Photo Size is Big? How to Reduce Photo Size on iPhone - 4 Ways

Struggling with large photo files on your iPhone? Our expert guide will show you how to easily reduce photo size on iPhone, freeing up space and improving performance. Don't miss out!

Clara by Clara Updated June 7, 2024
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Can You Reduce Photo Size on iPhone?

Photos taken with iPhone cameras are renowned for their excellent quality, making them a popular choice for capturing memorable moments. However, some photos can be large in size, occupying significant storage space on the iPhone. Can you reduce photo size on iPhone directly?

iphone photos

Unfortunately, the Photos app on iPhone does not offer an option to reduce the size of photos. To ensure you can capture more valuable moments, it is essential to reduce the size of the photos stored on your iPhone. This article presents the best and easiest methods to decrease the MB size of iPhone photos. Let's explore these solutions!

4 Ways to Reduce Photo File Size on iPhone

In this part, we provide 4 different methods to solve the question of how to reduce photo file size on iphone. You can try the solutions one by one, or pick the way suitable for you.

Way 1. Reduce Photo Size on iPhone Settings

HEIC is an excellent image format for the latest iOS devices and is becoming increasingly popular due to its better compression compared to JPEG/JPG. As a result, it takes up less storage space on your iPhone, allowing you to reduce the photo size (MB) by setting your photo capture mode to HEIC.

mail Note:

  • For users on iOS 11 and above, you can change the format in which your iPhone stores photos at any time. However, HEIC is not compatible with some devices.
  • If your computer cannot open HEIC files, you can use a third-party tool to convert HEIC to JPG/JPEG/PNG.

Learn how to compress a photo on iphone by changing photos to HEIC.

Step 1. Open iPhone Settings App > Scroll downwards to locate Camera.

Step 2. In the next platform, tap on Formats > Choose High Efficiency.

  • High Efficiency: This option ensures your photos have a lower resolution, reducing the iPhone photo file size. Photos are saved in HEIC format.
  • Most Compatible: This option results in higher quality photos, which are saved in JPEG format.

iphone camera format

Way 2. Compress Photo Size on iPhone via Mail

Sending photos via email can also reduce their size, as the email feature alters the resolution of images sent from the iPhone. When attaching photos to an email on your iPhone, you will be prompted to resize the photos before sending them.

mail Note:

  • Keep in mind that you can resize up to 5 photos at a time, and the original photos will no longer exist.

Follow the steps to learn how to shrink a photo on iphone:

Step 1. Open the Photos app > Choose the photo that you want to resize > Tap on the Share arrow icon.

Step 2. Choose the Mail app and specify the recipient for the photo. If your goal is solely to reduce the file size of the iPhone photos, you can use your own email address as the recipient.

Step 3. Tap Send to access to the resizing options.

Step 4. Choose from any of the following options to change the photo resolution from the 8MP iPhone camera:

  • Small (320x240): This resolution may be too small to be useful.
  • Medium (640x480): This is a relatively small size.
  • Large (1632x1224): This size is half of the original image size.
  • Actual (3264x2448): This represents the full image size taken by the iPhone camera, uncompressed and unresized.

Step 5. If you sent the images to yourself, you can save the resized images to your iPhone by downloading them.

send via email.png

Way 3. Resize iPhone Photos via WhatsApps

You can reduce the size of your iPhone photos by using chat apps like WhatsApp, as these apps automatically compress photos shared through them. Simply send the photos to yourself via the app and then download the smaller, compressed versions.

Before you use this method to compress large photos, you need to navigate to Settings > Tap Privacy > Select Photos > Turn on WhatsApp.

all photos

And then you can check the steps below:

Step 1. Open WhatsApp on the iPhone > Go to Chats tab at the bottom > Tap edit icon at the top right corner.

Step 2. Find yourself account there > Send the photos you need to reduce to yourself.

Step 3. Tap one photo and it will open in full-mode > Then click the Share button at the bottom left corner.

Step 4. Click Save to download the images to your camera roll > You can find the reduced photos in the WhatsApp album.

whatsapp photos iphone

Way 4. Crop iPhone Photos to reduce the Photo Size

If you don't mind cutting your photos, you can also reduce the size of the photos by editing them directly in the Photos app.

Step 1. On your iPhone, open Photos app > Browse and select the photo you plan to crop.

Step 2. Tap Edit icon > Tap the crop icon (It likes a square with two arrows around it at the bottom).

edit grey out photo

Step 3. Above the Done icon > Locate and tap the icon of superposed squares.

Step 4. Choose the size you prefer > Tap Done. And then the picture will save to your camera roll.

Easier: Transfer Large iPhone Photos to PC to Shrink

In fact, there are many professional tools to edit iPhone pictures in the computer section, including photo compression and adjusting photo clarity, and so on. And the computer has a larger screen, making it easier to process photos. So why not quickly upload the photos to the computer and then edit them?

Here we recommend you to use FoneTool to transfer any or all large pictures from iPhone. It has an user-friendly interface, only need a few simple clicks, you can send files from iPhone to PC, including photos, videos, contacts, music, messages, and so on.

Best iPhone to PC Transfer Tool

This powerful iPhone data management tool is the best way to send iPhone pictures to PC.

  • Fast Transfer Speed. You can transfer 100 photos within 3 seconds.
  • Offline Transfer Process. With a USB cable, you can transfer photos without internet, and no worry of data leak.
  • Keep Original Photo Quality. The transmission process will not be taken as a bad or lost photo.
  • Flexible Photos Transfer. You can preview and select specific photos to transfer, or send all photos with one click.

Simple steps to send large photos from iPhone to PC

Download FoneTool and follow the guide to move iPhone photos.

Step 1. Connect the iPhone to the computer by USB > Open FoneTool > Choose Phone Transfer > Mouse over to iPhone to PC > click Start Transfer.

go to transfer

Step 2. Tap the plus icon > Check the Photos icon and uncheck the others > Preview and select the images you need to transfer, or you can check Select All > Tap OK to confirm.

select photos

★Tips:
There is a guide to transfer music: Transfer Music from iPhone to iTunes in Windows 10

Step 3. Set a destination from Transfer Settings, like local folders > Click Start Transfer to start the process.

start transfer

After that, you can use the Photo software on your computer to edit your iPhone photos. Then you can also transfer photos from Laptop to iPhone with FoneTool easily.

Conclusion

That’s all about how to reduce photo size on iPhone. This article provides 4 easy methods to help you manage your large pictures on iPhone. But when you need to process a lot of pictures, and you need more professional photo processing functions, we recommend that you use FoneTool to transfer iPhone to your computer for editing.

Also, if you feel that these photos take up too much of your iPhone storage space, you can also remove the photos from your phone after you transfer them to your computer. If you're worried about losing your data, you can also use FoneTool to backup iPhone photos to other external hard drives.

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