Two numbers, two places
| iPhone storage | iCloud storage | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Physical space in the device | A rented plan in Apple’s cloud |
| Where you read it | Settings › General › iPhone Storage | Settings › [your name] › iCloud |
| Can you add to it | No — it is fixed at purchase | Yes, monthly |
| What fills it | iOS, apps, photos kept on device, downloads | Your photo library, backups, files, mail |
| Free tier | — | 5 GB |
The one place they touch
With iCloud Photos on, the single setting that connects them is Optimize iPhone Storage: originals live in iCloud, smaller versions live on the phone. That is the only sense in which a bigger iCloud plan helps the device — it lets you keep a library that would never have fitted, by keeping most of it somewhere else.
It does not make the library smaller. Every original still counts against the plan, and the day the plan fills, the choice is to pay for a bigger one or to actually clear something.
Why the phone fills up anyway
Three reasons, in order of how often they catch people out:
- Recently Deleted. Deleted photos hold their full size for 30 days. Empty it and the space appears.
- Video and other apps. Photos is often not the biggest row in iPhone Storage — check the whole list before blaming the camera.
- Optimising was already on. If originals were offloaded long ago, deleting photos frees less on the device than you expect, even though it frees the full amount in iCloud.
What actually gets the space back
Clearing real clutter is the only move that shrinks both numbers at once — the phone and the plan — because with iCloud Photos on, a delete travels. Kept does that sorting on the device, free for the first 100 photos a day, and every delete stays recoverable for 30 days.