Has anyone else’s iPhone been acting strange lately?

There is no correlation between how much iCloud Storage you have and the physical storage on your iPhone. If you thought that buying more iCloud Storage would increase the storage on your phone, that was an unfortunate assumption. All having more iCloud Storage does for you is to permit you to sync more data with iCloud. It doesn't give you more space on your iPhone. And once purchased your phone has only as much memory as you paid for the day you bought your phone.

Thus, if you are being told you are running low in storage on your iPhone, you need to delete things from your phone you don't need or use, which can include Apps, Music, Photos, Files, Messages, Email, etc. For a phone to work well, it should have about 10GB of free space at all times. The problems you've listed are a direct result of not having enough free space on your phone. Think of it like this. You have a one gallon bucket. You can't put more than a gallon of water in that bucket. And once you run out of memory, things just don't work right.

Read this --> What's the difference between device storage and iCloud storage? - Apple Support

And the next time you buy an iPhone, you need to buy one with more memory. Clearly the phone you have doesn't meet your storage needs.

keri-lynnfromrussell wrote:

Thanks for your reply! I knew it doesn’t free up space, that’s why I have 2TB of iCloud storage to use. But with that being said.. I have Offloaded, Deleted so many things now. If I keep going. What’s the point in even having the phone. I have 64GB. Every two minutes I’m getting storage full pop up. Managing it, better than I am my own life.

My phone is freezing up, amongst other things. Resetting doesn’t work by the up/down/side button either.

Trust me, I have done this. I have done everything I can so far and then some. Except for the most recent suggestion from Apple care “restore phone” Tonight it’s my pictures out of 17,500+ in iCloud and it shows the number of what’s there. Me deleting over 3000 just in the last few days. They all returned as soon as I deleted. Then after 5x of trying. They finally deleted. Tonight, my years dating back to 2011 are just gone and 2025 (the most recent) are there from today.

I am afraid. Even with my back up being 5 days ago: I will lose everything.

I cannot go into any app without telling me about the storage or even just opening an app. I’ve even deleted voice notes of my kids, videos, you name it.

No one knows why I have a breach of privacy either and to me, and others who’ve noticed the frustration from this. Is when these problems started happening.

Even after 3 months of contacting support and my service provider. I’m left wondering why my old number was able to access my group chat with sister-in-laws, and get two factor codes for things I was getting into up until 2024. This is after 5 years of changing it to the one I have now as well as changing everything I had the old number linked to was changed back in 2020. Especially since it was for legal matters etc.

Last Nov is when I had to spend hours on the phone figuring out why I couldn’t log in anymore.

It’s Not on my Apple ID, government websites, banking, legal. etc etc..

Hasn’t been for 5 years.

Again, no one knows what’s going on. Neither do I. Still waiting for answers. From the president of my service provider too.

Thats just some of the issues.

So I thank you ever so kindly for your advice and the link. I don’t think it’s that. I have never had a problem up until the 2 incidents.

I am at the point of switching providers and phones to be honest.

Just have my last payment this month for this Device I’m on.

Thanks again for replying back.

I get the frustration. What you REALLY need is a phone with MUCH more memory. 64GB is just inadequate in today's world. Apple no longer sells any iPhone with just 64GB anymore.

keri-lynnfromrussell wrote:

I just spent 30 min trying to discuss with an Apple representative and was told I need to do a restore on the phone. But not from a back up. But then was told to do that last night. I didn’t and have gotten no where with any problems I’m having. Even screen sharing. It’s not a storage issue. I have deleted so much off my phone and I’m still encountering problems. The only option is to make a police report and just get rid of Apple entirely.

A police report? Give me a break. Apple hasn't done anything to you. And we don't honestly care if you buy a phone from another manufacturer. But be assured that whatever phone you buy, if you don't have enough memory to meet your storage needs, like you don't now, you'll encounter the very same issues.

Since you're now making threats, I'll just depart and wish you well with whatever path you take.

You are simply running out of device storage space, nothing more. Apps are not stored in iCloud, so no matter how much iCloud space you have, it makes no difference on how much storage the apps use.

Using iCloud will help when using iCloud Photos and the Optimized Storage option to only save the smaller thumbnails on your device until a full version is needed. When the full version is needed for viewing, editing, or printing, you will need the storage space on your device to download that full version.

The Factory Reset without restoring from a backup is the quick solution to clear all apps from your device and allow you to start fresh. You may also be able to delete enough apps to free up space, so your phone can operate efficiently without problems. Post a screenshot of what you see for your device storage at Settings > General > iPhone Storage.

My wife has used a 32GB iphone for years, half full.

My grand daughter has filled up her 128GB iphone in months.

Both have everything syncd to iCloud but my granddaughter has Whatsapp with a years worth of videos and photos. I suggest you start there. Clear it.