How to Delete Downloads on iPhone

Downloads can take up gigabytes of space on your iPhone without you even noticing. Every document, photo, video, or song you download stays in your iPhone’s storage until you delete it.

We noticed many users looking for a “delete all” button to erase every single download on their iPhone. Unfortunately, it doesn’t exist – but cleaning up your downloads doesn’t have to be a confusing experience.

This article is a compilation of instructions on how to thoroughly delete downloads on your iPhone, no matter what they are and where you downloaded them from. Read on!

How to Delete Downloaded Files on iPhone

There are 4 methods to delete downloaded files on your iPhone. To create this guide, we simulated every type of download possible on an iPhone and diligently investigated where they went. We noticed that some downloads have “overlap”; for example, SOME – not all – browser downloads are also accessible from the Files app.

However, this article only focuses on the most convenient and efficient ways to find and delete them. Specifically, we cover the deletion of documents, archives, photos, videos, web browser downloads, and app-specific downloads.

1. Remove Archives, Documents & Text Files

The Files app on your iPhone is a useful directory where you can access the files from your device’s local storage and various cloud storage apps (such as iCloud, Google Drive, etc.).

Downloaded non-media files, such as documents, are almost always stored in the Files app on your iPhone. Here’s how to delete them:

1. Open the Files app (it’s an icon of a blue folder on top of a white background).
2. Tap Browse in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Then, tap On My iPhone.
   
3. Tap Downloads.
   
4. Tap the ellipses button in the top-right corner of the screen. Then, tap Select.
5. Mark the files you want to delete by tapping on them. Then, tap the trash icon at the bottom of the screen.

2. Get Rid of Media Files

Photos and videos, on the other hand, are usually stored in the Photos app. We found this to be true whether the media was saved as an attachment or downloaded from a browser (e.g. an image from a website).
Where exactly those photos and videos are located depends on where they were downloaded from. For example, media downloads from a browser are usually found in the Recents album. We also noticed that some apps create their own albums in the Photos app as well, so make sure to check all your albums.

1. Open the Photos app and tap Albums at the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap the Recents album. Alternatively, if you downloaded the photos and videos from apps like WhatsApp, you may find app-specific albums in Photos as well. In that case, tap that folder instead.
3. Scroll through your recent media to find the downloaded files. Then, tap Select in the top-right corner of the screen.
4. Tap the downloads you want to delete, then tap the trash icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
5. Tap Delete Photos to confirm the action.

3. Remove Web Downloads

Non-media files downloaded from web browsers can be directly accessed via the web browser itself. In some cases, downloads are stored elsewhere (e.g. the Files app) but you can still access them via the downloads section of the browser.

We prepared instructions for Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox, but the steps should be similar for any iOS browser.

Safari:

1. Open Safari.
2. In the web address bar at the bottom of the screen, tap the Page Settings button on the far left (it looks like two letter A’s). Then, tap Downloads.
3. Swipe left on the file you want to delete. Then, tap the Delete button.

Google Chrome: 

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Tap the ellipses button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
3. Swipe the icons at the top of the menu to the left until you find the Downloads button. Tap it to view your files in the Downloads folder of the Files app.
4. Tap and hold the file, then tap Delete. If you want to delete multiple files, tap the ellipses button > Select to multi-select files.

Firefox:

1. Open Firefox.
2. Tap the menu button in the bottom-right corner of the screen. It looks like 3 lines on top of each other. Then, tap the Downloads button.
3. Swipe left on the file you want to erase. Then, tap Delete. Downloaded files you delete via Firefox will automatically be deleted from the Downloads folder of the Files app as well.

4. Delete App-Specific Files

App-specific downloads are usually accessed and managed through the app itself. Some popular examples include Netflix, Spotify, and other streaming services.

We’ll demonstrate how to delete downloads from an app using a streaming service called Dropout to show you what this process looks like in lesser-known apps.

1. Open the app whose files you want to delete and navigate to the “Downloads” or “Offline” section. In my case, I had to open my playlist menu to access my offline downloads.
2. Depending on the app you use, there should be a delete/erase button beside the file you downloaded. You may also be able to swipe left to delete the file, similar to other native and third-party iOS tools.
3. Make sure to confirm the deletion when prompted.

How to Identify Space-Consuming Downloads on Your iPhone

If you’re unsure what types of data make up the majority of your downloads, iOS has a super helpful menu in the Settings app that can point you in the right direction. We’ll show you where it is, then explain how it works.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap iPhone Storage.

The colorful bar at the top of the screen is a representation of your iPhone’s total storage space, as well as how much of it is allocated to different types of data. Namely: Applications, Photos, Mail, Messages, Books, iOS, and System Data.

It should point you toward where your largest downloads are saved. For example, apps take up most of my iPhone’s storage space due to downloading Dimension 20 episodes using the Dropout app. iOS will even recommend downloads you can delete straight from Settings, depending on how much free storage space your iPhone still has.

Scrolling down, you can actually review the apps on your iPhone and sort them by Size to find big downloads faster.