Storage, photos and privacy on iPhone and Android, explained by the people who build Siftlo.https://www.siftlo.com/en-gbhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/photo-organisation/organise-photos-iphone/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/photo-organisation/organise-photos-iphone/Open Photos, tap Collections, then Albums, and tap the plus button to make a New Album, or a New Folder to hold several albums. Photos already sorts a lot by itself: People & Pets, Trips, Utilities and search by place, date or text. So make albums only for what it can't guess, and pin the ones you open most.Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTphoto-organisationSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/documents/sign-pdf-iphone-android/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/documents/sign-pdf-iphone-android/On iPhone, open the PDF in Preview or the Files app, tap Add, then Add Signature, sign with your finger and drag it into place. Android has no built-in signature button, but you can draw one with the pen in Google Drive or Samsung Notes. Siftlo signs on both, and finds the forms waiting for you.Fri, 23 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTdocumentsSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/privacy/blur-faces-in-photos/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/privacy/blur-faces-in-photos/On a recent iPhone, open the photo, tap Edit, then Tools, then Clean Up, and brush over the face. Apple says this may pixelate it. Any iPhone can cover a face with a filled shape in Markup. On Android, Google Photos has a redact pen in Markup, and Samsung's Gallery can draw or put a sticker over it.Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTprivacySiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/duplicates/delete-duplicate-photos-android/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/duplicates/delete-duplicate-photos-android/On most Android phones, open Files by Google, tap Clean, then the Duplicate files card, and move the copies to Trash. On a Samsung, open Gallery, tap the menu, then Clean out and Delete duplicate pictures. Neither groups bursts, edits or chat re-saves, so those need a look of their own. Empty the bin to get the space back.Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTduplicatesSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/reduce-photo-size-iphone/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/reduce-photo-size-iphone/For new photos, set Settings > Camera > Formats to High Efficiency and choose 12 MP under Photo Mode. For a photo you've already taken, save it to Files, open it in the Preview app, tap Export and drag the Size slider left. Cropping in Photos doesn't save space, because Photos keeps the original so you can revert.Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTfree-up-spaceSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/compress-video-android/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/compress-video-android/On Samsung, open the video in Gallery, tap Edit, then More options and Size and format, and pick a lower resolution. On other Android phones, trim the clip in Google Photos and save a copy, or let Google Photos back it up at 1080p with Storage saver. To keep new videos smaller, record at Full HD instead of 4K.Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTfree-up-spaceSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/free-up-space-android/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/free-up-space-android/Open Settings, then Storage, to see what's using the space (on Samsung, Device care, then Storage). Then archive or remove apps you don't use, let Google Photos remove backed-up copies, clear WhatsApp's biggest files and old downloads, and sort out duplicate photos. Empty the bins afterwards, because deleted files keep taking up space until they're gone.Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTfree-up-spaceSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/documents/search-inside-pdfs-scans/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/documents/search-inside-pdfs-scans/Typed PDFs can be searched in Preview on iPhone or with Find in page in Chrome on Android. A scanned PDF is only a picture of words, so it needs text recognition (OCR) first. On Android, Files by Google and Google Drive read the text in scans and photos. On iPhone, Notes search reads documents you scan into it.Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTdocumentsSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/icloud-storage-full/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/icloud-storage-full/Open Settings, tap your name, then iCloud and Storage to see what's using the space. Delete backups of phones you no longer use first, then turn off backups for apps that don't need them, clear large Messages attachments and duplicate photos, and empty old Mail. Keep anything that exists only in iCloud until you've made a copy.Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTfree-up-spaceSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/clear-cache-iphone/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/clear-cache-iphone/Only app by app. iPhone has no system-wide cache button, and no app can clear other apps' caches, because apps are sandboxed. iOS clears cached and temporary files itself when space runs low. You can clear Safari's website data, use an app's own cache option, or delete and reinstall it. Then check iPhone Storage for what's really using space.Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTfree-up-spaceSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/compress-video-iphone/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/compress-video-iphone/Make a smaller copy and compare it before you delete the original. Trim the clip in Photos and save it as a new clip, or export it from iMovie at a lower resolution. For future videos, keep Settings > Camera > Formats on High Efficiency, which Apple says saves space at the same visual quality, and lower Record Video.Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTfree-up-spaceSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/documents/scan-documents-iphone/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/documents/scan-documents-iphone/Open a note, tap the Attachments button, then Scan Documents. Hold the iPhone over the page and it captures it automatically. Tap Done (Save on iOS 18) and the scan is saved as a PDF in the note. Files and Preview can scan too. Give each scan a name and a home, or it's hard to find later.Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTdocumentsSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/editing/convert-heic-to-jpg/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/editing/convert-heic-to-jpg/To get JPGs from now on, set Settings > Camera > Formats to Most Compatible. That only changes new photos, so photos you've already taken stay HEIC. To convert those, export them from the Preview app (iOS 26 or later) or Preview on a Mac, or batch-convert them on the phone with a converter such as Siftlo.Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTeditingSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/free-10gb-iphone/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/free-up-space/free-10gb-iphone/Start in Settings > General > iPhone Storage to see what's taking the space. Then offload apps you don't use, clear duplicate and burst photos, remove old downloads and big videos, and empty Recently Deleted, because deleted photos keep using space for 30 days. None of this touches the photos you'd actually miss.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTfree-up-spaceSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/duplicates/246-copies-same-photo/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/duplicates/246-copies-same-photo/Open Photos, go to Collections > Utilities > Duplicates and tap Merge on each set. Photos keeps one copy and moves the rest to Recently Deleted. Bursts are cleared separately by picking favourites, and near-copies like crops and chat re-saves need a look of their own.Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTduplicatesSiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/privacy/what-delete-does/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/privacy/what-delete-does/On iPhone and Android, deleting a photo doesn't erase it straight away. It moves to Recently Deleted on iPhone, or to a bin on Android, and stays there for 30 days in Apple's, Google's and Samsung's apps. Until that bin is emptied, you can restore it and it still uses storage.Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTprivacySiftlo Teamhttps://www.siftlo.com/blog/people/name-people-once/https://www.siftlo.com/blog/people/name-people-once/Open Photos, tap Collections, then People & Pets (on iOS 16 and 17 it's under Albums). Photos recognises faces on the iPhone itself and groups them. Tap a face, tap Name This Person, and merge any doubles with Edit, then Merge. Name the people you photograph most and search by name works across your whole library.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTpeopleSiftlo Team