iCloud Drive taking too much iPhone space - "Your most recently accessed files are downloaded to this device"

Hello, I'm having an issue where iCloud Drive is taking up nearly 10GB of my iPhone's memory.


I have almost no files inside the iCloud Drive (maximum 200MB of files) and when I enter the iPhone Storage, the iCloud Drive takes up 9.56GB and contains the following message: "your most recently accessed files are downloaded to this device icloud drive ".


I researched here on the apple forum and in several other places, none of them could give a solution. Can anyone help me make iCloud Drive take up less space on the iPhone? (again, i have almost no files inside iCloud Drive!!!)


Thanks

iPhone XR, iOS 15

Posted on Nov 17, 2021 1:24 PM

Reply
8 replies

Nov 18, 2021 1:21 PM in response to felipeglima

Thanks for getting back to us, felipeglima. The section in the article titled "Delete folders or files in iCloud Drive" is where you would want to check to see if there are more files than you expect there. If you can only see the files you expect, and they don't add to 10GB or what is showing in your iPhone, then we advise continuing with the steps below to rule out any errors on the iPhone causing the behavior:


  1. Restart your iPhone
  2. Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
  3. Close an app on your iPhone or iPod touch (close the iCloud Drive app)


Once those steps are taken, please recheck the space allocations and let us know if that's cleared it. Also, make sure to consider other devices saving files to the Drive as well. Take care.

Nov 18, 2021 10:54 AM in response to felipeglima

Hello felipeglima,


Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. We've reviewed your question and it looks like you have concerns about the size of your iCloud Drive. It's understandable that you'd want this resolved if it is taking too much space on your iPhone, so allow us to assist with that. Please start by taking a look here: Manage your iCloud storage.


If you have follow-up questions, please let us know. We're here for you. Have a fantastic day!

Nov 18, 2021 2:26 PM in response to barberlives123

Thanks for the answer. The section of the article "Delete folders or files in iCloud Drive" does not address my problem, since, as I mentioned, there are practically no files on my iCloud Drive.

I only have a few photos that are less than 200MB. There is also nothing in the "Deleted" section of iCloud Drive. I only have one iMac sharing iCloud, but this device doesn't save anything to iCloud Drive. I already checked.

I got in touch with Apple by phone and it looks like it's something related to Whatsapp, but it's not sure and they couldn't help me with how to solve it.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

iCloud Drive taking too much iPhone space - "Your most recently accessed files are downloaded to this device"

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.