How to Remove Junk Files from Your iPhone in Under 10 Minutes

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What Exactly Qualifies as Junk Files on iPhone?

What is junk? Simply put, it’s clutter—stuff you don’t need but that sticks around anyway. Junk files are unnecessary data that pile up over time, wasting space and slowing down your iPhone.

Here’s what we would put into the junk category:

• App caches and data – temporary files apps create but never clean up.

• Old messages and attachments – forgotten texts, photos, and videos hogging storage

• Unused apps – apps you don’t use but still take up space.

• Browser cache – website data from Safari and other browsers that becomes outdated.

• Downloaded files – PDFs, videos, music, and documents you no longer need.

• Duplicate and near-duplicate photos – multiple shots of the same scene or near-identical images cluttering your library.

• Screenshots and screen recordings – quick captures that often get forgotten.

• Large, unused video files – old clips taking up gigabytes of storage.

• Voice memos – recordings you no longer need but still linger.

Anything that takes up space but isn’t needed can be considered junk. The good news? Your iPhone makes it easy to see what’s using the most storage.

Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. This section gives a detailed breakdown of your storage usage, helping you quickly identify files and apps you can delete to free up space..

For extra guidance, Apple’s support page on iPhone storage management offers tips to help keep your device clutter-free.

Junk buildup on iPhones is extremely common. For example, a reader recently wrote in:

“Hey, I was trying to take a picture yesterday, and right when I tapped the shutter button, my iPhone gave me a ‘Storage Almost Full’ message. I couldn’t even take the photo. I have no idea what’s clogging up my storage. I don’t download that much stuff. Is there any easy way to clean up whatever junk is filling my phone?”

If this sounds familiar, the methods below are exactly what we suggested to help them reclaim space.

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Top 10 Methods to Clean Junk Files on iPhone

Let’s dive in. We’ll start with the quickest and easiest ways to remove junk. Work down the list—you may not need every method, but every iPhone is different, and so is the clutter that fills it.

Method 1: Use Third-Party iPhone Cleanup Apps

This is the simplest method. Apple doesn’t make manual junk management very obvious, claiming iPhones handle it automatically—but the popularity of iPhone cleaner apps tells a different story.

These apps automate the cleanup process, turning what could take hours into minutes (or even seconds). They scan your iPhone for unnecessary files, duplicates, and large media, letting you free up space with minimal effort.

If you don’t want to spend time researching apps, we’ve tested the best options. At the top of our list is Clever Cleaner: AI iPhone Cleaner App, for two main reasons:

• It actually cleans up storage efficiently and finds media junk quickly.

• It’s one of the few truly free iPhone cleaners—no subscriptions, no locked features, no ads.

Unlike most other apps, Clever Cleaner doesn’t push paid plans; everything is available right from the start. It is a rare no-strings-attached option in a market filled with subscription-based cleaners.

We’ll show how to use Clever Cleaner to remove unnecessary images and cover its other features later in the article. Here’s how to use it:

1. Search for “Clever Cleaner” in the App Store or use the official link to download it.

2. Open the app and navigate to the Similars tab.

   

3. Tap ‘Smart Cleanup’, and the app will scan your photo library in seconds.

4. Review the suggested deletions. If you want to keep a specific one, tap ‘Restore’.

5. If you agree with the selection, ‘Slide to delete’, then confirm.

   

6. For a more hands-on approach, tap a group to manually select which photos to keep or remove.

7. The app’s AI automatically picks the Best shot in each group, but you can change this if needed.

   

8. Once you’re satisfied, tap ‘Move to Trash’ to delete the selected images or ‘Skip All’ to move to the next group.

9. When finished, tap ‘Empty Trash’ and confirm the deletion.

   

Note. Deleted photos remain in the Recently Deleted folder in the Photos app for 30 days. If you want to free up space immediately, clear them manually.

Beyond similar photos, Clever Cleaner has three other useful tabs:

• Screenshots tab – Quickly scans and identifies unnecessary screenshots, which makes it easy to delete them in bulk. No need to scroll through your entire photo library.

• Lives tab – Converts Live Photos to regular images to save space. Live Photos take up a lot more storage than standard photos due to their short animation. If you don’t need the motion effect, this feature helps free up significant storage.

• Heavies tab – Displays videos/photos sorted by size, which allows you to instantly identify and remove the biggest space-wasters. This is something iOS doesn’t natively offer.

