iCloud Storage Full: What to Do
Apple's own steps first, then a second folder in Finder with space of its own.
When you set up iCloud, you get 5 GB of storage for free, and one pool holds everything: backups, photos, iCloud Drive, messages and mail. Steps and prices as listed on Apple’s Manage your iCloud storage and iCloud+ plans and pricing in October 2026.
What Stops When It Is Full
In Apple’s words, when you run out, “your device won’t back up to iCloud, new photos and videos won’t upload to iCloud Photos, and iCloud Drive and other iCloud apps won’t stay up to date across your devices.” You also can’t send or receive email at your iCloud address.
What Fills It
- iCloud Backup of your iPhone and iPad
- iCloud Photos
- iCloud Drive
- Messages and their attachments
- iCloud Mail
- Contact posters and photos, voice memos, FaceTime data and Apple Invites
A folder someone else shared with you does not count toward your storage.
See What Uses It
- On iPhone or iPad: Settings › your name › iCloud › Storage, or Manage Account Storage.
- On a Mac: System Settings › your name › iCloud, then Manage.
- On the web: sign in at iCloud.com.
Free Up Space, Apple’s Way
Before you delete anything, Apple suggests keeping a copy of what you want to keep.
- Recommended for You: with iOS 17 or later, Settings › your name › iCloud › Recommended for You suggests old backups, large files and photos you might not need.
- Backups: in Storage › Backups, delete the backup of a device you no longer use, or turn off apps you don’t need backed up.
- Photos: delete what you don’t need in the Photos app. It goes from every device signed in to the same account, and items in Recently Deleted don’t count.
- iCloud Drive: delete files in the Files app under Browse › iCloud Drive, or drag them from iCloud Drive in Finder to the Trash.
- Messages: delete large attachments from a conversation’s details.
- Mail: use Cleanup Recommendations in the Mail app, delete old messages and empty the Trash.
Buy More: iCloud+
| Storage | A month in the US |
|---|---|
| 50 GB | $0.99 |
| 200 GB | $2.99 |
| 2 TB | $9.99 |
| 6 TB | $29.99 |
| 12 TB | $59.99 |
Billed monthly, and shared with up to five other family members if you like. Apple’s page lists the price in every other country too.
5 GB More Beside It: Folder
iCloud Drive need not be the only folder in Finder. Folder adds a second one under Locations: free with 5 GB on Folder, stored by us in the EU, and separate from your iCloud storage.
- Get Folder for Mac and sign in with Apple. Folder appears in Finder’s sidebar.
- Drag the folders you want to move from iCloud Drive onto Folder. They upload, and show up at folder.dev.
- Once they are on Folder, delete them from iCloud Drive to free that space.
What it is and is not:
- It holds files, so it frees iCloud Drive’s share of the space. It does not take the place of iCloud Backup or iCloud Photos.
- Every overwrite and every delete in it is kept and can be put back. See history.
- The iPhone and iPad app is not in the App Store yet. Until it is, the folder opens in any browser at folder.dev.
Next
Get Folder for Mac and sign in with Apple. How a folder on Folder works: Folders on Folder.