iCloud getting a little bloated? If you’re running low on iCloud backup space you can either buy more space from Apple or clear out some of the space already being used.
This iPhone cannot be backed up because there is not enough iCloud storage available.
Apple gives away 5GB of free space when you create an iCloud account. You can of course purchase extra space from Apple for a yearly fee if you want.
- 10 additional GB (15 GB total): $20/year
- 20 additional GB (25 GB total): $40/year
- 50 additional GB (55 GB total): $100/year
If you’ve gotten a messages saying that there is a not enough iCloud storage available to backup to, then you can buy more space or simply empty out some of the data to make room for new backup data.
Included in the iCloud backup is your Mail account (including attachments), App data , device settings and photos in the Camera Roll. App Data can be saved to iCloud from any iOS device with iCloud, even from your Mac.
Emptying iCloud backup space
Manage Space
The data in the backup can be accessed from your iOS device, Mac or PC (with iCloud control panel installed).
To manage the backup data, open Settings -> iCloud -> Storage & Backup -> Manage Storage. On this page, you have the option to delete a device from the backup and remove documents & data. You can remove an entire backup of any device from any device, however you can only edit individual backup data while using the device where the backup data is located. For instance, while on my iPad, I can edit the individual data in my iPad backup, but to edit the individual backup data on my iPhone, I would have to be using my iPhone.
Under the “Backup Options” on an iOS device, there are on and off switches that can be used to remove photos, iBooks and other App backup data. Simply turn the switch from “On” to “Off”.
If you’ve replaced your iOS device with a new one, the backup for the old device will still remain in iCloud, wasting precious space. If you never plan on using that old device again, you can delete that backup from iCloud, as it should clear out a lot of space depending on the backup size. Go to Manage Storage, click on your device and tap the big red “Delete Backup” button.
Edit the data on a Mac or PC
Desktop iCloud
On a Mac, go to System Preferences -> iCloud -> Click the “Manage” button on the bottom right. To edit the backup on a PC you must have the iCloud control panel installed. You can download it from the Apple website here: Download iCloud control panel.
From this panel you can remove an entire iOS device backup and individual items that have been backed up from your Mac or PC. To empty the Mail backup, you have to actually go to the Mail app and delete emails manually. If you want to empty out the Mail, but don’t want to permanently delete the files forever, you can always save them to your computer or Dropbox.
The same thing goes for Photos in the Camera Roll, if you want to keep them backed up but don’t have the iCloud space, you can always backup to Dropbox instead – read more about Dropbox. You can also use Photo Stream, it syncs (backs up) your latest 1000 pictures without tapping into you available iCloud backup space. If it’s not already enabled, go to Settings -> Photo Stream -> flip the switch from off to on.
On a PC, once the iCloud control panel is installed, open it and click the Manage button.
iCloud is not the only way to backup your device, iTunes is also a good way of keeping a regular backup – Read More about backing up to iTunes.
Manually manage iCloud files in Finder
If you’re using a Mac then it’s possible to manually delete items from your iCloud backup from within Finder. I ran into an issue myself where an app I had deleted from my iPhone didn’t completely get removed from iCloud. Its leftover files didn’t get deleted and was just taking up space. Simple fix, I just manually deleted that folder in Finder. Here’s my article about How to browse iCloud files on Mac OS X in Finder.
I have had my iphone for quite a long time but have NEVER backed it up to the cloud. While out of town recently, my phone said it was out of space, which blew my mind, but anyway, that’s another story. I purchased additional space so that I could back up my photos to the Cloud and have tried every day to do so, for the last 5 days, without success. It says “backing up” and the little blue line has not moved from the far left. Under that line it says “estimated time remaining” but that has never changed either. I leave my phone alone and go back to it later to see if it’s moved at all, which it hasn’t, and the back up has stopped. All it says is that the last backup was not successful but does not tell me why it was not successful. All I want it to back up is my photos so I have cut EVERYTHING else off. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you!!
August 5, 2013 at 10:58 amHello Afields, that does sound pretty frustrating. First lets try some possible simple solutions.
First thing I want you to try is to simply open Setting -> iCloud -> Storage & Backup. Turn iCloud backup off. Restart your iPhone. Once it’s restart go back and re-enable iCloud backup.