  

As you can see, Clever Cleaner focuses mainly on media cleanup. It’s important to manage your expectations with any iPhone cleaner—while some apps offer extras like contact or calendar cleanup, they can only access the areas Apple allows third-party apps to manage.

You can read more about this app in our Clever Cleaner review. One interesting note from the official app page:

“Early users will never be asked to pay for upgrades or new features.”

That means if you download it now, you should get lifetime access to current and future features for free—a nice bonus.

Note: You can also use built-in features like the Duplicates tool in the Photos app. This helps remove exact duplicate photos, but it won’t detect near-duplicates. So don’t be surprised if some similar images remain.

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Method 2: Uninstall Rarely Used Apps

After Photos, Apps are usually one of the biggest storage hogs. Unused apps not only take up space but may also run background processes that slow down your iPhone. Unlike photos, there’s no third-party tool that can safely clean up app data—you’ll need to remove them manually.

Note: Some iPhone cleaner apps claim they can clear app caches or system junk, but this isn’t true. Apple sandboxes apps, so third-party tools cannot access or delete data stored by other apps. Any cleaner advertising this is just marketing.

To delete an unused app:

1. Touch and hold the app icon on your home screen.

2. Tap on ‘Remove App‘ or ‘Delete App‘ from the options menu.

   

3. Confirm deletion by selecting ‘Delete App‘ again in the prompt.

This action removes the app and associated data, freeing up space. Be cautious to only delete apps you no longer need, as this action cannot be undone without re-downloading the app.

Note. If you might need an app later but don’t want it taking up storage, offloading is a better option. This removes the app but keeps its data.

1. In Settings > General > iPhone Storage, tap an app.

2. Select Offload the app to remove it while keeping its settings and documents.

3. Reinstall it anytime from the App Store, and your data will still be there.

Method 2: Clear Safari Cache

Safari stores browsing data, history, and website caches to speed up page loading. Over time, these files pile up, taking up storage and sometimes even slowing down Safari itself.

To clear the Safari cache:

1. Open the ‘Settings‘ app on your iPhone.

2. Scroll down and select ‘Safari‘.

   

3. Tap on ‘Clear History and Website Data’.

4. Confirm your action by tapping ‘Clear’ in the pop-up.

   

Clearing your browser cache can free up space and even improve browser performance. Keep in mind, this will log you out of websites and remove your browsing history.

Note: Safari is the only browser that allows you to clear cache and website data directly from iPhone Settings, since it’s a native Apple app. For other browsers, like Chrome or Firefox, you’ll need to clear cache and browsing data from their in-app settings.

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Method 4: Review iMessage Attachments

Old messages—especially those with photos, videos, or documents—can take up a surprising amount of storage.

You have two options:

1. Enable Message History to automatically delete messages after a set period.

2. Manually review message threads and remove large attachments or unnecessary conversations to free up space.

This simple step helps keep your Messages storage under control without deleting the entire chat history.

1. Go to ‘Settings‘ and select ‘Messages‘.

2. Scroll to the ‘Message History‘ section.

   

3. Tap ‘Keep Messages‘ and choose the desired duration (e.g., 30 days).

4. To delete individual messages, open a conversation, touch and hold a message, and choose ‘More‘ to select messages for deletion.

   

Exercise caution when deleting files. Avoid removing anything important, and back up critical data first to prevent accidental loss. For more advanced cleanup, consider the automated solutions covered in the next section.

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Method 5: Clear App Cache

Another storage-heavy area is the cache of frequently used apps. Apps can accumulate gigabytes of temporary data—sometimes files that aren’t truly temporary. Over time, these cached files take up significant space.

Clearing the cache helps reclaim storage, but the steps vary by app. Generally, you’ll find the option under Settings, Storage, Data Management, or Cache within the app.:

1. Select an app to view its storage usage details.

2. Look for an option to clear cache or data.

   

3. If available, tap ‘Clear Cache‘ or a similar option.

Clearing an app’s cache removes temporary files without affecting your important data or settings within the app.

Note: Not all apps let you clear cache. Most third-party apps don’t provide a built-in option, so the most reliable way to clear cached data is to delete and reinstall the app.

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Method 6: Delete Downloaded Files

Downloaded files—like documents, videos, and PDFs—can pile up and consume valuable storage. Reviewing and removing unnecessary files is an easy way to free up space.

