My iPad has reached it’s max of 16GB of memory. I have sent everything to the cloud, eliminated most of my apps but the one area that never changes is “Other”. It has taken up the majority of memory at almost 7MB. How can I open this area to delete docs or whatever is taking up all this memory?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iPad Air 2, iPadOS 13
You need to free up free data storage space on an iPad/iOS device.
You need to start by backing up your iPad to either Apple's iCloud ( you may need to pay for additional, monthly storage space ) or by connecting your iDevice to a computer running the latest iTunes and/or some other offsite, “cloud” data storage/backup services, like Google Drive/Photos, DropBox, BOX, Amazon Cloud Drive, Flickr ( for photos/images ), etc.
Then, delete any installed apps that you no longer use or use infrequently enough that they aren't missed (you can always reinstalled any purchased or free apps at some time later, as you need them).
A disclaimer to the immediate advice above, if you own a 8 or 9-year old iPad, you SHOULD ONLY delete apps that you have ever seldom used or no longer use as there is NO WAY now, in 2020, to retrieve these old apps from the iOS App Store, any longer.
( Third party iOS app developers have permanently removed all of their older, legacy apps from Apple's iOS App Store servers forever!
There are NO more older, common and popular third party apps for old 8 and 9-year old iOS devices, any longer! )
Then, thin out/delete any music/videos/movies/TV shows/podcasts/screen recordings/images/eBooks/
eMagazine/iBooks/audio books/Documents/PDFs, etc.
If you use a POP email account on your iPad, delete/thin out any old saved emails that maybe saved to your iPad.
To permanently delete photos/images off of your iDevice go into the Photos app and find the Recently Deleted folder/album and permanently delete any photos/images stored in that folder/album.
Also, you can check to see what other stuff is eating up all your valuable data storage space by going into the Settings App,,General Settings Panel, in the right hand column, tap Storage & iCloud usage panel ( in iOS 11, it’s iPad Storage ), in the top Storage Panel, tap the Manage Storage panel, wait for a list of apps to generate that will tell you how much space each app is taking up on your iDevice.
Then, for older iPads or iPads with a Lightning connector, do a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons.
OR
The new hard reset procedure for newer iPad Pro models
Try the new hard reset procedure for the new 2018/2020 iPad Pro models.
1. Press and Release the Volume Up button.
2. Then immediately Press and Release the Volume Down button.
3. Then, Press and Hold the Power Button at the top. You will see the Slide to Power off button, but keep on holding down the Power Button until you see the Apple logo, then let it go.
Once you have performed all the steps, wait for a few seconds and your 2018 iPad Pro will boot up completely to the iPad Pro’s Lock screen.
iOS devices and iOS/iPadOS need to maintain, at the very least, a minimum of between 2-4 GBs of free data storage space, AT ALL TIMES, to insure normal/nominal functionalities/operation and general overall performance of any iOS device running iOS/iPadOS.
If not all of this solves your iPad storage issues, your ONLY other option is to do a complete backup, erase and restore of your iPad model.
How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support
How to erase your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support
Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support
Good Luck to You!
You need to free up free data storage space on an iPad/iOS device.
You need to start by backing up your iPad to either Apple's iCloud ( you may need to pay for additional, monthly storage space ) or by connecting your iDevice to a computer running the latest iTunes and/or some other offsite, “cloud” data storage/backup services, like Google Drive/Photos, DropBox, BOX, Amazon Cloud Drive, Flickr ( for photos/images ), etc.
Then, delete any installed apps that you no longer use or use infrequently enough that they aren't missed (you can always reinstalled any purchased or free apps at some time later, as you need them).
A disclaimer to the immediate advice above, if you own a 8 or 9-year old iPad, you SHOULD ONLY delete apps that you have ever seldom used or no longer use as there is NO WAY now, in 2020, to retrieve these old apps from the iOS App Store, any longer.
( Third party iOS app developers have permanently removed all of their older, legacy apps from Apple's iOS App Store servers forever!
There are NO more older, common and popular third party apps for old 8 and 9-year old iOS devices, any longer! )
Then, thin out/delete any music/videos/movies/TV shows/podcasts/screen recordings/images/eBooks/
eMagazine/iBooks/audio books/Documents/PDFs, etc.
If you use a POP email account on your iPad, delete/thin out any old saved emails that maybe saved to your iPad.
To permanently delete photos/images off of your iDevice go into the Photos app and find the Recently Deleted folder/album and permanently delete any photos/images stored in that folder/album.
Also, you can check to see what other stuff is eating up all your valuable data storage space by going into the Settings App,,General Settings Panel, in the right hand column, tap Storage & iCloud usage panel ( in iOS 11, it’s iPad Storage ), in the top Storage Panel, tap the Manage Storage panel, wait for a list of apps to generate that will tell you how much space each app is taking up on your iDevice.
