How to Build a Simple Workflow to Automatically Clean Your iPhone Storage  

Everyone wants the slickest workflow, whatever the job. We try to eliminate repetitive steps, minimize distractions, and keep tasks clear and quality high. But freeing up space on an iPhone (a device that’s necessary for both work and life) can throw a wrench in that plan.

You can’t just focus on one data category. You must process photos (and not just a few), files, apps, browser data, and more. And unless you use bulk deletion methods that risk losing important content, this job becomes tedious. If you do it thoroughly, clearing data on an iPhone may take several hours. That’s not exactly ideal.

At this point, you might ask whether automation can solve this. A few taps and boom – clean phone, right? Well… kind of. It’s possible, but only for certain types of data. In this article, we’ll break down what you can automate and how to actually set it up to construct a workflow that provides results without wasting time.

What You Can and Cannot Control When Freeing Up Storage on iPhone Automatically

If you imagine iPhone cleanup as a one-tap solution (some magic button that clears everything unnecessary across your device), you won’t find it. iOS enforces strict file access limitations. Apple has locked down much of the internal system to prevent apps or scripts from removing files without user confirmation, and no tool can bypass these rules.

Still, there’s no need to dig through every album and folder by hand. You can automate parts of the iPhone cleanup: photos, videos, and downloads. These usually sit at the top of the list of files that consume the most space when the iPhone storage full alert appears.

The Shortcuts app provides the first viable path. It’s a built-in iOS utility that allows you to create action sequences using native system functions. With Shortcuts, you can build routines that filter files, delete items, or move large media. It takes a few minutes to configure but it cuts down iPhone storage maintenance significantly over time.

Shortcut isn’t your only option. You can also use iPhone cleaner for cleanup sessions and locate redundant media files. While they don’t have full system access either, many of them can still remove local files, manage albums, and organize large media collections faster than you can do by hand.

However, some data types remain under user control only. You must review and remove app caches, messages, browser data, or unused app installations yourself. These segments still require manual effort, so we’ll cover your best options later in this article.

If your goal was to learn how to get more storage on iPhone automatically, our methods only cover part of the process. But the available tools are the most effective setup available right now and can still handle enough of the workload to improve your daily workflow. You only need to configure them once, and they keep your storage under control with minimal ongoing input.

How to Clear Storage on iPhone More Automatically for a Convenient Workflow

Now that it’s clear which parts of iPhone storage you can automate, it’s time to walk through the how. This section breaks down the steps to build automation into your workflow, so you don’t have to clean up your iPhone by hand every time your device runs out of space.

For clarity, we have grouped the available methods by data type. We begin with categories that allow direct automation through the Shortcuts app – photos, videos, and files from the Files app. These typically account for the largest share of occupied storage.

After that, we address two other categories (messages and unused applications). Shortcuts cannot manage these directly, but iOS provides built-in tools that help you clear or manage them with minimal input.

1. Clean Up Your Photos App

The Photos app often becomes the largest storage consumer on an iPhone. Since Apple upgraded the camera to produce high-resolution images and videos, the volume of stored media has grown quickly. Most users collect multiple versions of the same shot, accidental photos, screenshots saved for temporary use, and outdated images that no longer serve any purpose. This makes the Photos app a critical point in the iPhone cleanup workflow.

However, automation through Shortcuts comes with limitations. You cannot target duplicates, document scans, or receipt photos using system logic. Shortcuts cannot analyze image content. They only filter by file type, creation date, or album. That means any automation you create may include useful media, unless you carefully define time-based boundaries.

In our workflow, we recommend starting with screenshots, as they solve quick tasks and seldom matter afterward. The sample shortcut erases screenshots made before a date you pick, and the same blueprint handles other files, too (videos or photos shot) within any period you specify.

1. Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone and tap the + to start a new shortcut.
2. Tap the Search Action, find the Find Photos option, and select it.
3. In the Find Photos block, tap Add Filter and pick is Screenshot option.
4. Tap Add Filter again and choose Date Taken > is before > [pick a date].
5. Tap Search Action again, select Delete Photos, and add it.
6. Tap the shortcut name at the top, rename it to Delete Old Screenshots, then hit Done.
7. Optionally, run the shortcut to validate the filter accuracy before using it regularly.

When you run the created shortcut, it will find all the screenshots that match your filters and ask you to confirm before deleting anything (iOS forces you to do this, it’s impossible to skip it). After you approve the action, those shots jump to Recently Deleted, where they sit for up to 30 days before iOS deletes them permanently. Need to free up space on your iPhone right now? Open Recently Deleted and empty it yourself.

If you don’t feel like setting up separate shortcuts for different photo types (which we totally understand, as it can be confusing and the actions aren’t always easy to find), there’s a much simpler option: use a cleanup app like Clever Cleaner: AI CleanUp App. It’s a free tool that handles common clutter in the Photos app. It identifies and sorts duplicates, similar images, screenshots, live photos, and large media files. You choose what to target, and the app walks you through the rest.

To stay consistent, we will again use screenshots as the cleanup example, but you can apply the same process to any other category the app supports.

1. Download Clever Cleaner from the App Store, or visit the official website and scan the QR code.
2. Open the app and grant full access to your photo library when prompted.
3. At the bottom toolbar, tap Screenshots. The app will scan and display all screenshots on a new screen.
4. Tap the yellow Move to Trash button.
5. The app transfers selected screenshots to its internal trash area. Once done, tap Empty Trash.
6. Clever Cleaner moves those screenshots to your Recently Deleted album in the Photos app. It also provides instructions to help you remove them completely and free up storage right away.

2. Use iCloud to Optimize iPhone Storage

If you would like to free up as much iPhone storage as possible without removing any material from the Photos application, iCloud is the way to go. By uploading your media files to iCloud, you can continue to access them from any of your Apple devices. This does not strain local storage while it does not necessitate the removal of anything.

