Hey Hal..I’m Out of Storage on my iPhone & I Can’t Upgrade — HELP!
Another “Day in the Life of a Hal” gives way to an all too often cry for help: when the iPhone gives you the dreaded “Storage Almost Full” message and you have to keep feeding your need for more Instagram stories/images, Twitter photos and videos that have to be created — but you really can’t afford to upgrade to a newer iPhone — what do you do? (OK, “need” may be a strong word, but you get the idea).
Once you get this warning, this issue is not as easy as it looks for people for a few reasons:
- First they have to do a backup to make sure that all those photos and videos (and stuff like the photos and videos within your sent & received Messages — can’t forget those!) are properly stored in their iCloud account as a first step.
- Then there’s the extremely tedious task of going through 500, 1000, or even 5,000 or more photos and videos to figure out exactly which ones to keep and which to delete…which can be very exasperating to perform, to say nothing of how long it will take.
- Then, (once the backup is complete), if they want to retrieve an album or a bunch of photos/videos at a later date to bring back to the device, the series of multiple steps that need to occur to restore those to the device at some other time in the future is not exactly a ‘once and done’ kind of solution, from an Apple perspective. It takes a lot of time and you cannot select “just a few” to reload back into your iPhone: it’s an all or nothing proposition unless you’re willing to do some extra steps on your PC or your Mac to only reload the ones you want and then leave the rest in your iCloud Photo backup folder.
Those three steps alone are a recipe for massive frustration and can be a real pain to go through for a large majority of people because by the time you get that little flag on your iPhone, it’s clear that there’s there’s at least 20GB-50GB (on average) of photos/videos and/or Messages that contain photos or videos that are already taking up space on that 64GB iPhone in your hand. Couple that issue with the fact that if there is not enough space on the device and you decide to wait, it can result in apps sporadically closing, data loss, dropped calls and even (drum roll) the dreaded frozen Apple logo screen which may result in wiping your iPhone completely to restore it to factory settings. Yikes!
“But wait, Hal!”, you exclaim, “why not just upgrade to an iPhone with 128GB or even 256GB?” Well, first and foremost, spending extra cash is kind of a big deal during the current COVID-19 issue we’re all contending with. Money that we once had to spend freely while we were all at work made the idea of discretionary spending for things like iPhone upgrades or a new iPad Pro a no brainer — but those days are not as frequent for most consumers (at least not yet). They may love the idea of an upgrade, but with high unemployment and families and small businesses trying to figure out how to keep things afloat, an upgrade is not a viable option as a first choice at this time.
Second, it also means that you have to go through an online process, wait a few days to get the new device, then restore from a recent iCloud backup — all in the name of a little more room on the new device. It’s not difficult to do per se, but there is a wait time and another process that has to be considered, not to mention that while you’re waiting for your new device to arrive, that also means you won’t be taking any photos or videos until its arrival. Most of us don’t do well with delayed gratification when we’re stuck at home and heavily reliant on our iPhones for…well…almost everything!
Now with all these things to consider, what can Hal do to save the day? So glad you asked! (And yes — this is a shameless plug for Hal’s ability to come up with novel ideas to save the day for its customers!)
There’s a little known device that’s actually been around for years, (so no need to worry that you’re the guinea pig on some newfangled idea): it’s called iXpand and it is one of the best and fastest storage options that will save the day when that “Storage Almost Full” message rears its ugly head.
The great thing about this solution is that it solves a bunch of issues and is MUCH less expensive than an iPhone upgrade. Further, it will arrive via Amazon super fast (or if your area has Staples, Wal-Mart or other stores with it in inventory, you can take a ride to that store and get it on a same day basis) and you can implement the solution very quickly. So…what is it?
It’s a cool little gadget that simply plugs directly into your iPhone and lets you move all those photos and videos directly off of your device and onto this 64GB USB drive — and best of all, it’s under $35.00! On the opposite end of the drive is a USB 3.0 end that can plug into your PC/Mac/Laptop so you can opt to copy or move all those photos and videos to another device. As you can see from the form factor, the portion that plugs into the phone is curved and “hugs” the bottom of the phone to make the plug in process seamless and keeps the longer end from jutting out of the phone. It is a taut but comfy fit with the rubberized portion that houses the lightning end. When you plug it in, it will instantly prompt you to download the iXpand companion app, so the the “brains” of this device lies in the interaction between the app and the portable drive. This whole process is literally a plug and play solution to the age old problem of iPhone storage issues. Let’s explore why it is so versatile…and so easy to use!
First of all, the companion app helps to organize photos, videos [and even contacts and calendar info] on both sides — moving data from the iXpand to the iPhone and from the iPhone to the iXpand device. This is handy because you can use the iXpand for something as “full service” as using it for a backup drive for ALL your photos/videos and have it automatically run the backup whenever you plug it in — or simply use it to store and transfer photos/videos (and contacts & calendar info) of your choosing. The choice is up to you each time you plug it into the iPhone. Even better, when it loads, it gives you a great visual representation of the storage used on both the iXpand drive and the iPhone itself.
