JosephWit

Q: Can't delete iCloud backup, storage full

After upgrading my iPhone 6 Plus to IOS 9, my iCloud storage shows 5GB of my 25GB available. It shows an iPad Air (not yet updated to iOS9) backup of  516MB, and an iPhone backup of 0 KB, which I cannot delete (This backup cannot be deleted at this time). Documents and Data only 6.9MB, but only 5 GB available, and not enough room to continue to back up the iPhone. The 19GB iPhone backup appears to have been corrupted and cannot be deleted or updated by the phone. Looks like lots of folks are having similar issues. Any solutions?


Apple has been spending lots of energy creating new, exciting products but has been lax on supporting the back end, which is just as important. iCloud for Windows still not updated for Windows 10, and iTunes has issues with Windows 10, not resolved in iTunes 12.3. Come on, Apple!

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 9

Posted on Sep 19, 2015 11:49 AM

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Q: Can't delete iCloud backup, storage full

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  • by tolen22,

    tolen22 tolen22 Oct 1, 2015 2:31 AM in response to JosephWit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2015 2:31 AM in response to JosephWit

    I'm having similar problems- backed up old iPhone 6 and restored data to new iPhone 6s.  Cannot delete old iPhone 6 back up from cloud, error signal says this backup is in use.  Phoned Apple very helpful- reset iPhone to by deleting all settings and restoring from backup but still unable to delete old backup.

    Hoping for a call back from Apple

  • by jordanko,

    jordanko jordanko Oct 8, 2015 7:18 PM in response to tolen22
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 8, 2015 7:18 PM in response to tolen22

    Good luck. I have the exact same issue and have had an open ticket with Apple for the past 10 days now. All I get are phone calls every 2 days telling me, nothing yet, the engineering team is still "working" on it. It's absurdity since it would't take more than two minutes of anyone's time to simply go in and delete the corrupt backups. My phantom space was nearly 60gb, but somehow I got it down to 25gb, but my iCloud is completely full as a result. I thought maybe if I downgraded from the 200gb plan to the 5gb plan I would be over space and the extra would be deleted. No such luck. Now I just get repeated e-mails at how my iCloud is full and I can't backup or send or receive e-mail. Between my MacBook, iPhone 6s+, iPad air 2, iPad mini, and apple watch I would have thought I spent enough money at Apple to actually get service from the Apple Care plus team but they are useless.

  • by axl1126,

    axl1126 axl1126 Oct 8, 2015 9:37 PM in response to jordanko
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 8, 2015 9:37 PM in response to jordanko

    MY case was wrapped up today. Apple support fixed it. It took about 7-8 days, and my space SLOWLY freed up a little bit every day.   I have no idea what their process was, but it is now fixed.

     

    Patence will be rewarded if you have an active case open with Apple Support.

  • by leejustone,

    leejustone leejustone Oct 24, 2015 7:17 AM in response to JosephWit
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 24, 2015 7:17 AM in response to JosephWit

    I had the same problem and was able to fix it by logging into my Mac and opening iCloud Settings. Unlike my iPhone, it allowed me to delete the old corrupted backup. Here are more explicit instructions. Good luck! iCloud: Remove an iOS device backup from iCloud

  • by slimzee,Helpful

    slimzee slimzee Oct 30, 2015 11:44 AM in response to JosephWit
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 30, 2015 11:44 AM in response to JosephWit

    I just fixed this same problem, you need to first click on icloud, scroll down to back up and turn it off, then go back and click on storage, then manage storage, then under backups go on your iphone, then you need to wait until the loading icon next to back up options stops spinning, then you can scroll down and delete the back up, it wont delete if you try to delete it while the loading icon is still spinning, it will just say it can not delete at this time.

  • by japplewong,Helpful

    japplewong japplewong Nov 1, 2015 1:51 AM in response to leejustone
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 1, 2015 1:51 AM in response to leejustone

    Thank you leejustone! This worked for me, finallllllly!!!

