I recorded a long video on my iPhone, but the file is way too large to send via email or text. I really need to make it smaller without losing too much quality. Is there an easy way to compress videos directly on an iPhone or a reliable app someone can recommend?
PSA: Found a Clean (Seriously Free!) Way to Shrink Videos/Photos on iPhone
So, I recently hit that classic “Storage Full” wall on my iPhone. I’d already rage deleted like 300 screenshots of memes, but the Live Photos and longer videos were eating gigs for breakfast. Then, after digging through a dozen sketchy apps with paywalls and pop-ups, I stumbled onto something weirdly decent — Clever Cleaner app for iPhone.
Here’s What Actually Worked (TL;DR Eddy’s Review)
- Live Photos Compressor: Squeezes those two-second accidental foot pics down to manageable bites without looking like potato quality.
- Video Compressor: Y’all, I trimmed some old party clips from gigabytes to MBs and still could recognize people’s faces.
- Double Whammy: Not only does it knock down file sizes, it flagged a bunch of duplicate pics I didn’t even know existed. (Multiple random photos of the back of my fridge — why do I do this?)
Why This One’s Not Like the Others
Okay, not to sound like a boomer, but I was prepared for some “watch this ad to save” scam or that sketchy subscription modal. Nada. No ads. No sign-in. Zero nags halfway through. No, I wasn’t paid. Just… surprised.
Look, I’ve been around for enough “totally free” cleaners that lock out the good stuff behind a credit card. But this one didn’t even ask. Just did the job — fast. I legit saved almost 15GB in one sitting, and haven’t noticed any gotchas yet.
Some Visual Receipts (Bonus Points for UI)
Final Thoughts
If you’re drowning in photos and videos, this is shockingly painless. Not sure how long it’ll stay fully free, so might wanna jump on it if you’re desperate for space. If anything funky happens after this post, I’ll update, but right now? Actual win. Peace out, storage notifications.
Let’s be honest—not everyone wants to trust a random app, even if @mikeappsreviewer found that Clever Cleaner is pretty awesome for gobbling up your video bloat. And don’t get me wrong, the “wow, it really is free?” surprise is refreshing… but, look, maybe squeezing third-party apps in your pristine Apple universe isn’t your jam.
If you want to compress a video on your iPhone with zero downloads, here’s a method I’ve used a couple times when I needed to text massive videos to my tech-illiterate aunt:
Open the Photos app, pick your chunky clip, click ‘Edit,’ and tap the crop/trim icon.
Trim off any cringe-worthy, awkward extra seconds from start or end.
Now hit “Done” and “Save as New Clip”—even a mild trim can shave some megabytes.
But the real “compression” trick? Use the built-in “Mail” app. When sharing a video, tap the little share button, pick Mail, and iOS will straight up ask if you wanna send a “Small,” “Medium,” or “Large” version. Small honestly nukes the quality, but Medium is usually fine for normal eyes. iOS does the work, and your video is Google-Drive-size ready.
Here’s where I semi-agree with @mikeappsreviewer—if you want to compress batches of videos (or compress without trimming and fiddling with Mail’s clunky options), the streamlined video and photo compression features in Clever Cleaner make life a heck of a lot easier. It also hunts down those duplicate cat memes and accidental pocket pics (why so many, seriously??).
That said, some of us just don’t want ANY new apps cluttering up home screens, not even free ones. If that’s you: trim what you can, let Mail handle basic compression, or airdrop to a Mac and run a desktop compressor like Handbrake for the heavy lifting. No, it’s not as quick and painless as a purpose-built app, but it’s all “inside the Apple garden,” which some people weirdly love.
Recap: For ease, yeah, the Clever Cleaner app rocks. For no app-itis: Photos ‘Edit’ + Mail’s send options, or tackle it on a computer. And by the way, don’t trust every “free video compressor” in the App Store—some are more stuffed with ads than your camera roll is with pointless screenshots.
Honestly, I’m convinced Apple’s idea of “video compression” is to make you pay for more iCloud storage. Love the tips from @mikeappsreviewer and @hoshikuzu (shoutout for not being another “sign up for a PRO account!” shill), but here’s my take as someone who’s played whack-a-mole with giant video files for YEARS.
First, the Mail trick is clever but also… why does Apple only offer those size choices when you email a video? Sometimes I just want to text it or save the smaller version, but nah, iOS is like “not unless you do it my way.” Also, quality? Sometimes “Medium” looks like someone ran your video through a toaster.
As for apps, yeah, I get the paranoia about downloading yet another magic cleaner. But real talk: if you’re serious about compressing more than one video—or if trimming isn’t actually gonna cut it (pun intended)—then apps are a necessary evil. The Clever Cleaner app is one of the only ones I’ve used that isn’t a free-trial trap, and it does actually batch videos, hunt down those accidental pocket-fan videos, and de-bloat your phone in, like, minutes. It’s not annoying, not filled with ads. Wouldn’t say it’s perfect (wish it had granular control over bitrate), but it’s a giant leap ahead of the “trim, hope, and pray” method iOS pushes.
My lowkey unpopular opinion: if you wanna keep nice quality and don’t want to just nuke your video down to pixel art, you’re always going to have to use a third-party app or transfer to your computer and use something like Handbrake. Apple just isn’t letting us do fine-tuned compression natively. So for folks who wanna actually control their files and not download sketchball apps, well, sorry—gotta pick your poison.
TL;DR—If you’re sending one tiny clip to grandma, @hoshikuzu’s method works. If it’s about space or sharing without major potato syndrome, check out the easy-to-use video compression features in Clever Cleaner. And Apple, please just let us set our own damn video export settings already.