Let’s get to the real reason why it’s perfect for saving on storage first, then we’ll touch on the other features it also brings. Once you're set up is complete, you'll be prompted with a little camera icon in the upper left that shows you that every time you plug in the iXpand drive you can save space because all photos or videos you take while the iXpand is still plugged in can go straight to the iXpand drive and bypass being stored on your iPhone to save space! How handy is that for a nearly full iPhone for starters?
Of course, if that is not appealing to you, then you can immediately tap on a command to backup all the photos and videos from your iPhone directly to the iXpand by selecting them individually or you can tap on “Select All” in a given folder or album, if you have certain photos/videos organized in that way. Once the copy process is complete, it then asks you if you want to delete the photos/videos off of the iPhone at this time or not. This is really helpful because the way it usually works is that you would have to go back and delete those on your own in the Photos App on your iPhone, THEN go into the Recently Deleted Folder next (under Albums) in the Photos App and delete them again there to ensure they are not still taking up space on your iPhone. By using iXpand, you save a ton of time and lots of extra steps. It also means if you have 64 GB of storage on your iPhone and more than half of that amount is taking up space on your iPhone in the form of photos/videos, you can simply tap on the appropriate command with the comfort of knowing that your photos/videos are all safely backed up onto the gadget for future use or subsequent transfer to another device like a Mac or PC. More importantly, you’ve freed up much needed storage for your iPhone to operate at a more optimal level and of course, take more photos/videos from there as well.
Now let’s dive a little deeper into how the app takes this handy gadget to the next level. The app has its own built-in video player as well, so that any videos you may want to play directly from your iPhone or the iXpand drive will do so immediately with their own version of the video player. This video player, however, has another component that I may find useful: it has a “Secure Access Vault feature” whereby you can encrypt videos of your choice which are then copied and encrypted to that secure access vault folder for later playback… all of which are password protected! In other words, if you were watching “R” rated videos on your child’s iPad, but you wanted to ensure access to those movies were restricted and secured for your eyes only, then you can use the secure access vault feature to safeguard those movies from younger eyes, as one example. Further, by walling off the movies that are more adult themed, your child can still watch their choice of videos that may also have been stored on the iXpand — for that next trip in the car to visit the grandparents, etc.
The other option that is available is that once the video files are available on your iPhone via iXpand, if you have a favorite video player that you usually use, you can even copy and export those videos to that particular video player! So in each case you can either opt to use the “baked in” video player that comes with the iXpand App or opt to copy it to the video player app you prefer. You are never limited nor are you forced to use the iXpand video player only for any movies/videos that you have access to.
The other impressive detail is the speed at which the transfer/copy process happens. With large files this process can be tedious in many cases; however, seeing this device in action has been mildly impressive. And admittedly, the higher up the chain you go with regard to iPhone model (iPhone 6 vs. iPhone 7 vs. iPhone 8 vs. iPhone X), the quicker the process seems to be. And even better, iXpand now comes in 128GB and 256GB sizes for the newer iPhones that are available from Apple (for a bit more money of course).
Last but not least, the companion app also allows you to do something that you cannot do natively within your iPhone: play .WMV, .MKV, .AVI, .M4V or other video file types right on the iPhone itself. Because of how the video player works inside the iXpand companion app, you can even download video files from Windows devices and play them right on the video player that is baked into the iXpand app! In in other words, you're able to plug-in the iXpand drive and when you are prompted to open the companion app it will play those video files that you pulled off of the Windows machine so that you can view them on your iPhone instantly. Since we all know Apple and Windows rarely agree on file formats, this can be handy if you want to play something on the fly that typically might only be available on a Windows laptop or desktop. It’s a cool little added bonus that you get with iXpand that can join two disparate worlds!
The great part about that is that if you need to load any or all of those photos/videos BACK onto your iPhone at a later date, not only is it quick, but you can select which one you want to individually restore them onto the iPhone. Yes..I said individually select. (Not a typo).
That is kind of a big deal because normally you would have to go through the exercise of having to restore your phone to factory settings (aka erasing the device) and then re-uploading all the photos (the long way) to get them back. Then you’d have to re-delete the ones you really didn’t need back off of the iPhone, just to keep the ones you wanted and give yourself enough space on the iPhone itself. So, yeah. Huge time saver and a custom solution to an issue that is not easy to resolve in many cases for most people. Needless to say, that is a LOT different than just grabbing the ones you want on the fly and leaving the rest on your iXpand 64GB drive, unplugging it and moving on.
Ideas like this one is one of many compelling reasons why the Hal app continues to gain traction. Too often there are many great insights and ideas that others simply just haven’t heard about yet — but by simply downloading the Hal app and asking for some help, the types of answers that are curated and shared can be real game changers for so many. So, with that said, and in the words of every Hal out there when you text a request...
How can I help you today?
