How to Change the Download Location in Safari on iPhone

When you download files in Safari on your iPhone or iPad, they get saved to the Downloads folder under iCloud Drive on the Files app. If you’ve subscribed to a paid iCloud storage plan, this probably isn’t a concern for you. However, if you’re on the free (5GB) storage plan, you’ll often find yourself moving files out of the Downloads folder to free up your iCloud storage space.

Fortunately, there’s a way around this: it involves changing the download location in Safari on your iPhone or iPad. And, the following guide demonstrates how to do this on an iPhone or iPad running iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, respectively.

Steps to Change Download Location in Safari

Follow the steps below to change the default download location in Safari on your iPhone or iPad:

1. Open Settings.
2. Scroll down and select Safari from the list of apps.
   
3. Under GENERAL, click on Downloads.
   
4. On the STORE DOWNLOADED FILES ON navigation dialog, click on the dropdown button next to On My iPhone and tap on a folder to change the download location to the Downloads folder under your iPhone’s (or iPad’s) internal storage. Alternatively, if you wish to choose another storage location for your Safari downloads, tap on Other and select the folder (or create a new one by hitting the new folder icon on the top-right corner) under On My iPhone.
   
5. Hit Done.

Once you do that, Safari will now save your new downloads to your preferred folder of choice you just set as the default location for downloads on your iPhone or iPad. Bear in mind, though, that your existing downloads will continue to remain in the old location—iCloud Drive—and you’ll have to move them manually to the new folder if you wish to keep all your downloads in one place.

At any point, if you wish to change the file download location again, repeat the same steps.

Setting the Download Location for Safari to the Folder of Your Choice

Using the guide above, you can easily change the download location for Safari on your iPhone or iPad from its default iCloud Drive location to some other folder/your preferred location of choice on the internal storage.

As we’ve already mentioned, this will spare you the trouble of going into the Files app to move files and clean up your iCloud Drive. However, as it turns out, this isn’t the only reason why you would want to undergo this process, as a lot of the time, it may also be out of preference to be in control of the app’s behavior.