The Apple Watch is a handy device, but it has limited storage space. We explain how to check how much space you have left and how to free up storage space.
Free up storage space on your Apple Watch: this is how you do it
The amount of storage space on your Apple Watch depends on which model you have. The Apple Watch Series 5 has 32GB, but its predecessor has to make do with 16GB. The Apple Watch Series 3 (and older) only has 8GB, but the 4G version of the Series 3, like the Series 4, has 16GB.
That may seem more than enough, but the Apple Watch’s operating system already takes up quite a bit of that. watchOS already takes up about 3GB. There are also system files that take up a considerable part of your storage space.
You use the rest of the storage space for watchOS apps, photos or, for example, storing music. Wondering how much storage space your Apple Watch has on board? You can check that very easily. To do this, follow the next steps:
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone;
- Tap on ‘General’;
- Then tap on ‘Info’;
- Behind ‘Capacity’ you can see how much free space your Apple Watch has in total.
This way you can see how much storage space you have left
About 2 to 3GB is occupied by watchOS. In addition, you can still fill up a lot of space for apps, music, photos and more.
Most watchOS apps don’t take up much space. Still, there are apps that require more space, such as the Photos app. You can easily see via your iPhone if you still have some free storage space. This works as follows.
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone and go to the ‘My Watch’ tab;
- Choose ‘General’;
- Then tap ‘Usage’.
At the top of the screen you can see how much storage space is in use and how much free space you have left. You can also see an overview of apps on your Watch, and how much memory each app occupies.
Free up storage space on your Apple Watch
Is your storage space (almost) full? Then it is wise to free up some space. This is very easy via the Watch app on your iPhone. The fastest way to free up space is to delete apps, music and photos from your smart watch. This is how you do it:
- Open the Watch app on your iPhone;
- Tap the app you want to delete files from, such as Music;
- Turn off the playlists you want to delete from your device;
- Tap change to delete the synced playlists at the bottom.
It is also possible to set a limit on the amount of photos you can have on your Watch. To do this, go to Photos in the Watch app on your iPhone. Tap ‘Photo Limit’ to set it. That way, only the most recent photos will be synced to your Apple Watch.
More about the Apple Watch
Do you want to know more about the Apple Watch? On iPhone you can read all kinds of useful tips to get the most out of the smart watch. For example, we explain how to unlock your MacBook with your Apple Watch, or how to place a pedometer on the screen. Are you a new Apple Watch user? Then read our Apple Watch beginner’s guide to learn everything about your new Watch.
WatchOS 7, the latest operating system for the Apple Watch, will also be released soon. This brings a lot of innovations, such as a sleep tracker and new workouts. Knowing more? Watch the video below or read more in our watchOS 7 preview.