Cyber Monday Sale! 50% Off All Access

Running Out of Space on Your iPhone? Here's What to Delete and How. Step-by-step directions on how to free up enough space to upgrade to iOS 9.

By Kim Lachance Shandrow

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Apple

If you're like me, you're itching to upgrade to iOS 9 already, but you can't. You don't have enough space on your phone to install it, or even to take one more pic. Don't fret. Luckily the fix is relatively simple.

In a few basic steps, you'll be snapping pics and playing with all the sparkly new bells and whistles baked into Apple's latest mobile operating system in no time. Brace yourself, though, because a grip of data -- photos, texts, apps and more -- will likely be laid to waste in the process. Whatever it takes to get down to the 1.3 GB of free space required to update, right?

To free up enough room:

1. Find the apps that hog the most space and delete them.

To seek and destroy space-sucking apps, go to your iPhone's Usage Settings menu. On top of viewing the total gigabytes available, you'll also see how much space your apps, music, messages and photos chew up. From here, you can ax the apps you're willing to part with. Not ready to permanently ditch Facebook or LinkedIn? No worries. Space permitting, you can re-download apps later. If you delete paid apps, good news, you won't have to pay again to re-install them.

Related: How to Charge Your iPhone Super Fast In a Short Amount of Time

To view your Usage Settings, simply tap Settings from your iPhone's home screen. Then select General and then Usage. To kill an app, select it from the list, then click Delete App and, poof, it's gone.

2. Delete photos and other vampire data.

Might as well start with your photos. You can either manually delete images direct from your iPhone or by connecting your phone to a Mac. To do it from your phone, select Photos from your home screen, click Select, check off the pics you want to ditch and, finally, select the trash can icon. Adios, data gobblers.

To gut your crammed Camera Roll from a Mac, launch Image Capture and choose the images you're willing to delete. To speed up the process, hold down the Command key to select and snipe multiple pics at once.

Also on the chopping block should be all unneeded videos, movies, books, text messages, voicemails, reminders, contacts and recent calls in your call history. Be brutal. Let all the deadwood go. No more digital hoarding.

Related: How Apple's New iPhone Leasing Program Stacks Up Against Contracts From Mobile Carriers

3. Turn off app notifications.

App notifications gobble up not just data, but your iPhone's precious battery life, too. To rein in their impact, give a few the boot. Start by launching Settings from your home screen. Then tap on Notifications. Next, select the app you want to disable notifications for. Finally, select the on/off toggle right next to Allow Notifications and, boom, you've turned notifications for that specific app off. Dig deep and and wipe out as many app notifications as you can survive without. Remember, you're cleaning house. Out with the old. In with the new.

4. Clean up Safari.

Another quick, easy way to shore up space quick is to clear pesky cookies and data from your Safari browser cache. To do this, go to Settings from your home screen. Scroll down and select Safari. From there, scroll down to the bottom and choose Advanced. Next, tap on Website Data. Scroll to the bottom once more and select Remove All Website Data and you're golden.

While you're at it, you'll also want to clear your Safari browsing history. Start by going to Settings on your home screen. Then select Safari. Scroll down and choose Clear History. You might as well also click Clear Cookies and Data while you're there, too.

There are several other ways to shore up storage space on your iPhone, but these are a solid start. If you have any tips or tricks for availing more gigabytes, we'd love to hear them. Please share away in the Comments section below.

Related: Tricks to Creating a High-Quality Video With Your iPhone

Kim Lachance Shandrow

Former West Coast Editor

Kim Lachance Shandrow is the former West Coast editor at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was a commerce columnist at Los Angeles CityBeat, a news producer at MSNBC and KNBC in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She has also written for Government Technology magazine, LA Yoga magazine, the Lowell Sun newspaper, HealthCentral.com, PsychCentral.com and the former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop. Follow her on Twitter at @Lashandrow. You can also follow her on Facebook here

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business News

'I Stand By My Decisions': A CEO Is Going Viral For Firing Almost All of the Company's Employees — Here's Why

The Musicians Club CEO Baldvin Oddsson fired 99 workers at once over Slack for missing a morning meeting. But there's a catch.

Business News

'Something Previously Impossible': New AI Makes 3D Worlds Out of a Single Image

The new technology allows viewers to explore two-dimensional images in 3D.

Franchise

Subway's CEO Steps Down Amid a Major Transition for the Sandwich Giant

John Chidsey will step down at the end of 2024, marking the close of a transformative five-year tenure.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Real Estate

Why Real Estate Should Be a Key Part of Your Wealth-Building Strategy in 2025 and Beyond

Real estate remains a strong choice for building wealth in 2025 and beyond, from its ability to generate passive income to offering long-term appreciation and acting as a hedge against inflation.

Fundraising

They Turned Down an Early Pay Day to Maintain Control of Their Business. And Then Went on to Raise $190 Million.

Jason Yeh, co-founder and General Partner of Patron, explains the early-stage venture firm's creation and future outlook.