How to Buy More Storage on iPhone ? – Plan and Process

Every iPhone user must have been stuck in a situation at least once where you were clicking photos with your loved ones or your furry baby, and suddenly you saw a message that your  ‘iCloud storage’ on your iPhone is almost full. This is very irritating, right? So, what is the solution to this? The solution is simple: Increase your iCloud storage capacity. In the following blog, we will tell you a quick and easy way how to buy more storage on iPhone. So, do not stop reading here. Read this article till the end and learn how to buy more iCloud storage.

Expanding iPhone Storage: A Guide on How to Buy iCloud Storage

An iPhone looks cool, but in reality, it is costly to use compared to all Android smartphones. Your iPhone’s storage starts filling with all the new memories as soon as you have a baby or a new pet in your life. And in that case, you’ll need to get more iCloud storage in your iPhone to create more memories with them.

You can go with cloud servers where you can buy storage and keep all your data at your fingertips with an iCloud storage subscription.

Here are some easy steps on how to buy more storage on iPhone. You can upgrade your iCloud storage plan on your Apple device.

•     The first step is to Go to the ‘Settings’ option.
•     Then, you’ll see a new screen. Click on the screen and write your name at the top.
•     After that, select the ‘iCloud’ option.
•     Once you tap on the ‘iCloud’ option, you’ll see a new option of  ‘Manage Storage’ Select that option.
•     In some other iOS versions, you might see the ‘iCloud’ option instead of the ‘Manage Storage’ option depending on the new version.
•     After selecting the ‘iCloud’ option, you’ll see two new options:
•     1. “Buy More Storage”( Choose this option if upgrading your iCloud storage plan for the first time)

2. “Change Storage Plan” (Choose this option if you have upgraded already but want to upgrade it again)

•     Now, you need to select the upgrade option to choose the required amount of storage. You can upgrade or degrade the iCloud storage at any time. But always remember that if you select the degrade option to change your current iCloud storage, you may lose some of your essential data.
•     After selecting the desired plan, confirm and purchase your new one by double-clicking on your device’s side button or entering your credit card information.
•     After confirmation, you’ll be charged each month automatically for the iCloud storage plan you have selected until you cancel it.

 There are different plans for iCloud storage available, and you can select any plan according to your need. For example, if you love clicking pictures and making videos, plus if you listen to podcasts and download your favorite song in your download playlist, then a 2TB or 200GB storage plan will suit you the best. On the other hand, if you don’t have any such demands, then 50GB of iCloud storage is sufficient for you.

Evaluate Your Needs Before Upgrading Your iCloud Storage

It is essential to evaluate your current needs before buying iCloud storage. This will not only help you determine your exact requirement for purchasing the upgrade plan of iCloud storage but will also help you save up some money.

You can select the right iCloud storage Plan by:

1. Checking the current storage available on your iPhone
2. Or by keeping and deleting unnecessary data from your phone.

iPhone Storage Plans According to Your Needs

What is iCloud Storage?

The storage service that Apple offers is called iCloud storage. iCloud storage helps you to keep all the photos and videos of your loved ones &  all your important data & documents safely. iCloud storage enables you to access all your data from any device with an internet connection.

There are some differences between iCloud storage and iPhone storage. iCloud storage provides online storage to your device, whereas iPhone storage provides direct storage to your device. In other words, you can easily move those files which you use less frequently to your iCloud storage without using the local storage of your iPhone.

iCloud comes with a free storage space of 5GB. But, if you wish to expand the storage of your iCloud, you can buy the iCloud+ service. However, if you want to avoid spending money on this, you can use other alternatives.

Local Storage Vs. iCloud Storage

The iPhone comes with two different types of storage.

