Honestly, everyone’s got that iPhone “storage full” SOS at least once a year (or in my case, like, every two months). Yeah, the whole debate about third-party apps vs. manual methods is real. I get the hype for that Clever Cleaner app and the old-school iMovie export trick, but, uh…does anyone else find the “just trust the free app!” advice a little sketch, even with @mikeappsreviewer’s screenshots? Might be the tinfoil hat talking but still.
Personally, I’ve always hated fiddling with iMovie projects—takes ages and half the time I forget I started the export at all. If you don’t mind offloading stuff temporarily, one option I hardly see mentioned is using Google Photos or OneDrive: upload videos (set them to compress in “Storage Saver” mode), nuke the originals, and redownload if you need anything back on your phone. Yeah, cloud privacy has its own can of worms, but for lazy storage hoarders who don’t actually CARE about every single birthday clip being 4K, it gets the job done.
Mass deleting is a classic, but honestly, if I wanted to Marie Kondo my camera roll, I’d need a therapist and a long weekend. So for those who just need a one-and-done fix, apps like the easiest way to compress iPhone videos and photos can save your sanity. Just be smart: back up stuff you actually care about before hitting “compress all,” because no amount of storage is worth losing that graduation video…which you’ll probably never watch, but y’know, still.
Bottom line: If you want ultimate control, go manual with native tools. If you want fast results and don’t care about reading the fine print, the Clever Cleaner seems to be the crowd favorite here. Either way, may your “storage full” alerts die a quiet death.