Apple watch storage full

I think I may have done it!!! Finally! Some of you know how far I have already been to fix it, but I have gotten further this time!

Here goes I’ll talk through it as best I can....

1.) reset watch completely via watch, erasing all data and settings

2.) I decided to sign out of iCloud on my phone (yes a lot of my information was removed from my phone but still available on the cloud),

3.) link watch to iPhone again whilst not using iCloud, from this I was able to link watch to iPhone and update to latest software without the error message “not enough capacity” setting up as new

the watch now is not linked to iCloud

4.) I have waited for 24 hours before resigning in to iCloud on iPhone, purely because I didn’t get time to beforehand, but sign back into icloud (can’t imagine it’s make much difference doing it after 5 hours rather than 24)

5.) watch will then ask to log into iCloud - I pressed cancel for this...... what really does the iwatch need from the cloud?

messages come through, activity is still tracked, Facebook comes through etc etc

the iCloud is definitely the issue - believe it to be shortcuts so if someone wants to link back to cloud ensure shortcuts are turned off on cloud storage - this may work but I’m happy with how far I’ve got and a working watch with 3.7 gb capacity still available

if anyone has any questions about specific things being accessed I can try on my watch beforehand if you’d like

you’re welcome 😇

Hi all, I know I posted an update with how to resolve the issue above, about signing out of iCloud, connecting to watch etc. But this didn’t work for very long.... it soon became full of storage again after a couple of days or so.

However, I have found something else....... which has worked so far over 3 days and I haven’t lost any storage....... I will report back if storage is lost again.

I linked my watch to a friends phone for a week or so, close to giving up and selling on...... they had no issue what so ever!

so this is what I have found.....

If like me you have thousands of photos, and like to have them to hand all the time, I selected the photos to be ‘Downloaded and keep originals’ purely because it can be a faff trying to get photos to come down from the cloud sometimes. I didn’t think this would have an impact but it may or may not have...... as personally my photos are not stored on my watch

I changed this option to optimise photo storage as per the image below and left my phone a week before repairing, just to make sure the photos etc were all optimised.

I have re-paired my watch, and HAZAAA, it seems to be working fine! Give this a go, all I know currently is it’s working for me.....

So I kind of have an update but not sure if it’s going to last or not but I did the reminders thing someone said (disconnecting my reminders from ICloud because supposedly it stores all your old reminders) and then reset and unpaired and repaired and it hasn’t filled up yet... I’m not getting my hopes up tho cuz I use reminders pretty regularly so not sure if it’s going to just fill up again eventually but so far for about 15 hours it hasn’t filled up and normally it does in like 30 min for me so I would def give this a try if you’re still struggling but I will keep y’all updated if anything changes 😅

Probably the problem is not with your watch but with your reminder. It gets a lot of space on your iCloud and everything goes to your watch.

The solution here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251380551?answerId=253126268022#253126268022

Finally the solution: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251380551?answerId=253126268022#253126268022

I originally had PocketCasts and Stronglifts installed on my watch, but I've had it fill up without apps twice now. After unpair/pair, I have 4.1 GB that slowly diminishes to 0 after ~ 1 week. I have an active Apple Support case and the rep stated that they have enough logs and that the software engineers have this as their number 1 priority. Unfortunately, he also stated that they weren't sure that this is included in 13.2.8... It might be a month or so before this is fixed.

They need a better beta program than what they currently offer. Only open to active WatchOS devs, and there is no way to revert to previous WatchOS software if you are running the dev beta. This might work for iOS, but WatchOS doesn't have as many active testers.

Went back to the Apple Store today and because they were so busy a Genius met me outside to tell me that Apple had admitted to the issue 2-3 weeks ago and are actively working to fix it. While they could send it away for repair/replacement, because it’s out of warranty there would likely be a charge. So my watch will sit on my table until Apple releases a fix, which considering they just acknowledged this problem a few weeks ago after people have been having an issue for over a year according to these Forums, is probably the single most frustrating thing I’ve encountered in my years of owning Apple products. So to all - don’t continue to waste your time with Support or the Genius Bar. We all have to “hold tight” for a fix from Cupertino. 

Any updates from anyone?

I’ve been running 6.2.8 since mid August when I deleted my phone backup and Health Data from iCloud and fully un-paired and re-paired my watch as new. I haven’t loaded a single app other than the native apps onto the watch as a test. It’s been fluctuating but I currently have 126MB worth of native app data and it says I’m using 2.5GB with 2.2GB available. With no other apps, I’m still seeing the issue persist but with more room so as to not get the “Storage Full” message. At this point I think we have to wait until WatchOS 7 for a full reset. So disappointing. 

Same exact issue. my watch has very few apps, no photos or music and randomly I get a storage full message. Once I restart the watch storage goes back to normal

this seems to be a log bug or a buffer overflow that builds up and takes up all the space available. Tried to locate the file but no luck.

