memory with processes and eventually, things will start to slow down. This is where proper memory management plays a significant role.
What to do to free up some space on your new iPhone 7?
You can resort to any of the following methods to manage internal storage of your iPhone 7 and free up some space to obtain performance boost in an instant.
Different Ways to Check on the Available Memory on your iPhone 7
The best way to start is to check on and analyze which apps are using how much of your phone’s total internal storage space. Also view on the available memory of your phone so you will know what apps to install without having to exceed on the remaining storage. If necessary, do something to free up some space.
- Check and manage memory through your iPhone 7 menu
- Go to the Home screen.
- Tap Settings.
- Scroll to and tap General from the Settings menu.
- Tap Storage & iCloud Usage to continue.
- On the following screen, you should see your device storage details including storage used and remaining space available.
- Tap Manage Storage to view how much storage apps are using. You will then be prompted with a list of apps along with the memory space each of them allocates.
Once you get there, you will see a list of your apps and how much storage space allocated for each. To view more details on each app’s memory usage, simply tap the app from the list. You might be able to delete some of the contents depending on the app or you can also delete the app and all of its content, if possible.
Usually, you will be prompted with a Storage Almost Full alert when your device is almost full and iOS cannot free up any more space on your phone. If so then you will need to remove any unused or unnecessary contents from your device.
- Check and manage memory through iTunes
Another way to check and manage your iPhone’s memory is through iTunes. You will need to use a computer to proceed with these steps:
- On your computer, open iTunes. As much as possible, use the latest version of iTunes program to avoid any software incompatibility issues.
- Connect your iPhone 7 to the computer using the supplied USB connector.
- In iTunes, locate and select your iPhone 7 from the list of devices. You should then see a bar that indicates how much storage your iOS content uses, divided by content type.
- Now, move your mouse over a content type to find more information on it. For example Other or Apps.
Cached Files are tagged as Other files on your iPhone. Temporary and cached files are automatically deleted when your iPhone needs more space. This means that you don’t need to delete them yourself.
More Memory Management Tips and Tricks for your iPhone 7
Subsequently highlighted are a few RAM management workarounds and tricks you can try on to improve your iPhone’s overall performance.
Method 1. Clear your iPhone’s internal memory with a soft reset.
Since iOS does not offer any RAM management options built within the iOS platform, you can resort to performing a soft reset or simply reboot your iPhone to clear its RAM. To do so, press and hold down the Sleep/Wake button until you are prompted with the Slide to Power Off option. Tap on that option to completely turn off your device, and after 30 seconds press and hold down the Sleep/Wake button again until the Apple logo shows up.
Method 2. Use the Power and Home button trick.
This trick is suggested by an iPhone owner who found out a noticeable boost on the device’s performance after performing these steps:
- Press and hold the Power button on our iPhone 7 until you are prompted with the Slide to Power Off screen.
- Once you are at the Power down screen, let go of the Power button.
- After a few seconds, press and hold your iPhone’s Home button and keep holding it until the Power down screen goes away and you are back into the Home screen.
Once you get back at the Home screen, you can take it as an indication that the clearing of RAM process has gone smoothly. Otherwise, repeat the steps from the very beginning.
Method 3. Manage your photo and video storage.
Photos among other contents designed for entertainment purposes take up space on your iPhone’s storage capacity. Your device can fill up quickly depending on how much content you have added as well as on the size of its storage capacity. If you are starting to see a message saying that your storage is full and that your device is starting to get sluggish, then it’s time for you to free up space by managing your photo and video storage. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings-> General-> Storage & iCloud Usage.
- Upgrade your storage plan.
- Store your photos and videos in iCloud with iCloud Photo Library.
- To get started with iCloud Photo Library, go to Settings-> iCloud-> Photos-> turn on iCloud Photo Library-> select Optimize iPhone 7 Storage to make more space on your device.
When you use or activate Optimize iPhone Storage, all smaller, space-saving photos and videos are kept on your iPhone while all of your original, full-resolution versions are stored in iCloud. You can store as many photos and videos as you want, for as long as you have enough space in iCloud.
Method 4. Upgrade Cloud Storage.
