When you need to make a phone backup of your iPhone, iPad or iPod, quite a few people may consider using iCloud to back up their devices. Before that, you should know that Apple just offers 5 GB of free space for iCloud, though you can upgrade your iCloud account for a yearly fee to include a larger 15 GB, 25 GB, or 55 GB data storage plan. Actually, for the majortity of iOS users, 5 GB of free storage space is quite enough as long as you free up storage on iCloud regularly. Now, this passage will tell you how to free iCloud storage on iPhone/iPad and on computer.
Part 1. How to Free up iCloud Storage on iPhone/iPad
Part 2. How to Free up iCloud Storage on Computer
Part 3. How to Upgrade or Downgrade iCloud Storage
Generally speaking, iCloud stores iPhone/iPad data as two types: document & data and backups. Storage is the data that’s sent from your app to iCloud for sync, while Backup is periodically saved-up data that goes into the iCloud backup space. So to free up iCloud storage on iPhone/iPad, you can start the cleaning process from these two aspects.
> Go to Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup.
> Then enter the Manage Storage section to see more.
> Now, you can have a clear picture of the storage usage of Backups and Data.
> To clear space from iCloud Document & Data, enter the files to preview more. Then click on Delete All to delete these files from iCloud to get more free space.
> To clear space from iCloud Backups, enter the files to preview mores. Then switch off the apps that you don't want to sync with iCloud.
Related: How to Download iCloud Backup to Computer
(Note: Since iCloud has limitations in terms of storage capacity, you can also get other professional iCloud alternative to backup your iOS device to the computer.)
Speaking of freeing up iCloud storage on computer, that is - deleteing iCloud backups from computer. Here, different pathes for Mac and Windows computer users are shown in the below!
For Mac users:
Go to Apple menu > System Preference > iCloud > Manage. Then select Backup on the left and choose the iOS device backup to delete.
For Windows users:
Open iCloud Control Panel > Manage. After that, tap Backups on the left and select the iOS device backup for deleting. Finally, click on Delete option to begin.
Extra Bonus: How to Free up iPhone/iPad Storage Space
So, no matter you want to free up iCloud storage on iPhone/iPad or on computer, just follow the right guide and get free iCloud storage as needed and desired!
If you find yourself still needing more iCloud storage, you have two options to choose: export iCloud backups to computer or buy more iCloud storage to upgrade it.
Export iCloud backups to computer:
To transfer iCloud backups to computer, you can actually rely on this iOS Data Rescuer software to download iCloud backup and save them on the computer as you wanted and needed. With this software, you can save iCloud backups to the computer by recovering it. And you are free to save them to any disk as desired.
To do it, you just need to open the installed software and link your device to the computer via the USB cord. Then it will automatically detect all files including iTunes backup and iCloud backup related to your device. After that, you just need to choose the Recover from iCloud Backup, specify an output location and then transfer iCloud backup to computer in one click.
Related: How to Export iCloud Contacts to CSV
Buy more iCloud storage:
- Open the Settings app on your device.
- Go to iCloud > Storage to continue the process.
- Tap on Change Storage Plan option to go on.
- Tap Buy option in the upper right hand corner.
- Then you will be required to sign in with your iCloud account in order to finish the purchase.
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