How to Clean Up Your Photo Library and Free Up Storage on iPhone/iPad

The iOS Photos app makes it hard to see what is using space, delete near-duplicates, or shrink Live Photos and large videos without extra apps. HashPhotos can do that in the same library.

Work from largest files down, then empty Recently Deleted in Photos so the space is actually reclaimed.

  1. Find what takes the most space
  2. Delete duplicate and similar photos
  3. Compare similar shots and keep the best
  4. Rate, flag, and reject while reviewing
  5. Keep only the edited version
  6. Convert Live Photos
  7. Compress large videos
  8. Convert format or resize remaining photos
  9. Empty Recently Deleted

1. Find what takes the most space

Start with an overview of totals, then open All Photos (or a trip album) and sort by size so the largest items surface first. The Photos app cannot sort this way.

Library Overview and Folder/Album Overview

Use Overview when you want to see how much space a whole library, folder, or album is using before you hunt individual files. Totals, media types, and formats are listed in one place.

Library Overview

Opens a summary of the library: total storage, a media-type breakdown, yearly and monthly activity, and file-format counts.

  1. Open the sidebar.
  2. Tap the … button on the library header, then tap Overview.

Guide: Library Overview.

Folder or album Overview

Same kind of summary for one folder or album — useful when a trip folder or album looks large and you want its total before you sort or search inside it.

  1. Open the sidebar.
  2. Touch and hold the folder or album.
  3. Tap Overview.

Sort by File Size or Disk Usage

In All Photos, View Options > Sort By is not available. Set a custom sort in Album Options instead — All Photos does not use the global sort from Settings.

  1. Open All Photos.
  2. Tap the actions button at the bottom left of the thumbnails screen.
  3. Tap View Options > Album Options.
  4. Turn on Use Custom Options.
  5. Set Sort By to File Size or Disk Usage.
  6. Use the Ascending option to switch ascending and descending order.

In a regular album, you can sort directly: tap the actions button, then View Options > Sort By > File Size or Disk Usage. Tap the same option again to toggle ascending and descending order.

In All Photos, turn on File Size or Disk Usage in the same Album Options panel so each thumbnail shows how large the item is. In an album, use View Options > Thumbnail Info.

Use File Size when you want the largest current files — typical large videos and stills. Use Disk Usage when you want what is actually occupying storage, including hidden originals.

See Album Custom Options for details.

File Size vs Disk Usage

If a photo looks small by File Size but large by Disk Usage, it is usually an edited photo that still has a full-size original behind it. Those are good candidates for Keep Only Edited.

See Terms and Sort Thumbnails for the full definitions.

Search with #filesize>

You do not need to sort first. A #filesize search finds photos and videos over a chosen size in the current album.

Turn on File Size or Disk Usage in thumbnail info so you can see each item's size on the thumbnail without opening it.

  1. Tap the search button at the bottom right, then tap the keyword button.
  2. Enter a #filesize> filter. Examples:
  • #filesize>100mb
    larger than 100 MB
  • #filesize>1gb
    larger than 1 GB
  • #video #filesize>150mb
    videos larger than 150 MB — combine with other filters

You can also write #filesize>150m (the trailing b is optional) or a range such as #filesize=100m-150m.

See the step-by-step walkthrough: Sort or search photos and videos by file size.

PRO Sort by File Size, sort by Disk Usage, and the #filesize filter are Pro only.

2. Delete duplicate and similar photos

Screenshots saved twice, AirDrop copies, and burst leftovers add up. HashPhotos groups exact duplicates and visually similar photos so you can keep one and delete the rest.

  1. Tap the actions button at the bottom left.
  2. Tap Find Duplicates.
  3. Choose how strictly to match. Identical finds exact copies, including file size. A looser level also finds similar shots.
  4. In the results, tap Compare when you need a side-by-side look, then select extras and delete them.

You can also select a date range first, then run Find Duplicates only on those photos.

From a single photo in the viewer, Find Similar Photos looks for near-duplicates around the same time — useful after a burst or a series of nearly identical poses.

Guides: Find Duplicates, How to clean up duplicate or similar photos.

PRO Free: delete up to 3 items at a time from duplicate results.

3. Compare similar shots and keep the best

  1. Select the photos to compare.
  2. Tap the actions button on the bottom toolbar.
  3. Tap Compare and Pick.
  4. Swipe between candidates. When you find the keeper, tap the pick button.
  5. Rate it, or mark others as flagged or rejected.
  6. Delete rejected candidates from the same screen.