•     Device Storage (It is the physical storage of the iPhone)
•     iCloud Storage (It is the cloud-based storage provided by Apple)

The first iPhone was launched with a storage of 8GB. But today, they have upgraded their storage to 1TB. The new models of iPhones come with storage of 128GB. The inbuilt storage in your iPhone is called local storage. You can upgrade the inbuilt storage of your iPhone by changing the current iPhone.iPhone users don’t have to worry about the data connection in case of local storage. You can access all your essential files regardless of where you are.

iCloud is an online storage that the iPhone itself offers. They provide this online storage via Apple’s iCloud service. Online storage of the iPhone helps you to store all your files on the “cloud,” and you get access to all the files available on your device.

All iPhones come with free iCloud storage of 5GB. However, if someone wants to expand the iCloud storage, they can buy a monthly subscription. Their monthly subscription starts from $0.99, which provides storage of 50GB, or you can choose their $9.99 plan. You can get 50GB for $0.99/month and up to 2TB for $9.99/month.

Simple Steps to Check the Current Storage in Your iPhone:

The steps to prevent the current storage in your iPhone are pretty simple. All you need to do is just;

•     Go to the ‘Settings’ option on your iPhone.
•     Then click on the ‘General’ option on your iOS screen.
• Once you tap on the ‘General’ option, a new option will appear on your screen as ‘iPhone Storage.’

After this, you will see the distribution of your device storage. It will include how much storage is consumed by each app or file available on your iPhone and how much storage is left.

Now look and observe all the apps and files that consume more space from your device. It will help you in deciding which data should be kept or which should be deleted.

Can You Buy More iPhone Storage ?

The answer is NO. You cannot buy iPhone storage. As iPhone provides a specific amount of storage to all its users, which can not be increased. However, you can increase the storage by purchasing the service from iPhone, i.e., iCloud storage. The iCloud service helps to store all your favorite pictures, videos, and other vital documents and files online. iCloud is a great feature that keeps all your essential data online.

Why Do You Need to Buy More Storage on Your iPhone ?

Now, you may have the answer to how to buy more storage on iPhone. But let’s see what typical cases make you want to expand the iCloud storage in your iPhone. The most common issues are given below:

• Large Media Files: Every iPhone user would agree that every time Apple launches its new iPhones, they come up with high-resolution cameras. So, when you click pictures or shoot videos, the inbuilt storage of the iPhones fills up very quickly.
• iCloud Backup: iCloud backup is a savior because it keeps a stock copy of all the data available in your iPhone, which eventually helps to restore all your important data in case your iPhone is misplaced or damaged. So, if you are considering enabling the iCloud backup option on your device, you will need to expand the iCloud storage.
• iOS Apps and Updates: If you have a base model iPhone and have numerous apps installed in your iPhone, you’ll run out of storage rapidly rather than later.

But wait, there’s more with each update made to your device that leads to increased iCloud storage in your iPhone.

• Messaging apps media: If you use iMessage or WhatsApp as an instant messaging service to send or receive messages, you’ll need additional storage for your iPhone.
• Games: If you are a game lover and have countless games installed on your iPhone, then it is evident that those games will take up most of the storage of your iPhone.

If your iCloud storage runs out of space, you cannot upload new pictures and videos to your iCloud drive. Moreover, iCloud email and other iCloud apps will not sync between the devices.

What are the Other Ways to Fix iPhone Storage?

If you don’t want to spend your precious money on buying a monthly subscription to an iCloud storage plan, then you can use other plenty of ways by which you can increase your iPhone’s storage, like:

•     Delete those apps and files which you use less frequently.
•     Clearing out those apps and files which are unused for a very long period of time.
•     Also, convert your high-quality videos into lower-quality.
•     Create backups for iCloud drive.
•     Moreover, disable automatic downloads on instant messaging apps.

Deleting Unwanted Apps and Files

The easiest way you can use to free up the storage of your iPhone is by deleting all the unwanted apps and files. These unused apps and files consume the storage of your device a lot, and as a result, you start facing a shortage of storage.

So, what’s the solution to this? The solution is simple: count on those files and apps you hardly use, delete them, and free up some space for your more important stuff. If that’s not enough for you, you can go for the “Offload UnusedApps” feature available on our iPhone.This feature helps to swap out all the unused apps when the storage of your iPhone runs out.

