Apple watch storage full

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

remotegeek wrote:

You nailed-it. Drop that mic 👍🏻😆. Cmon Apple, if you’re listening, let’s do the right thing here. Reach out to folks like us and offer credit for the full amount we paid for these third-rate blunders toward a newer model. The Series 3 doesn’t match your typical excellence. It’s not like we’re complaining about an iPad 1 in 2020 here, we’re talking about a device you’re still selling. Keeping folks like us in the ecosystem is the path to bigger profits, not skimping on a few bucks in the short term. Don’t make poor Steve roll-over.

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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.....

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.

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.

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!

Update! With fingers crossed I think it may be fixed. I got a walk-up appointment at an Apple Store and they erased all content and settings by holding down the crown and side button until a menu option comes up to do so. After it unpairs, remove the watch from your Watch app and pair again. Apparently when unpairing regularly, it doesn’t erase misc data (like a bug that leaves old software that takes up a lot of room). Will report back if the message comes back within the week. 

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. 

I have been having this problem since May. I have talked to Apple support a dozen times, unpaired and repaired, and finally went to Best Buy and they were unable to fix it. Apple support told me the same "we are aware of the problem" "wait for an update", but also told that my Apple ID could be corrupt. I have not gone through the trouble of changing my Apple ID, hoping the next update will fix it. I am so glad to know that i am not the only person experiencing this, it is so frustrating!

I've been having the same issue as well with the Apple Watch Series 3 since June (and this is a replacement watch).

I'm running Watch OS 6.2.8 on an iPhone X with iOS 13.7.

Constantly getting "Storage Full" message - at least weekly now (when it was more every 3 weeks-monthly prior).

I have no music, a total of 5 photos, and 2 apps typically installed on my watch. The apps are MapMyFitness & Duo Authentication App.

I would get quite a few emails & texts, I updated my settings on the watch to not receive those notifications on there.

Still seeing "Storage Full" - I'm at my wits end...not sure if it's the watch or the OS causing these issues.

Sorry, it's not much of an update, per se...but hopefully, my information will help try & pinpoint a possible cause (?)

Thanks to everyone for your input...

Thanks for the update! It definitely seems like it’s a iCloud sync issue, which is so hard for any of us to fix, and apparently hard for Apple to fix, too... ugh!

Coincidentally I was going to post last night because notifications were delayed on mine so I restarted my phone and watch and then immediately got the dreaded Storage Full message - this after it was hanging in there all this time as I had just posted. I unpaired and repaired from a backup this time and I’m back to 3.2GB available, so we’ll see how long it lasts.

Whomever speaks with a Genius next should inquire about how fixing bugs in iCloud goes... though it’s still strange that it seems to be only Series 3 Watches.

Thanks for the response, glicky63. I noticed that too...that this issue only seems to be affecting the Series 3 watches.

I just unpaired & re-paired my watch to my phone this morning as well.

I'm up to 3.2GB of storage as well (for now). And as an fyi, I ended up resetting up in watch twice in 3 days this this week.

Also the Settings on my watch are showing 14 photos, however in reality I know I only have 6 photos saved to my Favorites folder to use as Watch faces.

I'm crossing my fingers that Watch OS 7 will fix this issues.

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.

Not yet...wouldn’t you know I just received another “Storage Full” notification on my watch. So I need to reset yet again before I can even attempt to install.

Good luck to everyone else. I really hope it fixes this issue.