How to View Downloads on an iPhone

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

This wikiHow teaches you how to find the files you've downloaded to your iPhone. If you're tearing out your hair trying to find that important document, don't worry—it's probably hiding in the Files app. And in general, if you saved a photo from the web or another app, it'll be in the Photos app. The music you've downloaded from Apple is available in the Downloaded section of the Music app.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Finding Downloaded Files

1
Open the Files app. It's the blue-and-white folder icon on your home screen and/or in the Productivity & Finance section of the App Library.
- When you tap the Save to Files option on a file, you're prompted to choose a saving location. Depending on your settings, you'll have the option to save to On My iPhone, iCloud Drive, and possibly other cloud drives. If you downloaded a file this way, you'll find it in the Files app.
- If you're looking for a photo you saved from the web, an app, or a message, you'll probably find it in the Photos app, not the Files app. This is because when you save a photo, you're prompted to Add to Photos. The only way your photo will not show up in the Photos app is if you selected Save to Files the option instead of adding it to your photos.
2
Tap Browse at the bottom-right corner. If you're already on a screen that says "Browse" at the top, you can skip this step.

Advertisement
3
Tap On My iPhone. It's under the "Locations" header at the top.
- Depending on how you downloaded the file you're looking for, you may see it right here in the main On My iPhone folder.
- You'll also find an iCloud Drive folder in this section, as well as any other cloud drive services you've set up on your phone. If you tap one of these folders, you may find downloaded files there, too.
4
Tap the Downloads folder. It's the blue folder with a downward-pointing arrow at its center. This is typically where you'll find downloaded files, such as PDFs, documents, audio files, and images you didn't save to your Photos app.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Finding Downloaded Music

1
Open your iPhone's Music app. It's the red-and-white music note icon on the home screen and/or in the App Library.
2
Tap Library. It's the icon of 3 overlapping squares with a music note at the bottom of screen.^{[1]
X
Research source}
3
Tap Downloaded. It's one of the categories on the Library page. This displays another list of categories.
4
Tap a category to view downloaded music. For example, if you want to view your downloads by artist, tap Artists.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Finding Downloaded Apps

1
Swipe left across the home screen to the App Library. You may have to swipe several times to get to this screen. You'll know you're in the right place when you see a search bar that says "App Library" at the top and several categorized folders.
2
Tap the App Library search bar at the top. This displays a list of every app that's installed on your iPhone.
3
Type an app's name to search it. If you know the name of the app, you can type it into the search bar to find it in the list.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Viewing Available Storage

1
Open your iPhone's Settings
. This is the grey gear icon on the home screen and/or in the App Library.
2
Tap General. It's in the third group of settings.
3
Tap iPhone Storage. It's about halfway down the page.
4
Browse the recommendations (optional). You may see some recommendations for saving space on your iPhone, such as enabling iCloud Photos or reviewing personal videos. Tap a recommendation to check it out, and if you're interested, follow the on-screen instructions to proceed.
5
Tap an app to view its storage information. Most of the apps in the list display the amount of space it's consuming on your iPhone. Tap an app to see how it's using the listed amount of space.
- For example, tapping Instagram (if you have it) displays the amount of space used by the app itself, as well as the data it needs to save to your phone.
- Tapping Safari displays how much space is consumed by Documents & Data, your offline reading list, web history, and downloads.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I find downloaded photos on my iPhone?

Eric Su

Community Answer

If you downloaded photos from the Internet, it should just show up in the Photos app. If not, try searching for it in the Files app.
Question

I downloaded a 'story' from Sleepiest to my iPhone so I could listen to it without using data. How do I find and play the story?

Minorite

Community Answer

This depends on your iOS and settings. If you are on iOS 13, go to Settings > Safari > Downloads and check what is your download location, it should be "On my iPhone". Then, go to Files app > tap Browse at the bottom-right corner > tap on the Downloads folder.
Question

How to find & view downloaded pdf in ipad

Minorite

Community Answer

It depends on your iOS and settings. Check the Files app > tap Browse at the bottom-right corner > tap on the Downloads folder.