Then, for older iPads or iPads with a Lightning connector, do a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons.
OR
The new hard reset procedure for newer iPad Pro models
Try the new hard reset procedure for the new 2018/2020 iPad Pro models.
1. Press and Release the Volume Up button.
2. Then immediately Press and Release the Volume Down button.
3. Then, Press and Hold the Power Button at the top. You will see the Slide to Power off button, but keep on holding down the Power Button until you see the Apple logo, then let it go.
Once you have performed all the steps, wait for a few seconds and your 2018 iPad Pro will boot up completely to the iPad Pro’s Lock screen.
iOS devices and iOS/iPadOS need to maintain, at the very least, a minimum of between 2-4 GBs of free data storage space, AT ALL TIMES, to insure normal/nominal functionalities/operation and general overall performance of any iOS device running iOS/iPadOS.
If not all of this solves your iPad storage issues, your ONLY other option is to do a complete backup, erase and restore of your iPad model.
How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support
How to erase your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support
Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support
Good Luck to You!
If after everything has been tried in my previous post reply.
You can try this next.
You need to follow the instructions in the document MichelPM referenced in his last message (Clear Other storage on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support) [version 13.6.1].
That is intended as a more permanent fix for an internal “bug” in earlier versions of the Operating System (OS).
Without that, the issue will recur.
I used MichelPM’s suggestion to use (Clear Other storage on your iPad) and it worked perfectly. I had uploaded everything that I could into the cloud. But I made sure that all the apps and pictures were on my iPhone just Incase. Then I deleted everything on the iPad. Once the deletion was complete it paired with the iPhone and everything was back on the iPad. And the memory is over 8 GB. So it worked for me. Thank you MichelPM
A 16 GBs iPad is NOT TOO USEFUL in 2020!
The amount of available, practical, usable storage is based not only on how much iOS/iPadOS takes up but on the actual size that 1.0 GB is equivalent to, which for Apple 1.0 GB ≈1.075 GBs
Also, iOS/iPadOS devices need to maintain a minimum constant of between 2-4 GBs to ensure nominal, expected performance and function of iOS/iPadOS.
Also, my “current” installation of iPadOS 13.2.3 takes up approx. 5.5 GBs of my iPad's internal storage space.
Your version of iPadOS 13 maybe taking up even more internal data storage than my version!
So, with all of this stated,
A 16 GBs storage iPad starts out, after initial drive formatting, at approx. 14.5 GBs of free, internal storage.
After the installation of iPadOS, at nearly 5.5 GBs, leaves 9 GBs of of free, internal data storage space.
iOS/iPadOS needs a minimum of 2-4 GBs of constant remaining storage, AT ALL TIMES to insure/ensure nominal, acceptable operation of all iOS/iPadOS functionalities.
This leaves a 16 GBs iPad with ONLY a practical, usable storage space of between 5 and 7 GBs AND THAT IS IT!
This is virtually NO internal data storage to do much of anything with that iPad!
This is why Apple quietly, silently did away with all 16 GBs iOS device back sometime in 2016.
Compare this to a 32 GBs storage iPad starts out with approx 30 GBs, after internal drive formatting.
Minus 5.5 GBs for iOS leaves 24.5 GBs.Minus 2-4 GBs for iOS iPadOS system reserve equals approx. between 20.5- 22.5 GBs of practical, usable data storage space.
This is OVER 3 times the practical, usable internal data storage space of a 16 GBs storage model iPad!
I had no doubt that the backup-wipe-restore operation would work. (It wipes all caches and "Trash")
What I was wondering about was whether ❰the system update, referred to in the document MichelPM referenced in his last message (Clear Other storage on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support) [version 13.6.1], actually helps your device.❱
It would be interesting, at least to me, cjfromidaho, if the system update, referred to in the document MichelPM referenced in his last message (Clear Other storage on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support), actually helps your device.
A 16 GB device would be a helpful test case.
I’m not sure what it means to help the device. I have such limited knowledge of the workings of my iPad. All I can say is that it has much more memory and no longer is locking up. It also runs much faster so from my stand point I guess you could say it has helped the device. I hope that helps to answer your question.
Well, cjfromidaho, I would agree that what you are experiencing is a device that is being helped by what you have done.
However, I still don’t know whether you have updated your device to 13.6.1, or not.
Thank you. I’m so tech challenged and you’ve explained a lot. Guess it’s best to just upgrade
No I did not update to 13.6.1
Thank Halliday, Done!
So very glad to hear, cjfromidaho!
iPad has reached it’s max of 16GB of memory
