How to change media sync options on your iPhone

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iPhone storage

When downloading an update for iOS or your back up files from iCloud, you may have encountered an error asking you to change your media sync options. What are these options? Well, media sync options allow you to change your storage to one with more space.

When you are updating your iOS for example, you may get a pop up message like, “Updating to iOS 11.2.6 requires at least 930 MB of free space on your iPhone. Please change your media sync options to make more storage available.”

Why does this error message occur?

As you may already know, you need to have a minimum of 10% of your iPhone total storage for better usage of the iPhone.

So, the error will occur if the update you are trying to install will require more than 10% of your iPhone’s storage.

Read: How to approve iPhone from iCloud on another device

How to Change iPhone Media Sync Options to make more storage available

Follow these steps to change media sync options:

  • Plug your iPhone into the computer.
  • Launch iTunes on the computer. Ensure it is the latest version to avoid errors.
  • Click on the Device icon.
  • Go to Settings
  • Click on the content type you want to stop syncing
  • Uncheck the box to turn off syncing for the selected content type.
  • Click Apply. This will save your sync settings.
  • The data of the category you turned off will be removed from your iPhone creating more free space on your iPhone storage.

If you wouldn’t like to erase the whole data of a certain content type to free up space on iPhone, try the second way in the next part.

How to manage your iPhone storage to create more free space

Apart from changing your iPhone’s media sync options to make more storage available, there are other efficient ways to free up space on iPhone.

1. Delete content manually via settings

This method deletes the whole app and the data associated with it from your iPhone. There is no chance to undo it. So if you want to selectively and safely delete files, use Method 2.

  • Open the Settings app in your iPhone.
  • Tap on General
  • Choose iPhone Storage
  • Tap on the app that has the content you want to delete.
  • Tap on Delete App. The app and its related data will all be deleted from your iPhone.

2. Manage storage on iPhone using a third-party app

You can also use third-party data manager tools to selectively delete data on your iPhone. AnyTrans for iOS is an example of such app. To use it, you have to download and install it on your computer first. Connect your iPhone to the computer thereafter and launch the app to manage your iPhone’s storage.

Conclusion

That is all about changing media sync options and creating more free storage space on iPhone. If you encounter any problem on the same, let us know in the comments section below.