Voice Memos taking up storage and not deleting!

Hi, I was having the same issues and I just RESOLVED it.

Context: I was running out of storage (Voice Memo was taking up 1.6TB in a 512GB ipad 🤯) so I deleted all my voice memos from the memo list + from the Recently Deleted folder. Checked storage and it was still taking up space. Restarted my ipad, offloaded the app, uninstalled the app (and subsequently deleted the Documents & Data), but it appeared as com.apple.VoiceMemos instead, and it still took up space.

Solution:

1. Reinstall Voice Memo
2. Double check Storage (it was still there)
3. Close all open apps
4. Open Settings > General > Date & Time
5. Turn off Set Automatically
6. Manually set the date back 1-2 years ago
7. Close Settings
8. Check Voice Memos [delete if some memos reappeared (nothing showed in mine)]
9. Close Voice Memos
10. Go back to Date & Time > Set Automatically
11. Close Settings
12. Reopen Settings > Storage
13. It should reflect the corrected storage now!

Worked here:

switch off automatic date & time,

date it a few years back,

then i checked storage,

set date & time back to automatic

solved.

had the same problem with the e-mail app, solved it with these same steps.

This is the data file com.apple.voicememos that’s synced through iCloud. If you wanna get rid of it, here are the steps:

1. reinstall voice memos app
2. go to setting > icloud storage > toggle off Voice Memos
3. delete Voice Memos app

Hope this help!

I solved this as well for my Iphone XS Max, but thru another method:

1. update to IOS 16.1.1
2. made sure that voice memos was deleted since it was not being used anymore
3. backed up thru Itunes
4. go to iphone storage, clicked Show All Recommendations
5. after a minute, the 295gb voice memos in the iphone storage summary was gone

• The backup is still on going though. Tbh I’m not sure if the backup or the Show All Recommendations fixed it. 🤷‍♂️🤣

here is what I did to restore everything to my new phone.

1. deleted voice memos app on old phone (after backing up voice memos to external drive)
2. bought icloud storage 2.99 plan enough to store my photos. my icloud sync was failing before as the storage was full.
3. backed up all photos to icloud and turned off icloud photos sync in phone (about 50GB)
4. backed up all voice memos (200MB actual size) vs 930GB showing up in iPhone storage screen
5. deleted all photos in old phone (iphone storage came down by 50GB)
6. took icloud backup of old phone, it took about 8 hours to sync my old phone having 35GB worth of data and apps
7. once it showed me Icloud backup is successful I restored that on to my new phone and all my apps and data is restored
8. I had to re-login to almost all of the apps by giving password at least once and only then it allowed to setup face id, i was hoping it will be seamless as it restored from iCloud but it's not.
9. I deleted the voice memo app in new phone also just to avoid the iphone storage building up with the voice memo bug

I faced a similar problem too. After many trials and errors with various methods here is my conclusion. Before I share this with y'all let me tell you to take note of all Settings of your phone will be reset, so make note of all changes you have made to Settings (Wallpapers, control center, ringtone etc. ). Go to Settings >>General>>Transfer or Reset iPhone>>Reset>>Reset All Settings.

Cant reply to the actual suggestion, but

“abbycdef_”’s method by switching off/in automatic date&time works for me!

Wondering if you have turned on Voice Memos so they are synced to iCloud ?

(ie: iCloud and iPhone remain in sync., ... that is until Voice Memos is turned off on iPhone, deleting Voice Memos from iCloud.

Seems you can't have Voice Memos on iCloud, without them being on iPhone, if they are set-up to be in sync.)

What does iCloud back up? – Apple Support

How to Manage your iCloud storage – Apple Support

Hi somto48,

Sorry to hear your storage issue is still not resolved after updating iOS..

(The issue may still need addressing by Apple in a future update).

Have you double-checked in Voice Memos just how long deleted files are kept.

(This is so they can be recovered, if needed, before they are deleted completely.)

Deleted recordings move to the Recently Deleted folder, where they’re kept

(depends what you have selected) or for 30 days by default.

To change how long deleted recordings are kept,

go to Settings  > Voice Memos > Clear Deleted, then select an option.

Edit or delete a recording in Voice Memos on iPhone – Apple Support

_______________________________________________________________________________________

If needed:

If your iOS or iPadOS device restarts or displays the Apple logo or a spinning gear unexpectedly - Apple Support

If an app on your iPhone or iPad stops responding, closes unexpectedly or won’t open – Apple Support

How to manage space on iPhone:

If you need more space for an update on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

All the best :-)

Discussion thread on similar issue, with suggestion by a Community Specialist

How do I reduce storage used by VoiceMemo… - Apple Community

I had this problem. I fixed it by going into settings>general>Transfer or Reset IPhone> Reset

If you go to settings > general > transfer or reset iPhone > reset. It fixes it

Thank you for your reply, Nad0o18,

Trusting you tried turning your phone off, and back on.

Sorry you are still not seeing the corrected storage amount.

More tips on storage from Apple support:

(NB: It's always a wise move to back up everything before deleting things.)

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

How iOS and macOS report storage capacity – Apple Support

How to check the storage on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch – Apple Support

If you need more space for an update on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Manage your photo and video storage – Apple Support)

How to: Clear Other storage on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

And / or

You might want to try reaching out to the Apple Support team.

(We are all Apple users, like yourself, in this Community.)

There is a "Get Support" link at the bottom of their iPhone web-page.

iPhone - Official Apple Support

Or

Apple phone numbers around the world

Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support

All the best :-)

Users have been complaining for this bug for months. I'm really not clear on why Apple just seems to ignore it. Apple support was rude enough to suggest me to upgrade me phone (when I still have room left...) because "64G is not enough"

Just go to Reddit and search for "Voice Memos app has no recorded memos but taking up massive space." - literally tens of complaints about the same thing.

@El-Hennawy

what is your icloud storage plan? if you have basic 5GB then you may want to upgrade it to 200 GB and then try to do icloud backup from phone, that's what worked for me. try to leave the phone charged and on wifi while it is taking icloud backup