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RS32 Author

Level 1

28 points

"System Data" in iOS consumes all free storage space

I have a 64GB iPhone XS on iOS 15.5. Recently my phone kept giving me "Storage is full" errors, so I went into "iPhone Storage" under "General" settings. Here I saw that the "System Data" entity was taking up 27 GB of space. I deleted some apps, music and other content to free up roughly 5GB of space. Instead of avoiding the "Storage is full" error, the "System Data" entity just went up to 32GB to consume that free space...

What exactly is this mysterious "System Data"? There is no information provided under iPhone Storage about what this is or how to delete it. I'm stuck with a brick of a phone at this point that can't even download images or emails because the storage is constantly sitting at 100% full.

Other than a full factory reset, what options do I have to fix this? I do not want to nuke all personal data on my phone to fix this error. That is not a solution; it's a band aid for what seems to be a horrific iOS bug that needs to be fixed ASAP.

iPhone XS

Posted on May 19, 2022 4:58 PM

Top-ranking reply

Bryan_K1

Community Specialist

Posted on May 20, 2022 11:48 AM

Hello RS32,

The "Content categories" section of this article will provide some info about what constitutes "System" storage: How to check the storage on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

This can take up additional space if you have a pending iOS update. If your device isn't already up to date, follow these steps to see that resolves this: Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

If those steps don't do the trick, you'll want to reach out to Apple Support to look in to this a bit further: Apple Support

Cheers!

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"System Data" in iOS consumes all free storage space

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