Free Up Space: How to Fix YouTube Taking Up Too Much Storage

The YouTube app itself takes up relatively little space. However, as you continue to use it, the data and cache generated by the app will gradually increase the storage space occupied by YouTube on your phone. Are you still worried about YouTube taking up too much storage space? Try the following 4 useful solutions!

Method 1: Clear YouTube Cache

Please first try clearing the cache of the YouTube app that is taking up space on your phone. You will find that YouTube takes up much less space.

#1. Clear the YouTube App Cache on the iPhone

1. Find the Setting icon on your screen and tap it.
2. Choose the General option and select iPhone Storage.
3. Scroll down to tap the YouTube app and choose the Offload App option. The YouTube app will then be temporarily deleted but all data associated with it will be retained.
4. Then hit the Reinstall App option. Once the app is reinstalled, your cache will be cleared.

#2. Clear the YouTube App Cache on Android

1. Tap the Settings icon on your phone.
2. Navigate to Apps or Apps and Notifications.
3. Select the YouTube app.
4. Choose Storage & cache and then tap Clear cache.

Method 2: Disable YouTube Smart Downloads

Smarts Download is a YouTube feature that can help you download videos recommended based on your watch history. Then you can watch these videos offline. However, this feature is only available to users who have subscribed to YouTube Premium.

If you are a YouTube Premium subscriber, please turn off Smart Downloads to reduce the space YouTube takes up:

1. Open the YouTube app
2. Tap your profile picture at the bottom right corner of the interface.
3. Choose Settings at the top right corner of the interface.
4. Tap Background & Downloads.
5. Toggle Smart Downloads to off.

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Method 3: Delete Unwanted Offline Videos

YouTube Premium subscribers can also download videos for offline watching. However, these videos will take up some storage. Please check the downloaded videos and delete some unwanted videos. Here’s how:

1. Open the YouTube app on your phone.
2. Tap your profile picture at the bottom right corner of the interface.
3. Hit the gear icon at the top right corner of the interface.
4. Tap Background & downloads and choose Delete downloads.
5. Choose Delete in the dialog.

Method 4: Move Offline Videos from Your Phone to Computer

What if you don’t want to delete your favorite offline videos? You can permanently save offline videos in the YouTube app to your computer. This not only saves storage space on your phone but also prevents these videos from being lost.

All offline videos saved in YouTube Downloads can be synchronized between computer and mobile. Therefore, you only need to visit the YouTube website on your computer browser, save the videos to your computer, and then delete all the videos in YouTube Downloads.

Part 1: Download YouTube Videos

MiniTool Video Converter is a Windows-based application. It downloads YouTube videos by identifying the video URL. You only need to paste a YouTube video URL into the address bar inside the application, and you can quickly download YouTube videos to your computer. Here are the step-by-step instructions:

Step 1: Install MiniTool Video Converter and launch it.

MiniTool Video ConverterClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 2: Visit the YouTube website, play the video, and copy the video URL from the browser’s address bar.

Step 3: Return to MiniTool Video Converter. Go to the Video Download tab, paste the YouTube video URL into the address bar, and click Download.

Step 4: Choose the output format, select whether to download the video subtitles, and click on DOWNLOAD.

Step 5: After the video download is complete, click the Navigate to file icon to locate the downloaded video on your computer. Or click the Play icon to preview it.

Part 2: Delete All the Video in YouTube Downloads

You can delete all videos in YouTube Downloads on the YouTube website or YouTube app. You will then find that the storage space occupied by YouTube will be reduced a lot.

Conclusion

If YouTube taking up too much storage on your phone, you can try to clear the cache of the YouTube app, turn off Smart Downloads, or delete offline videos in YouTube Downloads. Of course, you can also choose to download your favorite videos to your computer with MiniTool Video Converter first, and then delete all offline videos.