I need more room!
October 7, 2016 6:14 AM   Subscribe

I deleted a couple of years' worth of emails from iCloud to free up space but my iPhone reports that Mail is still eating up 2.8GB. How can I claim those iCloud gigabytes back for myself?

Apple has been sending me notifications that my iCloud storage space is running out so I logged into iCloud in my browser and deleted all the messages from my inbox. I then deleted them from trash.

An hour later, iCloud still reports that I've only got 212k remaining. What's up with that!? You know, because Apple stuff just works, there's a button somewhere that I can press and free up my iCloud storage, right? Surely?

How do I get my gigabytes back?
posted by popcassady to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)
 
Given that you deleted on the browser and not your phone, you have to get those changes to your phone. First, I would quit the Mail app on your phone (double click home button, swipe up on Mail to quit) then reopen. If that doesn't work, shut down your phone and turned it back on.
posted by cecic at 6:50 AM on October 7, 2016


Just to clarify: the problem you're having is that you're running out of space in your iCloud account, not that you are running out of space on your iPhone. Is that correct?

If that's the issue, I'd suggest waiting 24 hours to see if there is a time lag in iCloud recovering the space from your deleted e-mails. I would not look at the amount of space e-mail is taking up on your iPhone. That wouldn't be a reliable measure.

There also may be a place in your iCloud account where you can look at the space usage. Have you looked there?
posted by alms at 7:22 AM on October 7, 2016


* Go to iCloud.com.
* Click on "Settings"
* At the top of the page you'll see a bar showing your space usage. What does that say?
posted by alms at 7:24 AM on October 7, 2016


You can also look on your iPhone, but you have to look in the right place.

* Open the Settings app
* Tap on General
* Tap on "Storage & iCloud Usage"
* In the bottom section (labeled "ICLOUD") tap on "Manage Storage". That will show you what is using space in your iCloud account. (Do not tap on the "Manage Storage" which appears in the top section of the window. That one would let you manage the storage on your iPhone.)

You can also get to this info by going to Settings app > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage.
posted by alms at 7:28 AM on October 7, 2016


Also, it may be too late for you, but text emails generally take up very little space. If you could find a way to go through and delete only the email with attachments, like pictures, you would probably free up 99% of the space while keeping all your other records.
posted by alexei at 9:03 AM on October 7, 2016


Also, what other stuff do you have synched to iCloud? If you're backing up apps and photos and whatnot to the cloud, that can take up a lot of room.
posted by slkinsey at 10:07 AM on October 7, 2016


Response by poster: @alms In 'manage storage' on my phone, it says mail is using 2.5GB. My inbox is currently completely empty. No improvements since Friday. @cecic Quitting mail and restarting/restarting phone does nothing.
posted by popcassady at 8:34 AM on October 9, 2016


You might need to go into your email's Trash folder and "Delete All" from there -- I suspect "deleting" all of your mail just moved it into the "Trash/Deleted Items" folder. Apple very often will hang onto deleted items (photos for instance) for 30 days before fully deleting them. I don't use iCloud for mail, so I can't say for sure, but I would take a look at your Trash folder.
posted by misterbrandt at 12:37 PM on October 11, 2016


Response by poster: The trash folder is completely empty. Both on my phone and the icloud website.
posted by popcassady at 2:22 PM on October 11, 2016


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