Follow these quick steps to Turn – ON  the “Offload Unused Apps” feature on your iPhone,

1. First, Go to the ‘Setting’ option on your iPhone.
2. Click the ‘General’ option available on the screen.
3. Tap on ‘iPhone storage.’
4. Lastly, enable the ‘Offload Unused App option.’

Once you enable this feature, all the unused apps will automatically unload when the iPhone’s storage is exhausted.

Use External Drives

External drives are a great option for transferring large media files. This will also help to expand your iPhone’s storage. You only need a fast USB adapter to transfer your files to an external drive from your iPhone.

You can use an external drive to store all your important files, documents, pictures, and videos. External drives are a great substitute as you can free up space on your iPhone.

iCloud+

Apple has its own iCloud storage service, which helps to provide a monthly subscription plan which you can purchase according to your need for additional iCloud service.  

After selecting the monthly subscription to iCloud+, you can move your data stored on iCloud from your iPhone.

Back-Up to Other Cloud Storage Options

Different third-party iCloud storage options are available, such as Google One, Dropbox, and OneDrive, are available. These alternatives provide more iCloud storage on a trial period basis.

For example, Google One offers free storage of 15 GB, whereas iCloud provides only 5GB of free storage, which is three times less than Google One.

Any iPhone user can store their files, documents, pictures, videos, or any other iPhone data in any iCloud storage service. All you need is a decent internet connection to access all your data from any device.

Convert Videos to Lower Quality

You can convert your high-quality videos to lower quality as high-quality videos consume maximum storage on your iPhone.A video converter is a great option that can be used to convert the video quality.

To change the quality of your future video, follow these steps:

•     Go to the ‘Setting option.’
•     Select the ‘Camera’ option.
•     Go to the ‘Record Video’ option in order to change the video quality.
•     Change the video quality settings to 720p HD, which will help to reduce the video quality to 40 MB          per minute instead of 90MB at HD.

Disable Auto-downloads on Instant Messaging Apps

All the files you receive download automatically from instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and iMessage. After a certain period, these downloaded files fill up the storage of your iPhone.

However, you can simply disable all the auto-downloads on these messaging services. This will also help you download only necessary media files and avoid unnecessary ones.

Minimize the Number of Email Accounts

Increase the storage of your iPhone by just minimizing the number of accounts of your mail. You can organize your emails by clearing out all those messages that are of no use. You can set up automatic rules to delete your spam emails. You’ll not require to increase the storage space if you use only necessary Apple services such as Contacts and Calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How can I avoid paying for more storage on iPhone?

You can use these steps in order to avoid paying for more storage on your iPhone:

• Firstly check out your phone, and delete all the apps and files that are no longer in use.
• Next, use the free iCloud storage space available on your phone by opening the Settings app, writing your name at the top, and accessing your iCloud settings to see how your storage is being used.
• Lastly, you can use Google Drive or OneDrive apps. These are the alternative apps that provide free iCloud storage.

2. How much storage is best for iPhone?

The iPhone storage depends on the iPhone user’s needs. If you are a primary user, then 128GB is sufficient for you. But if you store your different collections of photos, videos, podcasts, and music playlists, that case,1TB would be enough.

3. Does buying iCloud storage free up space on iPhone?

The storage of your iPhone doesn’t free up automatically. If you want to free up the storage of your iPhone, then you can’t transfer some of your content, like photos and videos, to iCloud Storage.

4. How much does buying extra storage for the iPhone cost?

Apple provides free iCloud storage of up to 5GB. However, iCloud storage comes up with different monthly subscriptions of iCloud. The average cost of iCloud storage starts from $0.99 to $9.99 monthly.

5. Why can’t I buy more storage on iPhone?

The answer to the question is simple. You can’t buy more storage. The physical storage of the iPhone is fixed and cannot be changed. However, you can buy an iCloud subscription to expand the storage of your iPhone, but the internal storage cannot be changed.