     

    Remove a backup using your Mac

    1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click iCloud, then click Manage.
    2. Click Backups on the left, select an iOS device on the right whose backup you don’t need, then click Delete.
  • by orangebuckeye,

    orangebuckeye orangebuckeye Nov 2, 2015 12:13 PM in response to JosephWit
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iTunes
    Nov 2, 2015 12:13 PM in response to JosephWit

    I have the exact same issue (as the original post) with a phantom backup taking up space that I am unable to delete. There is nothing there for me to click on to manually delete.  none of the proposed solutions have worked to date.  I plan on calling apple support tonight to see what can be done on their end.

  • by axl1126,

    axl1126 axl1126 Nov 2, 2015 5:27 PM in response to orangebuckeye
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 2, 2015 5:27 PM in response to orangebuckeye

    Orangebuckeye,

     

    Your issue sounds exactly like mine.  It wasn't as easy as going into iCloud.com and deleting old backups.  Apple support had to do work in the back end, and it took almost a full week to get it completely resolved.  Their tech was really good and communication was good. 

     

    Call support, and they will take care of it.

     

    Axl

  • by orangebuckeye,

    orangebuckeye orangebuckeye Nov 3, 2015 5:48 PM in response to axl1126
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iTunes
    Nov 3, 2015 5:48 PM in response to axl1126

    I called support and they took care of me. They fixed it about about 45 mins - hour on the phone.  It was nothing that I could have done differently.  The fix was completely on their end just as the previous post said.  They had to "release the reserve space."

  • by axl1126,

    axl1126 axl1126 Nov 4, 2015 6:11 AM in response to orangebuckeye
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 4, 2015 6:11 AM in response to orangebuckeye

    Glad you got it worked out!

  • by danielnwk,

    danielnwk danielnwk Nov 15, 2015 7:09 PM in response to JosephWit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 7:09 PM in response to JosephWit

    my Backups shows 0kb and nothing to be deleted

    contacted Apple support and told me this is on-going issue and engineer is still working a fix for it

    she told me the issue when migrating to new server with ios 9

    unable to delete.jpg

  • by G@dgetgirl,

    G@dgetgirl G@dgetgirl Dec 2, 2015 10:43 AM in response to danielnwk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2015 10:43 AM in response to danielnwk

    Having exactly the same issue (with exact same iMac Manage Storage screen visuals as danielnwk above) over here in the Netherlands. Can confirm, Dutch Apple support has the same message: iOS9 issue, have to wait till next update, until then advise is: use iTunes for backing up iOS devices.

    Apple support told me they'd free up my storage space from their end, and to give that 24 hours to 'kick in'. So waiting to see what happens tomorrow when I'll check my storage.

  • by YQX,

    YQX YQX Dec 19, 2015 4:41 PM in response to JosephWit
    Level 1 (9 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 19, 2015 4:41 PM in response to JosephWit

    Same issue, can't delete the backup whether I do it on my iPhone or my Mac.

     

    Settings>iCloud>Storage>Manage Storage>Select my iPhone backup>Delete Backup>Turn Off & Delete>"Cannot Delete Backup - This backup cannot be deleted at this time."

     

    System Preferences>iCloud>Manage>Backups>Select my iPhone backup>Delete>Delete>"This selected items couldn't be deleted. - Try Again Later"

     

    An Apple support personnel whom I spoke to over the phone confirmed that she was able to see multiple backups on my iCloud even though I am only able to see one. She also commented that she find it strange that my backups are not overwritten every time it backups and that the other few backups are dated about the same period of time.

     

    She said that this is apparently a known issue and Apple is aware of it.

     

    Wonder how true it is.

  • by freylukas,

    freylukas freylukas Jan 10, 2016 4:59 PM in response to slimzee
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2016 4:59 PM in response to slimzee

    Thanks. This has fixed my problem on the iPhone as well as iPad. Much appreciated.

  • by ravi roshan,

    ravi roshan ravi roshan Mar 19, 2016 1:24 PM in response to G@dgetgirl
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 19, 2016 1:24 PM in response to G@dgetgirl

    if you are not able to delete old backup then check once again in setting > icloud > inside this you can get one option BACKUP (make sure that option is on)  now you can go and check in manage option now you will able to delete the old backups.

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