Mail on Apple Watch using 1.1GB of space with no messages

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Mail on Apple Watch using 1.1GB of space with no messages

I am trying to free up space on my Apple Watch and the largest user of space is Mail. I have set my watch so that there is only one account on it, and there is no mail whatsoever in that account. Even still, it is using 1.1GB of space. I know I can't delete Mail off my watch unless I delete it from my phone which I don't want to do. Does anyone know why Mail is taking up so much space on my watch and what I might do about it?

Also, fwiw, Apple, it would be really great if we could delete the mail app off our watch without removing it from our phone. I have no use for mail on my watch at this time.

Apple Watch Series 3, watchOS 6

Posted on May 20, 2020 11:23 AM

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Answer 1

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moahb Author

Level 1

20 points

May 21, 2020 8:35 AM in response to chris_g1

Unfortunately the instructions for deleting apps does not apply to this situation. The Mail App cannot be deleted off the Apple Watch without also deleting it from the iPhone and I do not wish to delete it from my phone, only my watch. Perhaps this ability could be added in a future update to the iOS.

Additionally, while I have deleted a lot of other things off the Watch (I only have 4 applications, 21 photos-though I can't figure out where they are as they are not in the photo app-as well as zero songs, per the About Screen), the mail app is taking up 1.1gb of space even though there is no mail/messages on my Apple Watch as I have set it so only one account is showing up on my watch, and that account is completely empty of all mail. I don't understand why the Mail app would take up so much space on my watch, especially without any messages. Currently, 4.8gb of space is used on my watch, while only 277mb is available. I have deleted everything I seemingly can on my watch and yet there is barely any space let. I have restarted my watch and ensured that the iOS is updated to the latest version.

I am going to try deleting all messages from my Apple Watch but another suggestion would be to enable messages to be deleted in bulk from the Apple Watch, or to allow you to delete them off the watch from your iphone.

I could really use help to free up space as with so little on here, I have no space, and no room to add any music or apps.

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Answer 2

May 21, 2020 8:51 AM in response to moahb

There is a problem similar to yours when people are trying to update their watches and they get a message that there isn't enough storage space on the watch.

The solution is to unpair and re-pair the watch,this clears out temporary and corrupted files and usually frees up enough space to do the update.

Maybe worth a try?.

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Answer 3

chris_g1

Community Specialist

May 21, 2020 7:52 AM in response to moahb

Hey there moahb,

It sounds like you're trying to delete an app off your watch but are having some trouble.

This link goes over how to organize apps on Apple Watch:

Organize apps on Apple Watch

Pay close attention to this section:

Remove an app from Apple Watch

Grid view: On the Home screen, touch and hold the app icon until you see an X on the icon, then tap the X to remove the app from your Apple Watch. It remains on your paired iPhone, unless you delete it there, too.

List view: Swipe the app left, then tap to remove it from your Apple Watch. It remains on your paired iPhone, unless you delete it there, too.

Since you mentioned trying to free up space on your watch, here are some additional resources to help you manage your Apple Watches storage:

To view and manage photo storage:

Choose a photo album and manage storage on Apple Watch

To manage Music that is synced to your Apple Watch:

Manage music on Apple Watch

To manage/delete message threads from your Apple Watch:

Messages on Apple Watch

Hope this helps!

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Answer 4

Joseph_S.

Community Specialist

May 21, 2020 9:15 AM in response to moahb

Hey moahb,

Sorry to hear those resources didn't help. The only way to delete a built-in app on your watch is to delete off your iPhone as per this article:

Delete built-in Apple apps on your iOS 12, iOS 13, or iPadOS device or Apple Watch

As mentioned above you can try to unpair and erase your Apple Watch and then restore your watch from a back up so you don't lose any of the content you wish to keep. when you unpair the watch it will initiate a back up first.

Here are the links on how to do that:

Unpair and erase your Apple Watch

Restore Apple Watch from a backup

Hope this helps!

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