I’m on watchOS 6.2.5 with a series 3 version.

Hi all! Just wanted to say that I'm also having this issue with my Series 3. It's been ongoing for months and I've unpaired and re-paired from backups which would last a month or two and then it would happen all over again. Finally I was getting the message after re-pairing the next day! Spoke with Apple Support over the phone who had me unpair and pair as new. Storage was full again the next afternoon. Spoke with them again yesterday and they've said "the engineers are working on it."

My watch is effectively useless as I'm sure you all know. They wanted me to try to pair the watch with another iPhone, which I can't do but also seems useless if I'm trying to actually use the thing. They said I could go into a store to have them run diagnostics or have it potentially replaced, but of course no Apple Stores in my area are taking Genius Bar appointments because of COVID. I said it seemed like a Series 3 problem (from what I've seen on Apple and Macrumors forums with no resolution) so they should replace with another one or a Series 4, but the Support person just kept saying it was out of warranty and to just hold out for an update. I get their perspective on a software issue and not wanting to replace it, but saying "hold tight indefinitely and by the way we won't actually contact you to let you know it should be fixed" was just the worst ending to useless hours on the phone.

Definitely frustrated, but good to know I'm not alone. Please continue to post updates!

I wouldn’t say “working properly” because I’m still seeing 1.7GB used when the app storage is nowhere near that, but I’m not getting the storage full message immediately, no. I restored the backup of the watch that had been working the longest which I mentioned is with no additional apps and after deleting my phone iCloud backup and iCloud health data and restoring the watch entirely new. It wasn’t a permanent solution since I was still getting mystery storage and eventually getting the message again, but on the right track to at least have the watch be usable without the storage full message popping up. It seems restoring at least took care of a majority of the excess storage for now.

I’ve had this exact issue after updating to os7 and iOS14...... so has been going on for the past month where the watch is useless.

4 online chats

3 phone calls (so far)

Genius bar support

sending watch out for analysis then having it returned

Repairing, setting up as new, I’m not even over exaggerating when I say 20+ times....

still found the same issue.

we have come down to the conclusion so far, it seems to be dragging information from somewhere away from app related data. Something from the cloud somewhere?

from this found my reminders were using 10gb of data on my iCloud user and don’t delete themselves when marked as complete. Thought this may be the issue but evidently not, After deleting these still have the issue. Extremely frustrating, luckily my warranty was still valid when the issue occurred, however technical teams were saying nothing was wrong with it...... so are unable to replace. seems very much linked to user at the moment..... which is a bit rubbish seems as I personally pay extra for the larger iCloud storage space, which it seems I cannot use without buggering up the watch 😂 I have another call tomorrow with Apple arranged, hopefully will get further. Also noticed 7.0.2 software is out which again I cannot download (I couldn’t download the 7.0 software either) but will let yous know how I get on...... ps sorry for the long message

At least you can update it! Mine can’t even do that!

I’ve done another trial, and had someone else with an iPhone, pair with it..... works fine with theirs without issues. Also, same person has an iwatch and is completely empty, with very little information stored.....shows it used 4.2gb...... which is the full capacity of our watches...... their watch still works as they have more capacity available.

I’ll be honest here, I took the easy way out & traded my Series 3 in for a Series 6.

Poof! No more issues.

Granted, there was a fair amount of cost involved, but it’s a sweet upgrade. 👍

I’ll bet you could get the same result with an upgrade to the Apple Watch SE at a lower cost.

I’m having this issue on my 44mm series 3 Apple Watch. It has been a struggle to update the last few updates. Doing a combination of unpairing, resetting, power cycling the watch, usually eventually garners enough space to allow the update. But now that I have OS 7.1 successfully installed, I’m getting storage errors. One minute I’ll check and there will be about 2.4 GB of space available. The next minute there’s 0 MB available and I’m seeing storage errors. It was already ridiculous and unacceptable that it took so much user-involved management just to get an update to install. Now it’s gone past even that. I called Apple for the first time about the issue today. They acknowledged that this is a k own issue and offered nothing else other than this news. My watch was purchased brand new and is still under warranty so I made a suggestion that they upgrade me to a Watch SE for the difference in price between what I paid for my 3 and what a new SE costs ($279). They rejected this very reasonable offer. As a person who runs an IT business with thousands of customers who listen to my advice in the tech field, this experience has seriously affected my desire to recommend Apple at this point. If it’s a known-issue they need to make it right for customers experiencing the issue. But since they’re not, they’re showing that they’ve lost their way as a company and have not a shred of the human element left. They are behaving as if they are a giant behemoth whose primary desire is to generate more and more revenue without a proper concern for the consequences to their customer when their claims to make lives easier become invalidated by problems that create hours upon hour of wasted time and frustration for the customer with zero compensation even for reasonable long time loyal customers.