How to Delete a TV Show Episode from the iPhone 5

Your iPhone 5 gives you access to a number of different media sources, many of which allow you to download songs or videos directly to your device.

Unfortunately, you have a limited amount of space available on your phone so, if you tend to download a lot of television episodes, space will eventually become a problem.

You may have been operating under the assumption that you need to connect to iTunes to manage the episodes that are saved to your device, but you can actually individually delete them to give yourself more storage space.

This makes it easier to get rid of the old episodes that you have already watched and make room for newer options, especially when you don’t have the option of connecting to your computer.

As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Deleting iTunes TV Episodes from the iPhone 5

Perhaps you have already stumbled upon the menu that you need to use to remove your videos, but you were nervous that deleting them would force you to forever lose access to the iTunes episodes you have purchased.

Fortunately, this is not the case, and you can re-download or, in the case of Apple TV, stream those episodes through your TV.

So, with this knowledge in hand, you can proceed with the steps below to remove old episodes from your phone and give yourself more space for additional files.

Step 1: Tap the Settings icon.

Open the iPhone Settings menu
Open the iPhone Settings menu

Step 2: Select the General option.

Open the iPhone General menu
Open the iPhone General menu

Step 3: Touch the Usage button at the center of the screen.

Open the iPhone Usage menu
Open the iPhone Usage menu

Step 4: Wait for the list of file categories and apps to load at the top of the screen, then select the Videos option.

Open the iPhone Videos menu
Open the iPhone Videos menu

Step 5: Touch the TV show containing the episode you want to delete.

Select the show containing the episode you want to delete
Select the show containing the episode you want to delete

Step 6: Tap the Edit button at the top-right corner of the screen.

Tap the Edit button
Tap the Edit button

Step 7: Touch the red icon with the horizontal white line inside of it that is located to the left of the episode that you want to delete.

Tap the red button to the left of the episode name
Tap the red button to the left of the episode name

Step 8: Press the Delete button to remove the episode from your iPhone 5.

Touch the Delete button
Touch the Delete button

Now that you know how to delete a TV show episode from an iPhone 5, you can use this option to free up some storage space on your device.

If you decide later that you want to re-download this episode to your device, launch the iTunes app on your phone, select the More option at the bottom of the screen, select TV Shows, then choose the show and episode that you wish to re-download to your phone.

Join Our Free Newsletter

Featured guides and deals

You may opt out at any time.
Read our Privacy Policy