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mehde112 Author

Level 1

42 points

iPhone storage keeps going back to full after deleting many things daily

I have an iPhone XS 64 GB running on the latest firmware (iOS 13.5.1). I also have 200GB of iCloud storage that I use across all my apple devices. I still have over 100GB of free storage left on my iCloud. For the past couple of weeks, my iPhone has repeatingly been telling me that my iPhone storage is full. All my photos are saved in the cloud. I have deleted many and emptied out the recently deleted in my phone. It gave me the option to offload unused apps to iCloud, which freed up 7GB, but then a couple days later it claimed my storage is full again. I also deleted some apps too in hope it would free space. In addition, I cleared my safari history and website data which freed 5 GB, but then the next day my phone storage went back to full. I have deleted conversations and big files, yet theres no help in that. I look at whats using the most memory on my phone storage through the settings app and tried to delete some stuff. I have also deleted some apps and reinstalled them to clear some of those apps memory. I searched many thing online on how to free up memory. It says my system memory is 6.77GB and "Other" is 31.21GB. I noticed that the "Other" section keeps increasing. When I deleted the Safari History and Website data, the "Other" section went down to 27GB then the next day it refilled to 32GB. At this point, I am convinced the phone is trying to fill up my memory with something every time I delete anything. Nothing is working and it is getting frustrating. Can someone help me out with this?

iPhone XS, iOS 13

Posted on Jul 1, 2020 10:11 AM

Top-ranking reply

Natalie717

Level 1

14 points

Posted on Sep 3, 2020 2:22 PM

I have an iPhone XR that the same thing is happening to. No matter what I delete the other storage keeps increasing. I did a factory reset a few weeks ago and my phone worked for a while but a few days ago it was completely full all of a sudden with over 40GB of other storage and it’s happening all over again.

I think either my phone is a lemon or there’s an app that’s taking up an abnormal amount of cache/storage. I really hope Apple helps with this as it makes it impossible to use my phone to even check email.

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115 replies

Feb 14, 2021 9:34 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

It’s came back again !!

I did already two erase all contend and settings and restore from my backup, and after a few days it’s came back.

my other storage it’s completely full !! Why apple why !!!!!?????

Caciora

Level 1

8 points

Feb 15, 2021 12:32 AM in response to gavriel124

@gavriel124 I’m not sure if it’s helpful for you, but a potential solution could be to disable “iCloud drive”

By this the size of “Other” - grey area on your storage print screen can be closer to zero - don’t know if it would work now when your iPhone is almost fully restored or when you restore it again.

I seen this tip mentioned by others and for me it might have worked - the “iCloud drive” didn’t matter much for me so I just kept it disabled. Since I fully recovered my iPhone the “Other” didn’t grow anymore - it remained low (a few gb).

Oct 12, 2020 7:16 AM in response to tirth6111

Repeating from the post right above yours:

Start by updating to the latest available iOS version. There was a problem with iOS 13.5 that could cause deleted content to be moved to Other. Fixed in 13.7 and later (now 14.0.1).

Safety06

Level 1

4 points

Oct 14, 2020 7:50 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

I’m running IOS 14 and having the same issue still. Just restored my phone after deleting 20+ gigs. Then backed up, erased all content and settings, and restored.

still same issue just a few hours later

Oct 19, 2020 12:04 PM in response to Safety06

I have updated to 14.0.1 and the problem remains. This problem seems to be ongoing for the last 3 years according to other threads, long before IOS 13. I’m no expert but this problem has gone on long enough. It should be fixed, or explained properly.

Oct 19, 2020 12:18 PM in response to Howdoyoudo2

Same symptom, different problem. Until recently (iOS 13.5, specifically) this issue was caused by a sync that was interrupted before it completed. iOS 13.5 had a bug that would move deleted content to Other. That problem was fixed by updating iOS to 13.7 or later (14.0, 14.0.1). However, the original problem of an interrupted sync still remains.

Oct 21, 2020 4:22 PM in response to mehde112

Exactly the same problem. Over the last week I have deleted 15 GB of pics but the storage never stays below the full mark. Extremely annoying!!

Someone from Apple, please help! Or are you doing it deliberately to make us buy the new iphone? If that’s so, I will buy a new phone but never an apple again!

Oct 22, 2020 12:29 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Guys! Good news! For me apparently the problem is solved. So I deleted some videos and then quickly downloaded and installed the 14.1 update. I needed to be quick otherwise the storage will increase by itself to 127.9 GB again.

And it worked! After the installation, I only have 97 GB used space so, I was right that I have deleted more than 15 GB, I had deleted in fact more than 30 GB and now it shows.

Oct 22, 2020 1:07 PM in response to corona_user_20

Please read my previous reply! You need to delete some data and quickly install 14.1 update and you will get all your storage back. It happened with me. Try closing the tabs on safari and google chrome as well.

Oct 22, 2020 5:19 PM in response to Gaurav1017

I deleted almost all the apps instead of getting free space, System data storage is increasing automatically as I delete files and apps. This is some kind of virus! I'm so frustrated I will break my phone :-( . They want 3.6 GB for update, this is too much! The other option is I have to reset my phone. :-(

Oct 23, 2020 9:29 AM in response to corona_user_20

That’s horrible!! Almost 60% of your storage is other! I would say that I was lucky in the sense that for me it would increase but in like 15-20 minutes and I usee this time to install the new update.

Another thing I did was that I deleted all history on Safari and chrome except the saved passwords. See if that can give you some more time before your other storage increases.

Oct 23, 2020 9:37 AM in response to Gaurav1017

It's frustrating, I wasted a lot of time after this and it did not work. I don't have history or browser data. I have minimum apps. I'm facing this issue from last 30-40 days. iPhone developers please come up with a simple solution. _/\_

Dec 15, 2020 7:42 AM in response to mehde112

All these fixes don't seem to change my "other" storage using 57gb. I upgraded from iPhone xs with 512gb space (using only 57gb of that) to iPhone 12 pro max with 128gb of space.

backed up to iTunes and Reset to factory doesn't change the other storage usage. I am running 14.3. When I go to Settings>>General>>iPhone storage, I can see my "other" storage going up in size.

Based on this thread and others in the apple developer forum, this issue has been going on for a long time with no real fix.

My xs was running 14.2 and did not have this issue.

Dec 15, 2020 11:56 PM in response to kellyfar1215

I have exact problem; tried everything; now downloading newest update tonight and to accomplish that I had to nearly delete every application, put all my photos in "optimize"; etc. etc.. I have 128 GB phone and it's reading that 102 GB are "other" which is not identifiable and another 6.2 is "system" with "no space available". I hope this newest update helps. What an annoying situation for us all.

Dec 17, 2020 6:31 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thank you Lawrence. I did that 3 times and other storage came out bloated each time. After the 3rd factory reset, I was to return the phone next day. When I woke up in the morning, the "other" storage was shrunk down in size. And today my "other" storage is at 11GB instead of 57GB, which is still too much IMO, but now at least I can use the phone.

So, the "fix" for me was to wait a day or more and the other storage shrunk down.

iPhone storage keeps going back to full after deleting many things daily