Also in iCloud, if you have Photo Stream enabled your latest 1000 pictures are synced (backed up) to iCloud.
Let me know if that fixes the issue for you or if it doesn’t fix it and we’ll see if we can come up with a different solution.
August 5, 2013 at 11:15 amDamien,
Thank you for your response. I had done what you suggested previously, and it didn’t work. It doesn’t matter now though because I have found that once you send your photos to the cloud, you cannot view them from there, which is just bizarre! What good does it do to “store” them when you can’t “view” them?? Anyway, I don’t need the additional space after all. :)
Thanks again!
August 5, 2013 at 12:12 pmIf you want to have them automatically sync (backed up) and be viewable I’d suggest using Dropbox. I wrote up a small review and guide to using Dropbox to store your photos if interested: http://appducate.com/2012/12/dropbox-2-0-for-ios-is-here/
August 5, 2013 at 12:16 pmThanks again Damien! Unlike icloud, Dropbox sounds very user friendly. :)
August 6, 2013 at 8:37 amI have been trying to clear out my iCloud and i am not able to make more space and have already bought 10GB. It says i have 7.5 GB left but then it won’t back up until i delete my current back up each time. Any Suggestions? Also it says my mail is 12.5MB, should i make that smaller? The only thing i have backing up is my photos which is 5.2MB.
August 7, 2013 at 9:24 amYour mail size is perfectly fine, in fact 12.5 MB is very small. You could try completely deleting your iCloud backup (doesn’t affect the content that’s currently on your ios device) and then creating a brand new backup. Go to Settings -> iCloud -> Storage & Backup -> Manage Storage -> Select device -> tap delete backup. After it’s deleted make a new backup ASAP. Let me know how it goes if you do go this path.
August 8, 2013 at 12:48 amhi. my husband and i share an icloud account and his previous photos are occupying @ 4.5mb. hes unable to access these from his phone and wants to view them to delete ones he doesnt want to keep but there are ones we do need to keep. how can we do this. weve been through icloud options on phone and cant find the picturse and tried to log into icloud on laptop but its not showing any photos or photostream at all
March 25, 2014 at 4:11 pmHii
I have backed up my iPhone
But unfortunately I deleted my iCloud account
Is there a way that I can restore my data
Photos
The backup
Plz help
September 6, 2014 at 5:41 pmI read on your reply to Christina…so you’re saying that we shouldn’t worry about the space Mail is taking up? Does it just take space up on the device and not iCloud? Also if I just use email on one of my devices does the space it uses stay on that device or what? When I’m looking at my storage on all my Apple devices show the same info and it just confuses me! Hope this makes sense. Thanks!
September 18, 2014 at 6:42 pmHi, I’ve been scrolling these suggestions and others to try to find a solution for seemingly non-responsive ICloud backup. Like the previous poster, Afields, the blue line doesn’t get beyond a dot with the “backing up” display engaged as well as “estimated time remaining” I turned off the ICloud backup, shut the phone off and restarted both as suggested. Again, there is no progress. You mentioned there were possibly some other solutions? I’d be so grateful for any suggestions!
I’ve never backed up previously, but just purchased more space to accomplish a solid backup before getting a new phone. Many thanks!
January 14, 2015 at 4:46 pmHello
can u help with iPad camera roll.
I had 12000 photos 600 videos all saved from emails about 10GB.
everything nice and smooth till updated to ios8.1.3
Now I’m down to 5300 photos and 350 videos (rest deleted)
Problem is:
looking photos from album=camera roll it takes 10 sec to open first photo then scroll takes 5/6 secs, I see trouble replacing thumbnails at the bottom and place and time/date at the top ( when I just touch the screen and thumbnails disappear (full screen photo mode) it goes very smooth.
When I look at photos from photos not album I mean where u se collect by time date and place all is fine smooth precise and fast.
Can you help fix this camera roll slowness?
Thank you
Sandro
Sorry for my English
February 1, 2015 at 8:18 amAfter I delete my old backup, it still say there is no storage available.
December 20, 2015 at 9:30 pmHi I deleted the backup from yesterday on my phone. But now when I try to backup it keeps telling me that the phone can’t backup because it doesn’t have enough iCloud space. It also says the last backup was 9/19/2015.
November 19, 2016 at 7:14 pm