Clear "Other System Data" on iOS 15.5 (19F77) for iPhone and preventing it to swell again.

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Clear "Other System Data" on iOS 15.5 (19F77) for iPhone and preventing it to swell again.

Hello everyone,

Since a couple of days I have periodical storage shortage problems on my iPhone XR 64 GB. Clearing personal data (photos, videos, apps) does not help, because "Other System Data" keeps swelling –we are at 19.68 GiB and counting (two hours ago it was 19.66 GiB).

The question is in two parts:

0) How do I clear this data?

–Rebooting (i.e. clear the swap file, I suppose) did help slightly, but it's temporary.

–Going app by app and attempting to clear caches works in a very limited way, because many apps just don't present the option. Axing them and then reinstalling seems a bit drastic/primitive –also, it is unknown whether it will work: I am unable to determine which apps are spamming my cache/logs.

–I read that a factory reset and a restore from backup can help, but a) at the moment I am traveling and I need a functioning phone, should something go wrong, and b) see comment about drastic/primitive solutions.

1) How do I prevent this to happen again?

The last time I experienced a system cache/log growing out of control was on Windows Vista. That is ancient history and also a bit of a meme in here: I'd expect a solution to be there, like turn off some feature –or update the software (nudge-nudge wink-wink, Apple engineers).

Thanks for your help!

iPhone XR, iOS 15

Posted on Jul 20, 2022 12:32 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

SravanKrA

Community+ 2025

Level 10

425,448 points

Jul 20, 2022 12:52 AM in response to mihares

Restart the device. That's it.

If the above does not resolve the issue then...

I would ignore that because this system data will make room when you need more space on your iPhone. These are some cache and temporary files that will be erased by the system whenever you try to save more files.

You may --> Clear Other storage on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support (IN)

Tap on System Data it will take you to "Other System Data"

Now the question is what is the "Other System Data" storage. Read on...

Other System Data: Non-removable mobile assets, like Siri voices, fonts, dictionaries, non-removable logs and caches, Spotlight index, and system data, such as Keychain and CloudKit Database. Cached files can't be deleted by the system.
System: Space taken by the operating system. This can vary based on your device and model.

About cached files in "Other System Data"

Finder and iTunes categorize cached music, videos, and photos as Other instead of actual songs, videos, or photos. Cached files are created when you stream or view content like music, videos, and photos. When you stream music or video, that content is stored as cached files on your device so you can quickly access it again.

Your device automatically removes cached files and temporary files when your device needs more space.

If storage on your device differs from what you see in Finder or iTunes

Since Finder and iTunes categorize cached files as Other, reported usage for Music or Videos might differ. To view usage on your device, go to Settings > General > [Device] Storage.

If you want to delete the cached files from your device

Your device automatically deletes cached files and temporary files when it needs more space. You don't need to delete them yourself.

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Answer 2

mihares Author

Level 1

11 points

Jul 20, 2022 1:46 AM in response to SravanKrA

Not helpful. Most of it is "not helpful" because I already said it is temporary, not applicable or not desirable in the OP. Also claiming that the system will clean up by itself when I am reporting a problem relating to it not doing so is a bit... yeah.

And weird: iTunes was killed off a while ago, now the music runs on Apple Music, and Finder is a Mac program, not an iOS one.

Let's try again.

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Answer 3

mihares Author

Level 1

11 points

Jul 21, 2022 11:19 PM in response to mihares

Follow up:

The problem seems to have been mitigated with a newly released update: iOS 15.6. The “System Data” shrunk from over 22 GiB (please compare with the quote in the OP) to 3.66 GiB.

Whether the problem is solved we’ll see in 10-15 days, considering the growth rate I observed previously.

Anyway: desperately waiting for an update or factory reset + restore seem to be the ways to ho. Obviously, the first one is the more desirable…

… And here we must thank Apple so much for having an excellent support policy.

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Clear "Other System Data" on iOS 15.5 (19F77) for iPhone and preventing it to swell again.

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