How to change download location for Safari on your iPhone

By Amber Neely

Whether you're running out of space in your iCloud Drive, or you'd prefer to keep your downloads stored locally for privacy reasons, you can quickly change Safari's default download location on your iPhone. Here's how to do it.

If you've ever downloaded anything on your iPhone, you may have had trouble finding it later. After all, it's not immediately clear where these files go.

By default, you'll save anything you download to the Downloads folder of iCloud Drive. You may not want it there, given that it uploads to your iCloud drive, and takes up space there too.

Changing the download location elsewhere is possible. Here's how to do it.

How to change the download location for Safari on your iPhone

  1. Open Settings
  2. Scroll down and tap Safari
  3. Scroll down and tap Downloads
  4. Select either iCloud Drive, On my iPhone, or Other...

If you select iCloud Drive or On my iPhone, you will automatically download files to the respective Downloads folder.

Should you select "Other...", you will be prompted to navigate to the location either on iCloud Drive or your iPhone where you would like to download files.