Can you expand memory on iPhone 11

Whether you've been denied the perfect photo op or couldn't install a new app, finding out your iPhone® storage is full is always inconvenient.

Don't worry. Here at Asurion, our experts help millions of customers solve their device problems every day—from speeding up a slow phone to troubleshooting laptops that won't connect to Wi-Fi. Here are their tips for increasing your iPhone storage capacity.

There's not enough space on my iPhone

If you've ever had this problem, you know what a hassle it can be. When your iPhone runs out of storage, you won't be able to receive messages, install new apps, take photos, sync media files, install iOS® updates, or do anything else that requires space. Your iPhone might also start automatically erasing messages, and your photos and apps might act up.

To see how much storage capacity your phone has, open Settings > General > iPhone Storage. You'll see a list of installed apps and how much storage each one uses.

Can you expand memory on iPhone 11

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Freeing up storage on your device is easy. There are several ways to do so.

Can you expand memory on iPhone 11

Free up memory on your iPhone

Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage to see which apps are taking up the most space on your device. Select the apps you don't use as much and uninstall them.

You can also remove music, podcasts, videos, and other media to free up even more space.

Use iCloud storage

iCloud® Photos stores your photos and videos in the cloud rather than on your phone. So when your phone runs low on space, you can make room for new data. Just make sure iCloud is set up on your phone.

  • Go to Settings, tap [your name] > iCloud > Photos, then turn on iCloud Photos.

iCloud keeps your entire message history updated and available on all your devices, even when you set up a new one. And since your attachments are stored in iCloud, you can save storage space on your phone. Here's how to turn on Messages in iCloud:

  • Open Settings, tap [your name] > iCloud, then turn on Messages

Use an external device that increases overall iPhone storage capacity

If you still don't have enough storage on your iPhone, try using an external storage device.

Devices that plug into iPhones:

Just like for your computer, you can plug a flash drive into your iPhone to get more storage—but you'll either need a flash drive with a Lightning® connector or a Lightning adapter to connect the device to your phone.

Wireless Storage Devices:

If you don't want to plug anything into your phone, keep a wireless hard drive in your pocket or purse instead.

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With all the photos, videos, apps and music that we load onto our phones, filling up 16 GB doesn't take much effort.

The two ways people generally combat the storage crunch -- deleting or splurging -- are unsavory choices. Constantly deleting all those files is a pain, and paying $100 for an extra 48 GB is an enormous ripoff.

Unfortunately, the iPhone doesn't have expandable storage like some other smartphones. But there are ways to expand your iPhone's storage without breaking the bank or deleting everything.

Related: Paying $100 for storage is the biggest cell phone ripoff

1) Plug in a flash drive. Even though you can't expand your iPhone's internal storage, you can grow its external storage. Flash storage works for your iPhone just like adding an external hard drive for your PC -- except this one comes along for the ride wherever your iPhone goes.

Flash storage devices like the $60 Leef iBridge plug right into your Lightning port and instantly boost your phone's storage. The iBridge has a J-shape so it bends around your iPhone, but it's a lot of money to spend on just another 16 GB of storage. There are plenty of other options, including a $42 SanDisk iExpand, which has 32 GB of storage.

Mophie makes a combination battery and 32 GB external storage case called the Space Pack. It costs $149, but you were probably going to throw down some money on a case anyway.

And the $38 TFZ i-Flash Drive lets you add as much storage as you want with an SD card. (If you don't have any lying around from your old digital camera, you can buy a 128 GB micro SD card on Amazon for about $60).

2) Keep a wireless hard drive in your pocket. If you're not keen on wires or having something constantly plugged into your phone, there are wireless storage options too.

By connecting them to the same Wi-Fi network, your iPhone can sync with a wireless storage device in your pocket or purse. With a corresponding app, you can set your phone to automatically store stuff on the wireless drive instead of storing it internally.

The $36 RAVPower Filehub is a great example. You can stick any flash drive or SD card into it. And if you plug it into your phone, it doubles as an external battery. The $47 SanDisk Connect comes with 32 GB of on-board storage (no need for an SD card).

3) Keep your files at home. If you need a lot of extra storage, you can build your own personal cloud. The $159 Western Digital MyCloud network storage device lets you store up to 4 terabytes (that's 4,000 GB) worth of files.

You keep the MyCloud at home, but you can access the files from wherever you're using the corresponding app. As an added bonus, you can also use the MyCloud to back up all the files from your home PC or Mac.

4) Use the cloud. Why store your files on your own hard drive when you can store them on someone else's servers? You can use DropBox, Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Drive, Microsoft (MSFT) OneDrive or Apple (AAPL) iCloud to manage your files in the cloud. Depending on how much you store, you might have to pay a monthly subscription fee.

Google (GOOGL) Photos will give you free, unlimited photo storage, albeit in a somewhat smaller file size. And Google Play Music Manager and Amazon (AMZN) Cloud Drive will allow you to upload your entire music library to the cloud, and stream it to your phone.

5) Clean your phone. If you use apps such as DU Speedbooster for Android or PhoneClean for iPhones, you can clear out unnecessary files that accumulate on your phone. But you'll only reclaim so much space -- a couple gigabytes at most.

Can you increase the memory on an iPhone 11?

Unfortunately, you can't upgrade your iPhone memory capacity, and there isn't an option to add additional storage like an SD card.

Can I add more GB to my iPhone?

Devices that plug into iPhones: Just like for your computer, you can plug a flash drive into your iPhone to get more storage—but you'll either need a flash drive with a Lightning® connector or a Lightning adapter to connect the device to your phone.