Phone storage is finite. Memories are not. I bought my iPhone 13 back in 2022, hoping its 128 GB of storage would be enough for my needs, but it took less than a year before the "Storage Almost Full" pop-up became a nuisance. I tried everything from clearing cache to buying iCloud storage, but none of them worked as well as this little trick, which lets me store a million images before I run out of storage again.
My iPhone Storage Ran Out Faster Than I Thought
With the ever-increasing size of apps and system files, along with my growing library of images and videos, it would take a few months before my iPhone 13's 128 GB storage started stressing me out.
I did everything you are supposed to do. Cleared the cache on my iPhone, deleted downloads, offloaded apps, and eventually transferred photos to my laptop too. When that still was not enough, I caved and bought an Apple One subscription mostly for the extra 50 GB iCloud space.
But it did not take long before my iCloud storage started choking too. Buying a new iPhone was out of the picture. And paying more every month for cloud storage made even less sense. So I went hunting for something smarter and landed on a feature Apple has offered for over a decade.
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Shared Albums is the Solution to All iPhone Storage Worries
While searching for a last resort, I came across a Reddit thread discussing Shared Albums. It is essentially cloud storage which can hold up to 5,000 photos and videos in a single album.
But here is the part that sold me on it: Shared Albums don't count against your iCloud storage limit.
I could create a Shared Album on my iPhone without inviting anyone else. Add thousands of photos and videos and delete the originals from my library. The album goes nowhere, and the photos survive without occupying a single byte of my iCloud or iPhone.
Sounds great, right? The setup process is to create a shared album, and it takes less than a minute.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap on your name at the top and go to iCloud.
- Here, tap on Photos, and select Shared Albums.
- Turn on the Shared Albums toggle.
- Now, head over to Photos > Collections > Shared Albums and tap on Start Sharing.
- Tap on Continue, give the album a name and then tap on Add Photos.
- Select the images you want to add here and tap on the tick mark again to create a Shared Album.
You can add more photos later to the same album by selecting photos in your library and tapping Share > Add to Shared Album.
Once the photos were safely in the album, I went back to delete the originals and empty Recently Deleted. The last bit is important, as deleted photos remain in the Recycle Bin for 30 days, eating up storage.
The best part is that you can create up to 200 shared albums, so 200 albums with a limit of 5,000 images each means you can essentially store a million images and videos without any worries.
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What You Give Up, Honestly
As good as Shared Album sounds, there are some hidden terms and conditions attached to it that I should warn you about. Firstly, photos are compressed to 2,048 pixels on the long edge, except panoramas, which stretch to 5,400 pixels.
Videos drop to 720p and cap out at 15 minutes. GIFs need to be under 100MB.
I should also note that once you delete the original, there is no way to undo it, and you are left with the compressed copy.
Due to these limitations, I am selective about what goes in my Shared Albums. I typically add duplicates, near-identical burst shots, unwanted videos, general camera roll fluff and screenshots I might need later. Meanwhile, important things I do not want to lose and actually care about stay where they are in full resolution.
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Hurry Up, the Clock Is Ticking
The clock is ticking on this storage saver trick, especially if you have an iOS 27-eligible iPhone. Because Apple is changing how Shared Albums work in the iOS 27 update. New Shared Albums will keep photos at full resolution, which sounds lovely, except they will now count against your iCloud storage.
Content other people add to your album counts against your quota too, and with Apple opening Shared Albums to Android and Windows users via iCloud.com, that is more likely than it used to be.
The good news is that albums created before you update are exempt from this policy. Apple is honouring the rules for old albums. So make sure you add all less important images to a Shared Album before downloading the iOS 27 update on your iPhone.
I have been loving this trick and wish I had found it earlier, as I have never been a fan of deleting my memories. I have also cancelled my subscription for iCloud, as this is the default method to store my less important photos. But hurry up before the update arrives on your device. e
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