You can open Compare and Pick from duplicate or similar-photo results as well.

Guide: Compare and Pick.

PRO Free: compare only. Deleting candidates from Compare and Pick is Pro.

4. Rate, flag, and reject while reviewing

For a longer cull — a vacation week, a concert, or years of screenshots — mark photos as you go, then delete the rejects in bulk instead of deciding one-by-one later.

  1. Open a photo in the viewer.
  2. Tap the actions button on the bottom toolbar.
  3. Tap Options > Rating Mode.
  4. Give keepers 1–5 stars, mark maybe-shots as flagged, and mark throwaways as rejected.

After a pass, search with #rating (for example #rating=0 for unrated, #rating>3 for keepers), #flagged, or #rejected, then delete what you do not want to keep. Ratings can also drive a smart album.

Guide: Rating & Flag.

PRO Free: star rating is unlimited; flag up to 15 items.

5. Keep only the edited version

When you crop, filter, or adjust a photo or video in the iOS Photos library, iOS keeps both the original and the edit so you can revert. If you are done editing, the original is wasted space.

Keep Only Edited saves a new item that contains only the final edit, then deletes the previous one.

  1. Search with #edited to list photos and videos that still have an original behind the edit. See built-in filters.
  2. Select the ones you no longer need to revert — or open one in the viewer.
  3. Tap the actions button on the bottom toolbar.
  4. Tap Tools > Keep Only Edited.

Guide: Keep Only Edited.

After this, you cannot revert to the pre-edit original in Photos. The deleted item stays in Recently Deleted for 30 days until you remove it permanently.

6. Convert Live Photos

A Live Photo stores a still image plus a short video. If you never play the motion, that video is unused storage. Search with #live to list them.

Keep the still, drop the motion

  1. Open a Live Photo in the viewer, or select several.
  2. Tap the actions button on the bottom toolbar.
  3. Tap Convert > Live Photo to Still.

In the System Library, only the still photo is kept and the original Live Photo (photo + video) is deleted after you confirm.

Guide: Convert Live Photo to Still Photo.

Keep the motion as a regular video

If you want the clip rather than the Live Photo pair, convert it to a video, then compress that video if it is still large. Delete the original Live Photo afterward if you no longer need it.

  1. Open or select Live Photos.
  2. Tap Convert > Live Photo to Video.
  3. Tap Save.

Guide: Live Photo to Video.

7. Compress large videos

Large videos are usually the biggest files. After you sort by size or search #video #filesize>150mb, compress the ones you want to keep.

  1. Open a video in the viewer, or select several videos.
  2. Tap the actions button on the bottom toolbar.
  3. Tap Convert > Compress Video.
  4. Choose a preset, or Custom for your own quality settings, then tap Save.

Guide: Compress Video.

PRO Free: batch processing and custom settings are not available.

8. Convert format or resize remaining photos

After duplicates, Live Photos, and videos, leftover space is often large PNGs (screenshots, downloads) and full-resolution JPEGs you do not need at camera size.

Convert image format

HEIC and WebP are usually much smaller than PNG or high-quality JPEG. Convert screenshots with #screenshot or #png, and turn off Keep Original so the larger file is replaced.

  1. Select the photos to convert.
  2. Tap the actions button on the bottom toolbar.
  3. Tap Convert > Convert Image Format.
  4. Choose a format and set quality.
  5. Tap Convert. The original is deleted unless Keep Original is on.

How to convert image format · Convert Image Format guide.

PRO Free: convert one photo at a time.

Resize

If you do not need a 48 MP original on the phone — receipts, reference shots, images already backed up elsewhere — resize them.

  1. Select the photos.
  2. Tap the actions button on the bottom toolbar.
  3. Tap Edit > Resize.
  4. Choose a mode such as Percent, Max Dimensions, or Longest Edge, optionally set an output format, then apply.

Guide: Resize Photos.

PRO Free: single item only, 30-time trial.

9. Empty Recently Deleted

Items you delete from the System Library (including after Keep Only Edited, Live Photo to Still, or Convert Image Format) go to Recently Deleted in the Photos app and still count toward storage for 30 days.

  1. Open the Photos app.
  2. Open Recently Deleted.
  3. Delete the items permanently if you are sure you do not need them.

If you use iCloud Photos, deleting from the System Library also removes those items from iCloud after they leave Recently Deleted.

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