One ProRAW file: 25-75MB. Same shot in HEIC: 1.6MB. If storage vanished after you “tried that RAW button once”, here’s the hunt.
The quick answer
ProRAWs carry a RAW badge in the Photos info panel and sit at the very top of any biggest-first sort. Keep the portfolio pieces, export the rest to JPEG and delete the RAWs, then turn RAW off except for real shoots. Check the scale first in our photo storage calculator.
Step 1: Find them
Two ways: tap i on suspects and look for the RAW badge, or sort by size — ProRAWs cluster at the top like whales. Fifty forgotten test shots = ~3GB, often the single biggest surprise in a library (why photos take space).
What this gives you: the heaviest files on your phone in one list. What this does not give you: the decision. A portfolio shot stays RAW; a test shot of your desk doesn’t.
Step 2: Convert or delete
- Portfolio pieces: keep RAW, back them up off-phone (move to SSD).
- Everything else: export/share as JPEG at full quality, verify the JPEG, delete the RAW. Same verify-then-delete discipline as 4K shrinking.
Step 3: Stop shooting RAW by accident
Settings > Camera > Formats > Photo Mode: default back to HEIC/24MP. Enable RAW per-shot from the Camera app’s RAW toggle only when the shot deserves 40x the bytes. Default matters — check HEIC vs JPEG.
The bottom line
RAW is a scalpel, not a daily driver. Keep ten scalpels, melt the other ninety into JPEGs, empty Recently Deleted.