Photos app using too much storage on iPhone even after turning sync with iCloud off and deleting photos

hello

so I have ~400GB of pictures and videos in iCloud and noticed it was taking up quite too much (~16GB) space on my iPhone despite having optimize storage option turned on.

Today I read I can turn off iCloud sync and turn it on again to resolve the issue.

After turning it off, I’m still left with 9GB of used space but I have only ~650 items.

I exported them to my files; it takes just 1.37GB there.

My trash is also empty and I have restarted my iPhone many times.

Then why photos app is taking ~8GB extra space? How can I clear it?

Thanks

[Edited by Moderator]

Posted on Nov 8, 2026 8:33 AM

1 reply

Richard.Taylor

Level 7 (25,466 points)

Nov 8, 2026 10:58 AM in response to dariushm

That's really well optimized! We usually say you can get down to about 10%-- for you that would be 40GB. I see about 6.5%, which for you would be about 25GB. If you 400GB Library takes up only 17GB, then you're doing great!