iPhone cameras are evolving quickly, and managing storage space and data usage on your iPhone is becoming crucial. Compressing photos on your iPhone can come in handy in many ways, for example, dealing with low storage space on your iPhone, uploading photos to a website with an upload size limit, or uploading multiple photos without wasting data.
Although there is no native app available on the iPhone for compressing photos, several workarounds allow you to do this. In this article, we discuss five different ways you can compress photos on the go.
You can compress photos on your iPhone by installing third-party apps. These apps allow you to select multiple images for compression and set the quality and dimensions of the compressed images. You can also compress photos using online applications by uploading your images on their website and downloading a compressed version. If you want to compress photos using already installed applications, share the photos through Email, Messenger or WhatsApp and download the compressed versions. Another easy trick for compressing photos is to take a screenshot of the photos.
Storage space is crucial for iPhone users, making its efficient management necessary. High-quality images captured by the iPhone camera are several MBs in size and can take up a lot of space on your iPhone. Uploading these images can also become a challenge as many websites and email clients have upload size limits. Data usage concerns are another reason to compress photos on your iPhone.
There are a few ways you can compress photos on your iPhone. You can find one from the list given below that best fits your needs.
Method #1: Compress photos using third-party apps
Apple doesn’t provide a built-in app for photo compression, but there are third-party apps available on the App Store that allow you to compress photos on your iPhone. These apps provide a fast, convenient, and flexible interface for compressing your photos.
According to App Store ratings, listed down are two of the best third-party apps for photo compression. I have given a quick comparison chart of the two apps:
| Compress Photos & Pictures | Photo Compress | |
| Install | Free (In-App Purchases) | Free (In-App Purchases) |
| Ads | Free: Yes, Pro: No | Free: Yes, Pro: No |
| Rating | 4.7⭐ (8.1k User Ratings), | 4.5⭐ (2.1k User Ratings) |
| iOS | 10.3 or later | 10.3 or later |
These apps allow you to choose image quality and size for the compressed photos, thus giving you complete control over the result. Compared to all the other alternatives, third-party apps offer you the most flexible solution for compressing your photos.
Compress Photos on Your iPhone using “Compress Photos & Pictures”:
The process for using either app is quite similar. Here is a step-by-step guide for using Compress Photos & Pictures. If you opt to use any other photo compression app, the steps will be similar.
- Download Compress Photos & Pictures from the App Store.
- Open the app and allow it to access your Photos.
- Click on the Select Photos to Compress button.
- Select photos to compress from your library.
- Now you will see a toggle bar to select Photo quality and Photo dimensions. Again, adjust the values according to your requirements. For this example, I selected the default values.
- Press the Compress button at the bottom.
- Now you will see a progress bar for compression of photos.
- Once the process completes, the screen will give you a summary of previous and new image sizes and the overall size reduction. In this example, the size went down from 14 MB to 4.3 MB for the three photos.
- Choose from the Delete Originals and Keep Originals options at the bottom.
- Open the Photos app to check your compressed images.
Method #1: Compress photos using a website
Even though third-party apps provide a convenient and fast way to compress photos on iPhone, some people do not want to download third-party apps that can bloat their iPhone or have privacy issues. Several websites allow you to compress your photos without having to install a third-party app. These applications are also straightforward to use.
You can follow the steps below to compress photos on your iPhone using online applications.
- Open Safari Browser on your iPhone.
- Write “Compress Photos Online” in the search bar.
- You will get a list of online applications for compressing photos. For this guide, I have selected Compress JPEG as an example.
- Open Compress JPEG on your browser.
- Press on the Upload Files button on your screen.
- Select photos to upload from your Library.
Once the upload and compression are complete, you will get a Download option below each of them.
- Choose the Download All option. It will prompt you to download a Zip file (it will only be a Zip file if you selected more than one image for compression). Select the Download option.
- Open downloads on your iPhone and find the zip file.
- Tap on the Zip file and uncompress it.
- It will create a new folder containing your photos in Downloads.
- Now, if you wanted to compress photos to save space, manually delete the original photos from your Photos library.
Method #3: Compress photos by sending them via email
As opposed to the more sophisticated methods given above, there are a few quick tricks you can use to compress photos on your iPhone. Although these hacks get the job done, they do not offer you the flexibility to select the image size or dimensions.
An easy hack to compress photos on your iPhone involves using the Email app on your iPhone. Again, this is one of the easiest options without any third-party apps or online applications.
The step-by-step guide is:
- Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
- Select the photos you want to compress.
- Select the Share option for these photos.
- Open the Email option from the list.
- Write your email address as the recipient.
- It will ask you to select a size for your photos. Choose from the Small, Medium, and Large options, giving you the scaled image size.
- Email the photos to yourself with your preferred size.
- Now open your email and download these photos. The downloaded photos will be much smaller than the ones you sent out.
- Keep the original files or delete them from your Library.
Method #4: Compress photos by sending them via Messenger or WhatsApp
You can compress photos on your iPhone by sending them to yourself through WhatsApp or Messenger, as these chat apps compress photos shared through them. Although I am only mentioning these two apps, other chat apps often use similar principles.
The quick steps for this trick are:
- First, open your iPhone’s Photos app.
- Select the photos you need to compress and tap the Share option.
- Now from the list of apps for sharing these photos, select either WhatsApp or Messenger.
- From contacts, find your profile. For Messenger, you will get the option by searching your name. However, for WhatsApp, you will need to add your number.
- Send the photos to yourself.
- Now open the photos in the chat window and download them.
- Find the compressed version of the photos in your Library.
- Keep or delete the original photos from your Library.
Method #5: Compress photos by taking a screenshot of them
The simplest trick for compressing photos on your iPhone is to take a screenshot of the photo after opening it in the library.
In case you have not used the screenshot feature on your iPhone before:
- Open the photo you need to compress.
- Press the power and volume up buttons together. Then, quickly release the two buttons.
- You will see a thumbnail temporarily appear in the left corner of your screen.
- Click on the thumbnail to see the Screenshot.
- You can then crop the screenshot to your preferred dimensions.
If you are using an older model, you can check out the steps for taking a screenshot here.
HEIF Format on Your iPhone
In the above sections, I provided you with a comprehensive guide on compressing photos on your iPhone. However, if you are trying to compress photos on your iPhone due to space issues, you might wonder how you can avoid running into this problem in the future.
You can save a lot of space on your phone by using the HEIF format for your photos. This format allows you to save your photos without having to compromise on the image quality.
By selecting this format, you will reduce your image sizes by up to a half, compared to the JPEG format.
To select this format:
- Navigate to your iPhone’s Settings.
- Scroll down to and select the Camera option.
- Select the Formats option.
- Tap and switch from Most Compatible to High Efficiency.
These simple steps can save you from running into storage issues on your iPhone in the future.
Conclusion
There are several ways you can compress photos on your iPhone, as outlined in this guide. However, one thing to keep in mind is that we are compromising on the image quality whenever we compress photos. Therefore, if you need to print your photos or display them on a high-resolution screen, you should upload your images on file-sharing applications to share them, such as iCloud or Google Drive.