My I phone storage is full

I did an online chat with an Apple senior advisor last night. After making sure I backed up my phone, they had me reset my phone. Sounded scary to me but it worked! I was told after the last update (to 13.6) I didn't have enough room to complete the update so it corrupted my system to the point where deleting things didn't do anything. Here are snippets from our conversation:

For now, the next step is to erase the phone, via Settings ->General->Reset->Erase All Contents and Settings.

During the restore process, setup the phone manually, Do Not Transfer Apps and Data. Tap Forgot Apple ID or Password, then Setup later.

When the phone is in the Home screen, check the storage.

(My storage was freed up at this point so he said the below)

I'm going to ask that you please erase the phone once more. During the setup process, choose to Restore from your iCloud backup.

He also suggested to always leave 2 GB of free storage for the phone to work properly.

Hope this helps!

Purchasing 200GB is iCloud storage, and has nothing to do with your iPhone storage. They are two different things. The only way to increase iPhone storage is to remove content as you said you have done. After deleting photos, you need to also delete them from the Recently Deleted folder for them to be completely removed from the iPhone. After that, you need to restart the iPhone and then check your storage. Go to Settings>General>iPhone Storage and see how much space you have after that.

Yep- I had to save everything and restart- it was a success and now the ‘other’ category is where it should be. Don’t bother with apps etc- is doesn’t work. I was helped by a second level customer support person by phone named Heather who was Awesome!!!!!!!!

I just had to go out and get a new phone with more storage. I was having the same issues, storage full message all the time, deleted apps, pictures, daily! i had less stuff after deleting but still got error message. My 7+ was only 32, and that's the issue. I think all the updates use so much internal storage there is not any left. The minimum on new phones is 64. I loved my 7+ and was pretty upset i had to get a new phone. I had checked with apple about the cloud storage and they told me that is not PHONE storage. I think we are all under the impression that it helps storage, since it's called storage. Oh well. I believe this is happening to all 7 series now since the new updates are using all the storage in a 32 phone.

We’ve both got exactly the same problem. Very frustrating. I don’t want to have to buy a new phone. There’s got to be some sort of a bug. When I go into “Other System Data” its taking up over 19 GB. That’s over half of my allowed 32.

I also have a 7, a 7plus, and it seems like this has happened suddenly, and you are right, over half the GB of the phone is now system related. I spent most of yesterday moving photos and apps off the phone. I am going to try and hard reboot. My brother recommended it.

What’s the purpose of purchasing ICloud storage if it’s not going to help with your iPhone storage. It’s unfair that iPhone users has to keep deleting things especially pictures just so that the phone could function properly. I purchase the iCloud storage deleted pictures and apps and my phone is still full.

So I’m having the same issue. Last week I had the full memory error and deleted several GB of data and offloaded apps and deleted some apps. Within 2 days my memory was full, again, and this is with no pictures, videos, or apps being added. I have no idea what is filling my memory.

I also have an iPhone 7 and within the past month I began getting messages that my storage was full. After having this phone for the past 3 years with many apps why is this now happening. I've deleted a lot of pictures and almost all apps including facebook and messenger. I'm only keeping a couple that I must have to log into work from home. Why is this happening all of a sudden?

I’m having the same issue all of a sudden. I’ve had way more apps and photos previously and still had space. I’ve deleted so much now, even apps I have been using for awhile and even with those all gone and deleted items actually deleted, I’m getting storage is full. I have a 7 as well.

I'm dealing with this issue, too! I've run into similar issues in the past, but they were always resolved with a software update. This latest software update only seemed to make it worse. I've deleted almost everything, still telling me it's full... and it's all "other", which seems to expand to fill any available space. Starting to feel like they're forcing an upgrade. :(

Would love to know if there's a fix.

I am having the same issue!! The “Other” Space is what is taking up storage. It just started. I have deleted apps and photos, but that is not the problem. So something is running in the backend to take up storage but I can’t figure out what it is. Was there a recent update? Can that be the problem?

Thanks for sharing your experience. I just followed the instructions and my phone is free! I went from 31.6 GB on of available 32 GB to 12.8 after the reset.

I had a notification of an update (which I was leary of), but after that update which says it is supposed to free up unused data I went ahead and downloaded it, and it freed up more data, down to having 10.3 GB.

Followed the instructions by mama... above to the T and so far so good! Thanks. Should be easier ways to find out how to fix something like this but definitely appreciate that you provided great instructions!

I’m having the same issue as well. I’ve deleted all my pictures, even apps that I need such as my maps and weather app because of how little space I have. The things I actually have on my phone is minimal compared to the space taken by “system and other data.” Im pretty irritated with it.