What Is ‘Media’ in iPhone Storage & How to Free Up Space?

If you were checking your iPhone storage and have some questions about what is labeled as Media and why it takes up so much space, you’ll find all the answers here. We’ll explain exactly what falls under the Media category, why it can grow so quickly, and how to clear media storage on your iPhone without losing important files. Plus, we’ll touch on other useful storage management tips and tricks.

What Is Media on iPhone Storage?

You probably checked the storage on your iPhone, just like it’s covered in this official guide from Apple, and noticed that Media takes up a large portion of space. But what exactly does Apple categorize as Media?

• Music includes downloaded songs from Apple Music, Spotify, and iTunes. Even if you stream music, apps store cached files that take up space.
• Videos cover movies, TV shows, and clips from Apple TV, Netflix, YouTube, and some other media apps.
• Podcasts add up when downloaded for offline listening. Many apps automatically download new episodes.
• Ringtones include custom tones from iTunes, GarageBand, or computer imports. Notification and alarm sounds also count as Media.
• Artwork includes album covers and video thumbnails. Streaming apps like Apple Music and Spotify store artwork locally.
• Voice Memos take up space, especially high-quality recordings or long files. Even if synced with iCloud, they remain on your device unless deleted.

On different devices, storage categories might look different. You might see Podcasts as a separate category and no Media section at all. The way storage appears depends on your specific iPhone usage and iOS version.

Many media files stored on your iPhone won’t fall under the Media category at all. Files shared through apps like WhatsApp or Telegram are stored under Applications, not Media. Photos and videos taken with your iPhone camera appear in the Photos category, not Media. Apple’s categorization can be confusing, but in the next section, we will cover how to clear Media storage using a broader definition. This will include your entire media library to help you free up the maximum amount of space.

How to Clear Media Storage on iPhone

Now, let’s get to practice. We will cover 4 sure methods to clean up your media clutter and free up valuable storage space. We’ll take a broad approach, covering music, videos, podcasts, voice memos, photos, and cached app data to maximize space savings.

1. Delete Unwanted Music and Podcasts

Music and podcast downloads might consume more storage than expected, particularly with high quality audio files or saved episodes. A single podcast episode often reaches around 100MB+. If you follow multiple shows and keep many episodes can easily occupy several gigabytes. To manage this consider these steps:

1. Open Settings and go to General > iPhone Storage.
2. Scroll down and tap Music or Podcasts to see how much space they use.
3. You can press Edit and remove a song, album or podcast individually.

To prevent podcasts from downloading by default, go into the Settings app. Under Podcasts, find Download When Saving and toggle it off. Now, every time you save an episode or follow a new show, it won’t automatically download.

2. Clean Your Media Library

For most people, photos and videos take up more space than any other type of media on their iPhone. Thousands of high-resolution pictures, duplicate copies, similar photos, and old screenshots pile up over time. Videos – especially those recorded in 4K – consume massive amounts of storage, making your media library the #1 reason your iPhone runs out of space.

You can, of course, scroll through your library and delete unnecessary files manually, but that’s a tedious task that could take all day. Instead, let’s talk about iPhone cleaner apps that can clear media clutter automatically. There are many apps that claim to do this, but few manage to do it effectively and for free.

One of the rare apps that actually delivers is Clever Cleaner. It scans your media library, finds duplicate and similar photos, and helps you remove other unnecessary files with just a few taps. Unlike most cleaner apps, this one doesn’t lock any features behind a paywall, a great option for quickly freeing up space without spending money. Here’s how you can use it:

1. Download free Clever Cleaner on the App Store.
2. Open the app and go to the Similars tab.
3. Tap Smart Cleanup to let the app scan your library and suggest images for deletion.
4. If you want to keep a specific photo, tap Restore before confirming the cleanup.
5. Scroll through the list, review the selections, and slide to delete. Confirm once more, and the app will handle the rest.
6. For a manual review, tap a group, choose which photos to keep or remove, then tap Move to Trash or Skip All to continue.
7. Once done, tap Empty Trash at the bottom to permanently the selected files.

Clever Cleaner does more than just remove similar photos. You can also check other tabs for Screenshots, Lives, and Heavies:

• Screenshots is self-explanatory – it gathers all screenshots in one place so you can quickly delete unnecessary ones or all in one go.
• Lives lets you “compress” Live Photos by converting them into standard images. Live Photos store a short video clip along with the image, which takes up significantly more space. Converting them can save a lot of storage and keep the main photo intact.
• Heavies lists all videos in your Photos library, sorted from largest to smallest. This allows for quick removal of large, unwanted files with a single tap. An iPhone does not have a built-in option to sort video by size, so this tool particularly handy. 

Remember, deleted files first move into the Recently Deleted folder. To reclaim storage right away it needs to be emptied manually. All iPhone cleaners delete files this way, but not all offer the same features. Clever Cleaner is one of the few truly free cleaner apps for iPhone without ads or a paywall that we could find, and the developers promise to keep it free for all early users – definitely not a bad tool to have on your phone.

Video Tutorial

3. Clear Voice Memos and Ringtones

Voice Memos and Ringtones take up far less space than photos or videos, but it’s all about quantity – if you have a lot of recordings or custom ringtones, it all adds up. Clear out unused memo files to free up extra storage:

1. Open the Voice Memos app and look for old recordings you no longer need.
2. Swipe left on a memo and tap Delete, or tap Edit to select and remove multiple files at once.
3. Open the Recently Deleted folder in the app and clear it to permanently free up space.

For ringtones:

4. Open the Settings app and tap Sounds & Haptics.
5. Under Ringtone, look for custom tones that are no longer needed. 
6. To remove a ringtone, connect an iPhone to a computer. Use Finder on macOS or iTunes on Windows. Access the Tones section and delete the unwanted tone.

4. Remove Downloaded Videos and Movies

The next thing to clean is all the downloaded TV shows, movies, or clips saved from online platforms and streaming services. Many people don’t even realize that some content may have been downloaded instead of directly streamed, silently taking up gigabytes of storage. Whether it’s a movie saved for a flight, a TV episode you forgot about, or videos recorded on your iPhone, these files add up fast. To delete downloaded Movies, TV shows, and videos:

1. Open the TV app and check the Library tab for downloaded movies or episodes.
2. Swipe left on anything you no longer need and delete it.
3. In Netflix, YouTube, or other streaming apps, go to the Downloads section and remove watched or unnecessary videos.

Also, check app settings for automatic downloads. Some streaming apps download content in the background. YouTube’s Smart Downloads feature saves videos for offline viewing automatically. You can open the YouTube app, go to Settings, find Smart Downloads, and turn it off if you don’t want videos downloading without your knowledge.

Another way to control video storage is by adjusting download quality settings in the Apple TV app. As mentioned in the iPhone User Guide, you can choose different download options to manage file size:

1. Open the Settings app and scroll to TV.
2. Tap iTunes Videos or Apple TV Downloads (depending on your iOS version).
3. Under Use Cellular Data, turn it off if you want to limit downloads to Wi-Fi only.
4. Under Wi-Fi Downloads, choose between High Quality (larger file sizes but better resolution) or Fast Downloads (lower resolution but significantly smaller file sizes).

If you watch a lot of shows and movies, adjusting download settings can significantly reduce the Media category in your iPhone storage.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, Media is a sweeping category with files stored in many places – videos, music, podcasts, voice memos, and even data from apps. The good news is that you can get rid of media storage on an iPhone without making too many unnecessary cuts. A few smart deletions, adjustments to auto-download settings, and free cleaning tools can free up gigabytes of space. Follow these steps, and you can put this problem behind you.