iPad Pro 13 (M4): How to Free Up Storage
Most reclaimed storage comes from caches and offline downloads rather than from the files you can see.
Last revised
Why this matters
Applications cache aggressively and rarely clean up after themselves. Offline media downloads are usually the single largest hidden consumer.
What you will need
- Ten minutes
- A cloud account if you intend to offload media
Step by step
- Open the storage breakdown in settings and note the largest category before deleting anything.
- Clear cached data for the three largest applications rather than uninstalling them.
- Remove offline downloads in streaming and music apps, which are frequently gigabytes.
- Empty the recently deleted folder, which usually retains items for thirty days.
- Offload the photo library to cloud storage with local originals removed, not merely synced.
- Reboot, which clears temporary system files that otherwise persist.
How often
Monthly, or whenever you drop below about ten percent free.
Specific to the iPad Pro 13 (M4)
Bear in mind that iPadOS still cannot use the hardware it is sold with, which is worth factoring into how carefully you approach this.
Before you start
- Set aside enough time to finish — a job abandoned halfway is worse than one never started
- Work somewhere well lit and uncluttered, with a container for anything that comes off the device
- Take a photograph before you change anything, which costs seconds and saves guessing later
- Check whether the Apple warranty still applies, because it changes which steps are worth doing yourself
How long it takes
Budget ten minutes the first time and half that afterwards. It is the kind of job that takes longer to schedule than to do, which is exactly why it gets skipped — put it on the same recurring reminder as something else you already do.
Signs you have left it too long
- It takes noticeably longer to do something that used to be instant, and a restart only fixes it briefly
- It runs warmer than it did under the same load, in the same room, at the same time of year
- The behaviour you already know about — iPadOS still cannot use the hardware it is sold with — starts showing up earlier in the day than it used to
- You have begun working around it without deciding to, which is usually the first real symptom
What not to do
- Third-party cleaner apps, which mostly duplicate built-in tools
- Deleting system folders you do not recognise
- Letting free space fall below five percent, which slows write performance
Behind this page
This reference page is written from the same testing notes as the reviews it supports, and it is revised whenever the hardware or the software underneath it changes. Where a figure appears here it has been measured rather than quoted from a specification sheet.
If something on this page no longer matches what you are seeing, it is out of date rather than disputed — tell us and it gets checked again.
Related reading
The reviews this page supports go into the measurements behind these figures, and the knowledge base collects every reference page we keep.
Elsewhere in maintenance: iPad Pro 13 (M4): How to Improve Everyday Performance, iPad Pro 13 (M4): How to Look After the Battery and iPad Pro 13 (M4): How to Prepare It for Sale or Handover.