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Storage Issues

Hi,


I know this is a common issue/question, but I’ve tried all the suggestions I find from googling, so hoping for some new insight.


My iPhone storage is nearly full. Yes, I’ve deleted and offloaded apps, yes, I’ve permanently deleted photos, yes, I’ve cleared my cache, yes, I’ve cleared safari, yes, I’ve restarted my phone. It makes barely any difference. The mysterious “system” takes up 5gb of space and “other” takes up 52gb. I’ve tried every suggestion I can find. I really don’t want to do a hard reset. What is it that’s taking up so much space in those categories?? TIA.

iPhone SE, iOS 11

Posted on Jul 26, 2020 7:52 AM

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7 replies

Jul 26, 2020 6:59 PM in response to PrettyFly2580

The "Other" category is supposed to house data that does not belong in all of the created categories. That is how things are supposed to be categorized.

It appears that most of your data is stuck in the other category.  I only know of one way to clean up the storage and minimize the "other" category and here is how- (This involves erasing your iPhone and restoring it to factory settings and then restoring from a back up file).

  1. Back up your iPhone to a computer as shown here ➔ Back up your iPhone to your computer.
  2. Erase your iPhone and restore to factory settings by opening Settings General Reset Erase all content and Settings
  3. Restore your iPhone from that back up file on your computer (Step 1) as shown here ➔  Restore your iPhone from a computer back up.


I know that this may turn into a time consuming event and other members of this forum may have other ideas however this is the method that has worked for me.


Axel F.

Jul 26, 2020 8:17 AM in response to PrettyFly2580

Note that the 5 GB of 'System' space you are seeing is not likely an issue. It it were grown to over 10GB, maybe, but not at 5 GB.

The backup/restore suggested by KiltedTim should take care of the 52 GB of 'Other' storage.

Just wanted to throw that out there in case you do the backup/restore and are still questioning why 'System' is taking space.

Storage Issues

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