System data is taking too much space

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Level 1

4 points

System data is taking too much space

Last November someone asked why their system data was taking so much space on iOS 15 :

iOS 15 system data take to much space - Apple Community

As it turns out, the bug has existed for years : iPhone System taking up storage space - Apple Community

No useful answer was provided and the problem still exists (Turning off iCloud drive didn't work for me). I'm on iOS 15.4.1 and System Data is taking up half the storage of my iPhone. Has anyone found a solution, short of resetting the iPhone ?

I know this is a bug that Apple still hasn't fixed, but at this point I'm not counting on them, so has anyone found a solution to mitigate the problem ?

Posted on Apr 26, 2022 11:51 PM

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Answer 1

LD150

Level 10

91,217 points

Apr 27, 2022 12:38 AM in response to dedebenui

The remedy is resetting the phone. The official advice was put out when iOS13 had the bug but updating to 13.6.1 only fixed it for some users. The knowledge base article is in need of review and I have reported it many times.

The following will remove bogus Other storage but not genuine Other app storage by a wayward app.

Backup, restore to factory, and test, then restore from backup:-

If you can import your media to Photos or iTunes in a computer and copy important documents to a cloud server it will give you some resilience in case the restore from backup fails, or you need to ditch the backup and start as new.

(1) How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

(2) Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to factory settings - Apple Support

(3) Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support

If the 31GB remains after doing this then maybe you have an app that really does generate 31GB of storage and you need to uninstall them one by one.

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System data is taking too much space

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