When you need to free up room on your iOS device, the first place to look is the Photos app. But you don't have to set up any elaborate plans to remove images from your phone to park them elsewhere — not if you're using the iCloud Photo Library. An obscure control in the Photos settings called Optimize iPhone Storage stores only the thumbnails, not your original photos and videos, letting you save space while keeping your images accessible. As long as you have enough space on iCloud to store your originals, you can keep as many photos and videos as you want without maxing out your handset.
Apple's iCloud Photo Library is a huge convenience — it stores and displays your photos on all your devices. If you're running out of space on some of those devices, deleting photos from your camera roll also deletes them everywhere, which is not what you want.
Instead of deleting images, you can save on the space they take up when stored at their original resolution. With iOS 15, you can enable the Optimize iPhone storage control in your Photos settings, which lets your iPhone convert your high-resolution images into lightweight thumbnails. The original photos still reside in iCloud, and you can also back them up on your Mac or an external drive. Using this optimization control gives you the best of both worlds: All your photos are available to you whenever and wherever you want to see them, and you get to salvage your storage space. Here's how to set it
Step 1: Tap Settings > [your name].
Step 3: Switch on iCloud Photos.
Step 4: Check Optimize iPhone storage.
If you check Download and keep originals, all photos you shoot on your iPhone stay on your handset in full resolution. Plus, any photo that you take, store on your Mac, or otherwise store on your iCloud Photo Library will also download to your iPhone in high resolution.
Optimize iPhone storage will not immediately change your images into thumbnails. You could see a combination of thumbnails interspersed with original, high-resolution images if your phone has enough memory to support them.
Your phone’s storage works in the background to keep track of images you’ve recently viewed compared to how much storage you use for apps and downloads. It will always keep the most recent media shot or viewed in high resolution. Other factors involved include the amount of storage space and memory that your phone has and the number of images on your phone.
People with lots of space on their phones will have more high-resolution images and videos stored locally than those with less space. Don’t worry about losing your high-resolution images when your phone compresses them to save space. You can always revert compressed photos to their initial form by downloading them. You will see the compressed images downloading in real-time, as they have a download circle at the bottom right as they flow in from iCloud.
Are you tired of paying for streaming services you never watch just to get a phone plan feature you actually want? T-Mobile has good news for you! The carrier is rolling out new plans, called T-Mix, in early November to replace its old Experience lineup with a build-your-own perks system called Picks.
The benefits you choose vary from streaming and gaming to food delivery, AI, satellite service, and phone discounts. But if you are satisfied with your existing plan, you can keep it.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.