Cut Apple Music iPhone Storage Usage in Minutes – Here's How - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Cut Apple Music iPhone Storage Usage in Minutes – Here's How

by

As an Apple Music subscriber, you're able to download songs, playlists, and albums from the Apple Music catalog to your iPhone or iPad for offline listening, but this can gradually eat up your device's storage space over time.

pin apple music app ios
Fortunately the Music app includes a handy feature that can spring into action whenever your device's storage space runs low, and automatically offload songs you haven't played for a while in order to make space for newer ones.

It's called Optimized Storage, and here's how you can enable it.

  1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Scroll down to the apps list and select Music.
  3. Under Downloads, tap Optimized Storage.
    settings

  4. Toggle the Optimized Storage switch to the "on" position so that it shows green.
  5. Choose a minimum storage amount that you want to keep for music before downloaded songs start being removed from your device.

You can also monitor storage space by turning off automatic downloads and making sure to download new songs manually when needed. There's also an option to remove downloaded songs one by one from the Apple Music app if you prefer not to have songs offloaded by Apple automatically.

Top Rated Comments

SFjohn Avatar
16 weeks ago
I had the opportunity to have 3 free months of Apple Music due to a recent purchase, I passed on it. I have all the music I want ~40,000 songs ripped from CDs. I also have a few SACD that I cherish. 👍🏻
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
burgman Avatar
16 weeks ago

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one that feels offline music is the way to go. I never understood going to streaming only.

Knappeduivel: I feel the same way about the Apple ecosystem. And thanks for introducing me to Swinsian. I'll have to check that out.
I don't understand wanting to own music these days. Back in the day before high quality streaming ok. If people get enjoyment from owning vinyl or even tape again ok. I have a medium sized library that I hardly ever listen to. I use YouTube music, nothing comes close to their catalog of one off performances , official band videos, concert videos, etc. With Premium subscription it's great. The algorithm works well for casual listening. Only issue is sound quality isn't the best but the tradeoff is worth it to me.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
repoman016 Avatar
16 weeks ago

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one that feels offline music is the way to go. I never understood going to streaming only.

Knappeduivel: I feel the same way about the Apple ecosystem. And thanks for introducing me to Swinsian. I'll have to check that out.
Maybe I can help. I prefer streaming because if I'm ever going to be offline, I can download the songs to play them offline. It doesn't require learning any new programs, manipulating files, downloading software.. nothing. Its simple. When I was younger offline was my jam, but now that I'm older, I just dont have the time/energy to scour the web to find a song i wanna download, then try to learn how to get them on to my phone wether it be iTunes or a different software. Back in the day you used to find songs that had some of the DJ in the intro still lol. I'm sure this isnt the case now, but just my perspective. It's also nice being able to stream from any device. I can listen from my phone, or log into my TV and listen through my stereo. Listen via my iPad. Doesn't require me to set up a home server and play music from there which is another hobby to learn in itself
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jakebrosy Avatar
16 weeks ago
I guess we're old-school. We tried Apple Music but could never get it to play the music we wanted to listen to. It's like there's some agreement that I have to have a Kanye West song and a Taylor Swift song every 20 minutes...and don't get me started on George Michael's Last Christmas!

We repurposed a retired 512gb iPhone 13 as a storage device connected to our "sound system" (really 2 bookshelf speakers-we are decidedly low tech on that front) and pushed most of our music (29k+ songs) onto it.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iamgalt Avatar
16 weeks ago

But my eventual plan is to cancel my $10/m plan and revert BACK to old-school offline music

Agree, offline is the way to go. I maintain a paid streaming acount (currently Tidal since it is better) but my main focus is my offline music since there is no way to build a proper collection online. Single stars as a rating, playlists and maps ar just noit good enough. Swinsian is my music player because it is better than iTunes in its best days. I use Apple Music (the app) mainly to get music on my Phone.
Sad, I used to feel at home in the Apple ecosystem but at this point I am drifting away.
Glad to hear that I'm not the only one that feels offline music is the way to go. I never understood going to streaming only.

Knappeduivel: I feel the same way about the Apple ecosystem. And thanks for introducing me to Swinsian. I'll have to check that out.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rachid Vàzquez Avatar
16 weeks ago
This option has never worked properly. Even with a storage threshold set, you’ll still need to delete your music manually.

(I’m sure many people have experienced the same issue for years.)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

apple music

Apple Music Is Down for Some Users

Monday April 20, 2026 12:18 pm PDT by
If Apple Music isn't working for you, you're not alone. According to Apple's System Status page, there's currently an Apple Music outage. Apple says that users may be experiencing intermittent issues with the service. The outage started at 2:38 p.m. Eastern Time, and it is ongoing. We'll update this article when the outage has been...
Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

11 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 18 Pro

Monday May 11, 2026 9:01 am PDT by
We're only four months out from the launch of Apple's premium next-generation smartphone lineup, and while we're not expecting a sea change in terms of functionality, there are still several enhancements rumored to be coming to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth noting is that Apple is reportedly planning a major change to its iPhone release cycle this year, adopting a...
iOS 26

iOS 26.5 Features: Everything New in iOS 26.5

Monday May 11, 2026 5:09 pm PDT by
Apple released iOS 26.5 after a few months of beta testing, and while it doesn't have the Siri features we were hoping for since those are being held until iOS 27, there are a handful of useful changes worth knowing about. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. End-to-End Encryption for RCS Support for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages between iPhone and...