Gmail storage full?
Free up space step by step.

What counts against your Google storage

A Google Account includes up to 15 GB, shared across Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos. Google says accounts created from 9 March 2026 start with 5 GB and can unlock another 10 GB by verifying a phone number. Gmail messages and attachments count, and so do the Spam and Trash folders.

To see the split, open one.google.com/storage and sign in. If Photos or Drive is the biggest part, deleting emails will not help much.

What happens when Gmail is out of storage

Google's wording: when your account reaches its storage limit, "you can't send or receive emails" and "messages sent to you go back to the sender." You also cannot upload to Drive or back up to Google Photos. If you stay over the limit for 2 years, Google may delete your content.

1. Empty Trash and Spam

Until they are emptied, Trash and Spam still count. Google calls this the quickest way to recover space.

1. Open the Gmail app on your iPhone.
2. At the top left, tap Menu, then Trash.
3. Tap Empty trash now.
4. Tap Menu again, then Spam, and tap Empty spam now.

2. Find the biggest and oldest emails

A few emails with large attachments often use more space than thousands of plain ones. Type one of these in Gmail's search bar.

1. has:attachment larger:10M finds emails with attachments over 10 MB.
2. older_than:2y has:attachment finds emails with attachments that are more than two years old. Use 1y for one year.
3. Touch and hold a result to select it, select the others you do not need, then tap Delete.
4. Empty Trash again to get the space back.

3. Clear old emails from Gmail, sender by sender

The Gmail app selects up to 50 messages at a time. If years of newsletters fill your account, clearing them sender by sender is quicker. Phone Cleaner lists your senders by how many emails they sent, and its Large files filter shows the senders whose big attachments take the most space. It moves a sender's emails to Gmail's Trash in one go, and Trash keeps them for 30 days, so empty it when you are sure.

Step 1 of 6On the Email tab, tap Sign in with Google. Phone Cleaner never sees your password, and your mail stays between this iPhone and Google.

Step 2 of 6Senders are listed by how many emails they sent, most first: years of newsletters add up. Touch and hold one to start selecting, then tap the others.

Step 3 of 6Two senders, 679 emails. The Unsubscribe tag marks senders that offer one-click unsubscribe. Tap Also unsubscribe: the first time, it warns that some senders don't allow it.

Step 4 of 6Also unsubscribe is on. Tap Delete.

Step 5 of 6Phone Cleaner asks first: Gmail keeps the emails in Trash for 30 days, so you can still get them back. Tap Move to Trash.

Step 6 of 6679 emails moved to Gmail's Trash. They still count against your storage until Trash is emptied, by you or by Gmail after 30 days.