How much phone storage do you really need?

When looking for a new phone, one of the first things you might want to take into account is phone storage. We’ve all been there: you go to take a picture on vacation, or film a concert video you will definitely watch later, and you get hit with a “Your phone is out of storage” notification. On the flip side, maybe you mostly use your phone for streaming and other things that don’t take much storage space and want a phone with less of it at a better price. 

Having a better understanding of phone storage can help you get more out of your current phone, and can help give you a better idea when you’re shopping for that new new, so read on to learn more.

Understanding phone storage

To store your stuff, smartphones primarily use internal flash memory, unlike the hard drive disks of old, which keeps data safe even when your phone is off. Internal flash memory uses floating-gate transistors to store data, making them speedier and more durable than a hard drive disk, while also sounding like something out of Blade Runner.

But all of that is a story for a different blog. More importantly, here’s what your phone keeps in its storage:

• Operating system: Your phone stores the very software that makes your phone run, whether it’s an Android or iPhone.
  
• Apps: Whether it’s that random parking app you downloaded or Good Pizza, Great Pizza, your phone keeps any apps you download and install.
  
• Media: Photos of your dog, all 100 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, videos of fireworks from three summers ago…your phone can store them all.
  
• Files: Any documents or PDFs can be stored on your phone.
  
• Cached data: This is temporary saved data, like websites you’ve visited in the past or images you’ve opened previously while surfing the web, to make browsing faster.

How much phone storage do I need?

Just as it’s important to know how much data you need, it’s also important to know how much phone storage you need. To do that, it’s best to look at the amount you’re already using in terms of gigabytes. From apps to games to photos, everything uses GBs, although you can optimize your phone to use less. 

32GB-64GB: Storage for casual users

Chappell Roan’s least favorite category. 32GB-64GB is good for very casual phone users that mainly use their device for calling and sending messages, occasionally taking photos and are reliant on cloud storage. Newer smartphones don’t even typically offer this amount of storage space anymore, opting instead for 128GB as a starting point.

128GB: Storage for moderate users 

This is the more typical amount of data needed for the average user. It offers enough storage for a good mix of using apps and games, having hours of video footage and thousands of photos, in addition to things like offline music playlists (because you should never be without your K-pop workout playlist).

256GB-512GB: Storage for power users

This amount of storage is for the high storage users out there that want to capture 4K video footage, have a huge photo library, install multiple apps and games and keep up a downloaded movie collection that would rival Criterion’s. 

How to check how much storage your phone has

Checking your phone storage depends on which phone you have. Read more to see how to find out how much storage your iPhone or Android has.

How to check storage on iPhone 

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap General
3. Tap [Device] Storage

From there, you’ll see a view of how storage is being allocated on your phone.

How to check storage on Android phones

1. Open Settings
2. Tap Storage

From there, you’ll see a view of how storage is being allocated on your phone. If you find out that you need to free up storage on your, it’s easy to do whether you have an iPhone or an Android.

Now you’re a phone storage expert

By now, you probably have a good idea how much storage you need in a phone. And if you need more, you can always purchase more on the cloud. Now, why not become an expert on why your phone is slow or the best phones for content creators or tap that button below to explore our current phone deals.