However, Apple includes only 5 GB of free iCloud storage. In most cases, this fills up quickly. In this case, you need to buy more storage for your iPhone and upgrade to iCloud+, which starts at $0.99 per month for 50 GB (other plans offer higher limits based on your needs).

We’ll show you how to create a shortcut for transferring videos, as they usually take up more space than photos. However, feel free to tweak it to fit your own needs.

1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap the + icon to start a new shortcut.
2. Tap Search Action, then search for and select Find Photos
3. In the filter block, tap Add Filter. Set Media Type is Video and set Duration to is greater than and select a time (e.g., 1 minute).
4. Tap Search Action again and select Save File, and move off the Ask Where To Save option to set the destination path to a folder inside iCloud Drive.
5. To not only transfer files to the iCloud but also delete them from the Photos app, add the Delete Photos action. Tap and hold the Saved File variable, and from the drop-down menu, select Photos variable.
6. Name the shortcut (e.g., Move Long Videos to iCloud) and tap Done.
7. Run the shortcut and review the transferred files.

This setup removes large video files from your iPhone and places them safely in iCloud Drive. You can customize the filters to adjust video length or target a specific album. As long as you maintain enough iCloud space, this keeps your local storage under control without deleting anything.

The shortcut for moving long videos to iCloud works well, but it requires a more complex setup than the photo cleanup shortcut. Not everyone wants to build that kind of workflow manually. For a simpler and more stable alternative, you can enable the built-in Optimize Storage feature on your iPhone. This function automatically moves all full-resolution media from the Photos app (videos and photos) to iCloud. Your iPhone keeps only smaller, compressed thumbnails. When you need the full version, iOS downloads it on demand.

Keep in mind that the Optimize Storage feature only works if you have enough iCloud space to store your entire photo and video library. You must also maintain available space on your iPhone to allow iOS to manage the local cache properly.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap your Apple ID name at the top of the screen.
2. Select iCloud from the menu.
3. Tap Photos under Apps Using iCloud and check that Sync this iPhone is enabled. If it’s off, turn it on.
4. Once syncing is active, select Optimize iPhone Storage under the storage options.

3. Clear Data on Files App with Shortcuts

Due to internal access restrictions in your iPhone’s iOS, none of the third-party apps can implement file cleanup (whether automatic or not, apps simply don’t have access) in the Files app. Apple implemented this logic to limit unauthorized operations with your files, but by doing so, they put any cleanup in your hands.

Nevertheless, Shortcuts allow you to simplify your work by partially automating it. Why partial? Shortcuts’ functions are not omnipotent, and they can only work within a single directory, not across all files in the Files app. But using Shortcuts is still a good method of automated cleaning of the Downloads or Documents folder, where a large number of files often accumulate.

1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap the + icon to start a new shortcut.
2. Tap Add Action, search for ‘Get Contents of Folder.’ In the field, tap and choose the specific folder to clean up.
3. Tap Add Action again and search for ‘Filter Files.’ Set the filter File Size ‘is greater than’ and select a size.
4. And finally, add the Delete File action.
5. Name the shortcut and tap Done to save it.

This configuration will allow you to delete large files from a selected folder with minimal effort, and you can run it either by yourself or you can ask Siri to do it, it will use your Shortcut but not in full automation, as you still need to confirm the deletion, but it can also be done through Siri voice control.

4. Configure Automatic Message Cleanup

The Messages app applies even stricter access restrictions at the system level than the Files app we looked at earlier. Even the built-in Shortcuts can’t help you clean up your messages. This eliminates any possibility of automation outside of the Messages app.

This is the only built-in feature in the Messages app that allows you to bring a bit of automation. But keep in mind that this method has an obvious drawback. Once a message is deleted, it’s impossible to get it back without backups, so be sure to copy important data to another location.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down to Apps, open it, and find the Messages app.
3. Under the Message History section, tap Keep Messages.
4. Choose one of the available retention options. If prompted, confirm the removal of messages older than the selected time frame.

This option works in the background and does not require any intervention from you. Once you activate it, you forget about the excessive accumulation of old messages. For users with large volumes of messaging activity, this offers a passive but highly effective way to reduce storage use.

5. Enable Automatic Offloading of Unused Apps

Application cleanup on iOS also has strict limitations. Why? Because any app can access its own data or shared data locations, such as Photos or Calendar, no app from any developer can clear another app’s cache or data, regardless of any claims made by the developer, which are likely marketing.

That said, you can enable a native iOS feature, Offload Unused Apps. This feature can remove an app’s executable file from your iPhone’s memory. But it retains the app’s presence on the iPhone and still keeps all associated app data saved in the device. So, when the program is needed once again, one can reinstall it by simply selecting the icon placed on the Home screen. One will not need to visit the App Store or Settings.

For complete removal of app data, the easiest way is to uninstall the app and then reinstall it. Certain apps, particularly messaging or social media apps, generally have cache-clearing or media-clearing options within their internal settings. These have to be manually checked.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down, open the Apps section, and tap App Store.
3. Find the option labeled Offload Unused Apps.
4. Toggle the switch to enable the feature.

This feature only affects apps that support offloading. Some system apps, like Safari, do not allow this process. But it is also possible to delete their information manually.

Conclusion

We have covered all available options for automating iPhone storage cleanup. Some methods rely on the Shortcuts app, others use built-in system settings, or trusted third-party tools. How you implement them depends entirely on your workflow. You may prefer to configure specific shortcuts, use automatic system features, or combine both approaches for better results.

Of course, automation is not mandatory. If these methods seem excessive or too detailed for your needs, there’s nothing wrong with handling storage manually.