iPhone system hogs up half my storage making phone run slow

Question

Level 1

8 points

iPhone system hogs up half my storage making phone run slow

I’ve been in the Apple ecosystem for nearly 2 decades. Have never had so many issues with my iPhone until the recent update. My iPhone is constantly full storage. I’ve erased apps, vids, photos, files, you name it - even though I have everything in The Cloud. Every time I erase, my iPhone system takes up the space. WTF is going on? People have been asking the same question since 2017, and yet NO CLEAR ANSWER FROM APPLE. I pay for the highest cloud storage, among many other Apple products, and yet I can’t get my phone to work. Factory reset takes too much time and gets ZERO results. At what point is Apple going to 1) answer the question so many have asked, 2) sell their phones with the actual amount of storage we are paying for. If Apple’s system requires +35gb, then that should NOT be included in the storage amount we purchase. 2 decades with Apple, I’m about to ditch it all. I’m beyond livid. Anyone else what an effective answer immediately??

iPhone 8, iOS 13

Posted on Oct 14, 2020 3:50 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Axel Foley

Level 10

148,290 points

Oct 14, 2020 5:29 PM in response to MettleMama

It appears that the data that you deleted on your iPhone is getting trapped in the "OTHER" category on your iPhone. It is therefore not getting deleted. There is/are solution(s).

If you have enough room on your iPhone (3GB - 4GB Free) then you can update to iOS 14 and that will take care of the deleted data and free up space.
If you do not have free storage space or do not want to update to iOS 14 then Please follow the instructions in this guide published by Apple ➔ How to Clear OTHER Category on your iPhone.

Axel F.

Reply

Answer 2

MettleMama Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 18, 2020 9:59 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

According to Apple representative, your answer is not accurate. iOS 13 is known to be a system memory hog. While taking up so much space, iOS 14 wasn’t able to load, thus upgrade, which would solve the issue. In order to upgrade to ios14, I needed to be able to backup to the cloud (I don’t have a computer). Ios13 hogged up so much space, I couldn’t backup to cloud. I erased multiple apps, videos, etc, which that free space would then be acquired by ios13 system stuff. After erasing nearly every app on my phone (which at the start represented less than 20 gb), I immediately attempted to backup my phone to the cloud before ios13 could hog it up. This successfully worked. Now I must erase everything from my phone, do a factory reset, install ios14, then rely on my cloud backup. This is the only way to solve my current issue which Apple clearly stated is an ios13 issue for many. While I appreciate your answer, it is not even close to accurate with regard to my situation due to widespread issues with ios13.

Reply

Answer 3

MettleMama Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 18, 2020 10:04 AM in response to Axel Foley

Thanks Axel. This is pretty much near identical to what the Apple rep told me. Fortunately, I was able to free up enough space then immediately do a cloud backup (no computer) before iOS 13 could take over the recently freed space. Fingers crossed my cloud backup is reliable as I am about to erase it all and start again. I appreciate your time and energy. Many thanks! Stay healthy and happy!!

Reply

Answer 4

MettleMama Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 18, 2020 12:12 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

To add to my earlier reply about the faulty ios13 hogging up every available GB (per Apple), after following the Apple Reps instructions, my 64 GB phone is now only using a little over 10 GB, including all Apple Systems. To put this extremely clearly, having full storage, however distributed, does indeed adversely effect speed and quality of phone usage.

For anyone having similar issues, please refer to Axel Foley’s accurate and informative reply. Make sure you backup your phone via computer or cloud before erasing all content and settings.

Thanks again Axel.

Best wishes to all.

Reply

Answer 5

Oct 14, 2020 5:31 PM in response to MettleMama

The amount of available storage on your phone has absolutely no affect on the speed of your phone. If it is running slow it is not because half your storage (or even 90% of your storage) is used.

Reply

Answer 6

Axel Foley

Level 10

148,290 points

Oct 19, 2020 7:39 PM in response to MettleMama

You are welcome.

Axel F.

Reply

iPhone system hogs up half my storage making phone run slow

Similar questions