How to delete downloaded files:

1. Open the Files app on your iPhone.

2. Tap Browse at the bottom and select On My iPhone.

3. Check the Downloads folder for old or large files.

4. Select the files you no longer need and tap the trash bin to delete them**:**

5. Open the Files app on your iPhone and go to the Downloads folder.

6. Tap “…”in the top right corner, then Select and choose the files you want to delete.

7. 
   Tap the trash icon to delete the selected files.

This process helps reclaim storage space by removing files that are no longer needed. The Files app also includes a ‘Recently Deleted’ folder, similar to a recycle bin. Files remain there until manually deleted or after a set period, impacting available storage.

Method 7: Manage iCloud Storage

Optimize your iCloud storage by deleting old backups and unnecessary data. Here’s how to do it easily:

1. Open Settings and tap on your name at the top. There select iCloud to see your storage usage.

   

2. Tap Manage Storage for options to clean up backups, documents, photos, and more.

3. Consider deleting old backups or unnecessary data to free up space.

   

4. Explore options to upgrade your storage plan if necessary.

Note: While deleting old backups or app data from iCloud helps free up cloud storage, it won’t impact local storage on your iPhone. You won’t see changes in iPhone Storage under Settings. Still, cleaning up iCloud junk is worth doing.

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Method 8: Remove Offline Music & Podcasts

Downloaded music and podcasts can occupy a surprising amount of storage—especially if you save playlists or episodes regularly. Old podcast episodes from years ago may still be sitting on your device unnoticed.

How to remove offline music and podcasts:

1. Open the Music or Podcasts app.

2. Navigate to Downloaded content.

3. Review playlists, albums, or episodes you no longer need.

4. Swipe left or tap Remove to delete them from your device.:

5. Open Settings.

6. Go to General > iPhone Storage.

7. Scroll down and tap Music or Podcasts to see how much space they use.

   

8. Then tap Edit and remove a song, album, or podcast individually.

   

You can also adjust your settings to prevent your iPhone from automatically downloading new episodes (or delete them afterward). Here’s how:

1. Open the Settings app and find Podcasts.

2. You can either toggle on Remove Played Downloads to automatically delete episodes after you’ve listened to them.

3. Or toggle off Download When Saving to prevent saved episodes from being stored locally.

   

Method 9: Remove Unused Voice Memos

If your Voice Memos app is cluttered with unused recordings, follow these steps to tidy up:

1. Open the Voice Memos app on your iPhone.

2. Browse through your recordings and identify the ones you no longer need.

3. Swipe left on a memo to reveal the delete option, then tap Delete.

   

4. Confirm the deletion if prompted.

Note: Deleted voice memos aren’t immediately removed—they remain in the Recently Deleted folder for 30 days. To free up space right away, open Recently Deleted and tap Clear All.

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Method 10: Back Up and Restore

The most thorough way to clear hidden junk is to back up your iPhone, reset it to factory settings, and restore from the backup. This method removes residual files that normal cleanup steps can’t reach and is especially useful if your iPhone feels slow even after freeing up storage.

Warning: This will erase everything on your device—including apps, settings, and locally stored files. Back up your iPhone first to avoid losing important data permanently.

1. Create a full backup of your iPhone to make sure all data, settings, and media are saved. Use Finder/iTunes, iCloud, or one of third third-party apps.

2. Once the backup is complete, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone on your iPhone.

   

3. Choose Erase All Content and Settings to wipe your device clean.

   

4. After the reset, follow the prompts to restore your iPhone from the backup you created earlier.

This process can eliminate hidden junk files and restore your iPhone to a healthier state.

To Sum Up

Cleaning junk files isn’t just about freeing storage—it also keeps your iPhone running smoothly. Every device accumulates different types of clutter, so some methods are essential, while others are only needed in specific situations.

We recommend starting with the fastest, easiest methods first:

• Using a third-party cleaner app

• Reviewing iMessage attachments

• Clearing app cache and browser data

These steps usually remove a significant amount of junk and don’t take much time.

However, not all cases are the same. In rare situations, even these methods aren’t enough. Method 10 (Back Up and Restore) is a last resort, but some users—like those in Reddit discussions—found that only a factory reset cleared excessive junk in System Data. If junk files keep reappearing and storage disappears without explanation, a reset may be the only way to fully remove hidden system clutter.

Bottom line: Start with the quick fixes—they’re enough for most people and usually take less than 10 minutes. If that’s not enough, work your way down the list until your iPhone feels fresh again.