Jinkie

Q: Why don't I have the memory I paid for?

I bought an iPhone 5S a few months ago. I bought it believing it had 16GB. I understand that up to 2GB can go to the operating system, hardware, etc. But I only have 12GB of usable data, that's only three-quarters of what Apple markets it as. Not to mention my "Other" data which takes up another 2GB bringing me down to 10GB of usable data.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Sep 23, 2014 5:45 PM

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Q: Why don't I have the memory I paid for?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by rbrylawski,

    rbrylawski rbrylawski Sep 23, 2014 6:40 PM in response to Jinkie
    Level 6 (11,941 points)
    Sep 23, 2014 6:40 PM in response to Jinkie

    Have you downloaded any apps, music, pictures?  Do you have any texts etc. on the phone?  If you do, you have your answer.

  • by Jinkie,

    Jinkie Jinkie Sep 23, 2014 7:05 PM in response to rbrylawski
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 23, 2014 7:05 PM in response to rbrylawski

    Apps belong to the "Apps" category, music belongs to the "Music" category, pictures belong to the "Photos" category, and texts belong to the "Other" category. I've done my research, my texts are deleted and I've reset my iPhone from a backup. But that only decreases my "Other" data, I want to know why I only have 12GB of data to do what I may.

  • by rbrylawski,

    rbrylawski rbrylawski Sep 23, 2014 7:18 PM in response to Jinkie
    Level 6 (11,941 points)
    Sep 23, 2014 7:18 PM in response to Jinkie

    Apps take up space.  Music takes up space.  Pictures take up space.  I don't get what you don't understand here.  Do you think when you add a picture you don't take up memory on the iPhone simply because it's in an App that is part of the operating system?  It doesn't work that way.  Anything you download or store, takes memory.  It's clear you don't have that much stored on your phone, if you have 12 GB left.  But you do have things on your phone that were not there when the phone was fresh out of the box.  If you really want to know what's being utilized in memory to the MB, go to Settings > About > Usage > Manage Storage and you can see what's in each app, etc.

  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine Sep 23, 2014 7:20 PM in response to Jinkie
    Level 7 (26,444 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 23, 2014 7:20 PM in response to Jinkie

    There have been discussions ad nauseam concerning the "Other" on an iDevice. Search the forums for "Other" to see some of the solutions for reducing it.

     

    Cheers,

     

    GB

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Sep 23, 2014 7:42 PM in response to Jinkie
    Level 9 (59,389 points)
    iPhone
    Sep 23, 2014 7:42 PM in response to Jinkie

    Available space on a new storage device is never going to be what you think the full amount should be. Some of it's system software or drivers. But some of it has to do with a weird quirk where storage is measured using two different numbering systems. See this article for more explanation:

     

    How OS X and iOS report storage capacity

  • by Jinkie,

    Jinkie Jinkie Sep 23, 2014 8:07 PM in response to rbrylawski
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 23, 2014 8:07 PM in response to rbrylawski

    I don't think you understand. I have used up all of my available storage of 12GB. That's the problem I want at least 14GB, what everybody else I know has on their iPhones. As you can see the capacity is 12.02GB.

     

    <Image Edited by Host>

  • by gail from maine,

    gail from maine gail from maine Sep 23, 2014 8:17 PM in response to Jinkie
    Level 7 (26,444 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 23, 2014 8:17 PM in response to Jinkie

    I have an iPhone 5S 32GB phone with only a 26.8 Capacity. Looks like your your only short about a GB, and if you want to reduce your other to a reasonable size, then do as I previously suggested and search the site for "remove other" or "reduce other". Lots of info out there about how to get most of that 2GB back....

     

    GB