I love using Apple Music, but I rarely stream songs I listen to most of the time. They’re all in my library and are downloaded to my device. 3G is still pretty expensive you see. But I have a 64 GB iPhone so I can afford to spend 5-10 GB in the Music app. You might not be able to.

If you’ve got a 16 or 32 GB iPhone and still want to keep your favorite music downloaded, while making sure it doesn’t fill up the entire iPhone, you’re going to like the new Optimize Storage option in iOS 10.

You can specify that you only want downloaded music to take up say 2 GB of space. Then if you download over that, the Music app will delete older songs, song you don’t play. But will make sure to keep your favorite and latest songs downloaded. This means less of a headache for you when it comes to managing storage on your iPhone.

How To Enable Optimized Storage for Apple Music

Make sure you’re logged into your iCloud account in the Music app and are signed up for a plan.

Then go to the “Settings” app and select “Music“.

First of all, make sure “iCloud Music Library” is enabled. This feature won’t show up without it.

Then tap on “Optimize Storage“.

From the next page, tap on the toggle to turn it on.

Below you’ll see the options for the size of the library you want to select. This will depend on the storage capacity on your device. For example, on my 32 GB iPad Pro, I see 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB options. You’ll also see how many songs will be saved, approximately.

Select one, and that it, you’re done.

Explore The New Music App

The Music app in iOS 10 got a big redesign and some new feature. There’s a whole new Search tab. And Apple will create weekly playlists of your favorite songs and songs it thinks you’ll like. You can find them in the top of the “For You” section, they’re quite good.

What’s your favorite new feature in the Music app? Share with us in the comments below.