If necessary, you may opt to upgrade your iCloud storage to a bigger plan like 50GB, 200GB, 1TB or 2TB of iCloud storage. To buy more storage or change storage plan for your iCloud storage, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings-> iCloud-> Storage & Backup.
- Tap Buy More Storage or Change Storage Plan.
- Select a plan you prefer.
- Tap Buy and enter your Apple ID password to confirm action.
Note: Contact your carrier for more details on how to upgrade iCloud storage and how you are billed every month for your storage plan.
You can also upgrade iCloud storage through your carrier. Some carriers do offer options for you to view storage meter and upgrade memory online through Cloud storage.
For example, Verizon allows their customers view how much Cloud storage left for their account, and if necessary, add more storage. If you are a Verizon customer, you can visit the official verizonwireless support website and from there you can sign into to your My Verizon account and then navigate to My Verizon-> My Devices-> My Cloud Media & Contacts. Once you get to this menu, you can start viewing the amount of storage used, change the amount of storage space by clicking on Settings, and then select any of the given options such as 5GB, 25GB, and more. Finally, to confirm your selection, click OK.
Method 4. Update your iPhone 7 software.
Keeping your iPhone iOS update is highly recommended to ensure your device is more stable and optimized. To check for software updates available for your iPhone 7, go to Settings-> General-> Software Update-> and then follow the prompts to download and install available software update for your device.
The most recent software version rolled out by Apple for iOS devices including the iPhone 7 is iOS 10.2. This update contains a lot of significant improvements to your iPhone functions as well as fixes to certain bugs found in prior iOS versions.
More Helpful Tips:
The iOS system keeps track of your device’s storage by analysing how much space each app uses. If your device is already low on storage, iOS optimizes the storage while performing tasks like app installation, iOS updates, music downloads, video recording, and other tasks. To free up some space and create more storage, iOS lets you remove some of your contents like streamed videos and music, and some parts of apps that are no longer needed. It also erases temporary files and clears cache on your device.
Import photos and videos to your computer.
Another way to make more room for storage in your iPhone is to transfer the photos and videos that you no longer want to store in iCloud to your computer. Follow these steps:
- Connect your iPhone to your computer with a USB cable.
- If necessary, unlock your iPhone using your passcode.
- If prompted with the Trust This Computer message on your iOS device, tap Trust or Allow to continue.
- Start the import process by opening the Photos app.
- Swipe in from the bottom edge to view the app commands.
- Select Import.
Note: You may not be able to see the Import option if you are looking at a single picture in full size view.
- Select the device you want to import from (iPhone 7).
- The app will then automatically search for all photos and videos that it has not imported before and selects them. Alternatively, you can just swipe down on or click each photo and video you want to import or choose Select All to import all contents.
- Select Import to confirm action.
When file import process is complete, you will see the photos and videos saved in the Pictures folder in a subfolder named with date.
Expand your iPhone 7 Storage Space using any of the following alternative solutions:
Aside from microSD cards, there are many other extra storage solutions you can choose from online to add more space to your iPhone. Among the available handy options are as follow:
- Lightning Flash Drives – you can select any of the lightning flash drives online. Be sure to pick the one that is compatible with your iPhone 7. Once you have it, just plug it directly into your device’s charging or data port and instantly add extra storage. If you want to manage contents stored into your flash drives, you can simply slit it into your computer using the USB connector and then back up everything in it.
- External Drives (SSD) – another option you can resort to if you demand even more storage space is to plug a proper external SSD or hard drive into your iPhone 7 through the Lightning port. Just pick the most reliable external hard drive for your iPhone 7.
- Mobile Wireless Drives – if you don’t want to be bothered with cables, then you may opt for a Wi-Fi storage solution instead. There are a lot of brands that offer a lot of extra storage for carrying around a massive media file collection. Choose the brand that offers own Wi-Fi network and allows you to securely connect your iPhone to a Wi-Fi network and transfer files back and forth, as needed.
Engage with us
If you have other issues with your Apple iPhone 7, we are always willing to help. Contact us through our iPhone issues questionnaire and provide us with all necessary information about your problem so we can find a solution to your issue.