Is there a way to make my IPhone storage “catch up” to deletions? I got rid of some apps to clear out space but it still lists as full. Or will it eventually do so on its own?
I hesitate to suggest this for obvious reasons, but have you tried turning it off and then on again?
Alternatively, look through the settings - there’s probably something in there that will clean things up. I can’t remember iPhone, on my Samsung its buried in “Battery and Device Care”.
This may help.
I have no idea about an iPhone. I hate all things Apple. But on my Android, you needed to reboot the phone.
Many (most?) people probably know this, but for the sake of the less technical folks, pressing the power button only turns the display off. It doesn’t actually turn the phone off. You need to actually turn the phone off.
Again, I have no idea how iPhones do it, but with a typical cell phone you press and hold the power button instead of just pressing it. The phone will either begin its shut down sequence or it will pop up with a menu giving you different options. Once the phone is completely powered off, then you can press the power button (might have to hold it again) to start the phone back up. Once the phone has been rebooted in this manner, a lot of memory from deleted apps, photos, etc. would then be fully available.
Do you have the “Offload Unused Apps” setting turned on? If so, maybe you were deleting apps that weren’t really being stored on your iPhone in the first place.
If clearing out space is your concern, deleting apps probably isn’t the best way to do it unless you have some really huge apps. Photos, videos, music and messages are probably what is taking up the bulk of the phone’s space. You can go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage to see a categorized list.
The iPhone works the same way. Hold the button, then slide to power off.
Until recently I had an iPhone 6 with 16Gb of storage so had to be really careful about managing limited storage.
In settings under iPhone storage there is a button to “empty recently deleted” which might help.
I also often deleted apps because that removed their “documents and data” which was often taking significantly more space than the apps themselves. Then you can restore from the App Store.
You can also clear history for Safari (there’s not an option to delete it like other apps).
Definitely check your messages - how long they are kept, and how large the attachments are.
It did take a few minutes after doing all that for the storage used number to update but I don’t recall having to turn it off and on to see the effect of all those steps.
It was a PItA to always be thinking about managing storage and I finally got a new 13 SE with 256G. Between that and not wondering where I can next charge up the weakened battery, it made my life much easier.
The lion’s share of my space seems to be taken up by podcasts. Oddly, the little alert symbol has vanished from settings, even though the number hasn’t gone down. I take many photos, so perhaps I need to make some hard choices and begin weeding. 
I have an iPhone 11 and I have to hold one of the volume buttons and the power button (at the same time) to get to the slide screen [then swipe]. Just holding down the power button activates Siri.
Maybe get iCloud? $3/month for 200gb, photos and stuff just automagically spools into the cloud.
You can totally remove all your podcasts to free space. If you need them they’ll re-download in a seconds.
You are correct, it’s the 2 button combo.
This is what I do, mostly because I’m a tech peasant and don’t know how to do much else, but it works well.
There are various levels and you might do just fine with the 99 cents a month level. Just be sure to link it it up with auto pay from a debit card or credit card so you don’t have to think about it again.