How to Move iPhone Storage to iCloud Easily: 2024 Guide

An iPhone will become sluggish and slow when there is not enough storage space. However, iPhone storage is limited and it does not support microSD cards. Therefore, when you find iPhone storage is full, you may want to set iCloud as the storage. Fortunately, it is possible to move iPhone storage to iCloud.

iCloud is the default cloud storage service for iPhone. With iCloud, you can easily back up your iPhone and restore the backup when needed. In addition, you can also choose to move important files to iCloud to make more available room on iPhone.

A good thing is that the files stored in iCloud can be accessed on all your devices. You will never lose your important data even if your iPhone gets lost. Let’s start to see how to move iPhone storage to iCloud!

Preparation before transferring iPhone storage to iCloud

Before we get into the details of how to transfer iPhone storage to iCloud, there is one point you need to be aware of. Make sure there is enough iCloud storage space.

Each iCloud user only has 5 GB of free storage space. If you have a lot of files, it may not be enough to store all of them. If you want to move iPhone photos to iCloud, you can first check the space occupied by the photos and then see if you have enough iCloud space to save them.

🔸 How to check your iPhone storage space: go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage and iPhone will calculate category size > then you can see the space occupied by photos or other apps.

🔸 How to check your iCloud storage space: go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud and you will see the available space.

If the available space does not meet your needs, you can pay extra to get more space. Choose Manage Account Storage or Manage Storage > Select Buy More Storage or Change Storage Plan to pick the plan that's right for you.

If everything is OK, you can read on to see how to switch iPhone storage to iCloud.

How to move iPhone storage to iCloud wirelessly

There are 3 ways that can help you move iPhone storage to iCloud on your iPhone directly. You can turn on the sync option to save specific data to iCloud or move selected files to iCloud Drive. 

If there are too many large files need to be uploaded to iCloud, you can also choose the faster wired way mentioned in the next part to make it.

1. Move photos, apps, files and messages from iPhone storage to iCloud

Let’s first see how to transfer iPhone storage to iCloud. You can follow the steps to move photos, apps, files, messages to iCloud. However, you are not allowed to select the files you need. When you turn on the sync of photo, it will upload all of your photos to iCloud.

Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > tap Show All > Turn on the toggle for the specific data. For example, if you want to move photos to iCloud, you should tap Photos and turn on Sync This iPhone.

In fact, syncing data to iCloud doesn't really solve the problem of insufficient storage. The data is still on your iPhone, and it can only reduce the amount of space it takes up to a certain extent. To make more room on iPhone, you may choose to move iPhone storage to iCloud Drive.

2. Move iPhone storage to iCloud Drive

If you do not want to turn on the sync, then you can choose to move iPhone storage to iCloud Drive. The data saved in iCloud Drive can be accessed on any device. In addition, when you delete the files on iPhone, they will not be deleted from iCloud.

On your iPhone (iOS 11 and later), there’s one app called Files. With this Files app, you can save photos, contacts, documents, etc. from iPhone to iCloud Drive. In this way, you can easily check your files after deleting them from your iPhone.

Here is an example to move iPhone photo storage to iCloud Drive:

• Go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Turn on the sync option.   
• Go to Photos app > Select the photos you want to move to iCloud Drive.
• Tap the Share button in the lower left corner > Choose Save to Files > Select iCloud Drive > Tap the three-dots icon to create a new folder to save your photos > Click Save to confirm.

3. Move music to iCloud

If you like to use Apple Music to listen to music, you can subscribe to Apple Music so you can turn on Sync Library to upload your songs to iCloud. In addition, you can turn on Optimize Storage option, in this way, it will automatically delete the songs that haven't been played for a long time.

You can go to Settings > Music to turn on Sync Library option. After that, you can choose Optimize Storage to change the minimum storage of music.

How to move data from iPhone to iCloud on PC for free

As a professional iPhone data transfer and iCloud data management tool, FoneTool can help you easily transfer data from iPhone to PC and then you can upload data from PC to iCloud/iCloud Drive efficiently.

Section 1. Move iPhone data to PC with a cable

During the iPhone-to-PC data transfer process, you can get many advantages and save lots of time.

Highlights:

 Fast transfer speed simplifies the process and 1000 + full-resolution photos can be moved within minutes.

 Total USB connections ensure all your data is protected in an absolutely safe environment.

 You can easily save your photos, videos, music and contacts from iPhone to PC and vice versa.

 Various file types can be recognized including jpg, jpeg, png, gif, heic, raw, mp4, mov, m4v mp3, m4a, wav, aac, csv, vcf, etc.

 All iPhone models and iOS versions can be supported, even the latest ones, as well as iPad and iPod Touch.

Now you can click the button to download FoneTool to your Windows PC and learn from the steps to get how to transfer data from iPhone to PC.

 Step 1. Launch FoneTool > Connect iPhone to PC via a USB cable > If asked, tap Trust on iPhone to continue.

Step 2. Go to Phone Transfer from the left pane > Choose iPhone to PC and click Get Started.

Step 3. Preview and select the files you need (If you want to transfer photos, you can choose Photos and go to the albums to find the photos you need.) > Click OK to continue.

Step 4. Click Start Transfer > On the pop-up window, choose the storage path and adjust other settings as you like > Click OK to start.

Once the transfer is finished, you can use FoneTool's iCloud manager feature to upload your targeted data to iCloud or iCloud Drive.

Section 2. Upload data from PC to iCloud/iCloud Drive

Its powerful functions will help you finish the process efficiently.

Advantages:

 Fast upload speed makes the process efficient and 1000+ high-quality pictures can be synced within 40 minutes. 

 Compared with unstable official iCloud web, FoneTool runs stably without any usage disruptions.

 It adopts two-factor authentication to protect your iCloud data which is same as the encryption used by Apple. 

 You can simply upload, download and delete iCloud/iCloud data in a few clicks.

 For people who want to switch to a new Apple ID, you can also use the iCloud Sync feature to sync notes, photos, etc.

Now follow the steps below to easily make it!

Step 1. Go to My iCloud > Log in with your Apple ID > Click Manage iCloud. (If you need to sync iCloud data to another account, you can choose iCloud Sync from this interface to operate.)

Step 2. Click each icon you need > Click the Upload button to continue (You can tap on iCloud Drive to access your iCloud Drive data easily).

Step 3. Choose your targeted data on the PC from the pop-up window > Click Open to confirm the choice.

Final words

That’s all about how to move iPhone storage to iCloud. The files in iCloud storage can be accessed on any device. You can first move your important files to iCloud and then delete them from iPhone to free up space. Or you can use the professional FoneTool to transfer data from iPhone to PC and then add them to iCloud efficiently.