How to clear system data on iPhone

Check out this resource if it can help you: System Data taking all my iPhone storage: 6 steps to Clean it up. Step 6 helped me reduce 20gb of system data and force restart reduced 5gb.

I discovered that ios 17.1.1 aparently has a bug in the memory manager not returning cache. I ended up having to deep sleep/suspending all of my apps. This is where it removes the app, deletes cache, but keeps stored data. That gave me enough room to immediately update to 17.1.2.

I tried just clearing all cache and the suspending some apps. In both cases, I could start the update, but cache would grow to take up available memory and the update would fail.

I don't know for sure if cache was growing or not after suspending all apps, but I had enough time to complete the update. After that, I restored apps as I needed them, which was a lot at first. I think there are some infrequently used apps that I have not yet restored, but I'm pretty close to where I was and I able to do everything I need to.

I still see over 127 Gb of usage, but everything works fine. If possible, skip 17.1.1. I was able to update my iPad from 16.x to 17.1.2. Also, I don't know if this bug effected ipados or not.

There may be other issues that cause this problem too. The other solutions here either didn't work or didn't apply. Maybe this will help some others with this problem.

Best of luck!

Notes: Make sure you follow Step 3. Also, it's actually not recommended you do this consistently, as caches increase the performance of apps and iOS in general. This should only be done when it spirals out of control. Also only do this if you see System Data above 25GB for best results.

I also recommend deleting and reinstalling Instagram and Discord, if you use them, as they seem to be the mostly sneaky apps camouflaging cache into System Data.

1. Check your current System Data use on iPhone Storage settings.
2. Close all your apps.
3. Critical: Set your iMessages to stay around forever on iMessage settings on iPhone to avoid having your iMessages deleted! Go to Settings > iMessage > Message History > Select 'Forever'. This is important.
4. Set your iPhone in Airplane Mode and turn Bluetooth and Wi-Fi off (this is to avoid anomalies with iCloud, Apple Watch and other apps).
5. Change the date to 1 year into the future from the real date. Make sure you followed Step 3 before this step.
6. Wait 60 seconds. Keep your phone awake.
7. Check System Data use again. It should be much lower. If you don't see a change, close Settings, relaunch and keep checking.
8. Change the date to 3 months in the future from the real date (this is essentially 9 months in the past from the last setting).
9. Wait 60 seconds. Keep your phone awake.
10. Check System Data use again. It should be around the same or lower.
11. Change date back to Automatic.
12. Turn off Airplane Mode.
13. You're golden!

It's absolutely ridiculous this process is even necessary, Apple should get on board to fix the System Data woes. They have been an issue for many years now.

The main cause for system storage taking up all your space is like I said in my other post here which is app cache. The only solution I’ve found to this is to delete and reinstall apps. Apps such as Spotify,YouTube, and discord were the main culprits on my phone (Spotify having 3gbs worth YouTube 5gbs and discord having 7 gbs worth). This could also be happening with other messaging or video based apps.

I'm having the same problem. Apps don't launch. I have a health care app that is critical to my wellbeing that I must use every few hours. I tap the icon and the app opens then immediately closes before anything is output to the screen. I check storage and over 1/2 of the 128Gb is used by system and other, the grey on the bar graph. I follow the step prescribed here and free up 10-20Gb. The app works fine. The next time I try to use it, I have to repeat the whole process. When I start the app, the system should return enough cache storage to let the app run. It seems the memory manager isn't doing it's job.

I have seen 127.7Gb used, cleared up system/other and gotten it down to 120Gb. Then, as I watch it, doing nothing, usage goes up to 125, drops to 122, then go over 127 again.

What I would like is to set a lower limit on available storage, say 1-2Gb, after which the system will start returning cache. As it is, it seems the current threshold for returning memory is too low.

Lacee did you ever find a solution to this? I’m having the same issue and going crazy over here. Thanks

I had same issue

Whatsapp said i dont have place on my phone to do backup

i checked my iphone storage (Setting==> General==> iPhone stotage and found that out of 256G of my Phone memory, 123G (!!!!) is used by "System Date"

I had a 2 hr session with Apple support - I have done :

1) removal of old App i never used

2) delete and re install apps with photos or music releted activity

3) Hard reset (Volume up==> Volume Down==> lond press on the right button till you see the apple

nothing helped

eventualy i saw this "Recommendation" under the iphone storage bar that said i have some video or audio that i should consider removing and i will save 7.7M.... i thought - why not...?

laceefromseattle Said:

"System data taking all my iPhone storage!: No matter how many times I follow the recommendations and offload and delete apps- my iPhone 12 storage always fills up- I can’t figure out why. I have about 25gb in apps, 11 GB of photos, 9 iOS, 16 in system data! Anyway to reduce that system data? Capacity is 64GB- seems crazy that a third of that is stuff I can’t control."

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Clearing System Data (Formerly Called "Other"):

Use my User Tip: How to Clear "Other" in your iPhone's Storage - Use Backup - User Tip. Caches would be being used for remembrance of application use. You'd backup your iPhone, and then restore your iPhone from the backup you've just created. All System Data will delete.

• 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.

This Reddit post has a procedure you can go through which helped my drop the amount of system storage on multiple occasions

https://reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/zzoqdj/psa_the_proper_way_to_delete_or_shrink_iphone/j2en9xo/

i have had this problem for years.. i now have 3 phones and 5 laptops. Im tied into these silly c^unts. No one in apple or whats app, knew what the issue is with the grey area. So i literally didnt have time to resolve the issue after spending months at a time and days literally on the phone with apple. They even told me i need to buy a new mac to resolve the issue which appeared to be a corruption. So i did (facepalm) it turned out that the new mac didnt have enough space to move the data around. So i then had to buy several external hard drives as the icloud had to be moved to the hard drives. The downloads then currupted the hard drives and i had to send the hard drives to an external recovery company, it has cost me thousands. It turns out the photos library was incorrectly stored etc and there were conflicts similar to this along the way.

Turns out after reading posts today!!!! Yes today after years.... that it could possibly be due to the audio files that you cannot delete when trying to clear space and the cache files responsible for the grey area. I am still stuck as to how to backup whats app. As whats app doesnt even mention audio files, so the values of what needs to be backed up keeps changing. I have removed literally every thing from my old phone apart from whats app and still cant back it up! SO now i am stuck with two phones and any moment now my old number will belong to a new owner and i will lose all of my whats app messages. HELP!!!

menzer1911 Said:

"It’ not a solution though, my Iphone is 512 GB and system data is fluctuating around 300-320 GB which is insane!!! "

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Emptying "System Data":

Use My User Tip: How to Clear "Other" in your iPhone's Storage - Use Backup - Apple Community

This.

https://reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/zzoqdj/psa_the_proper_way_to_delete_or_shrink_iphone/j2en9xo/

Totally worked on my wife's phone clearing 100GB of system data without affecting any apps.

iOS 17.2.1 so this is still going on.

Thank you BAnthon for sharing the link.

Adrian.

I discovered that ios 17.1.1 aparently has a bug in the memory manager not returning cache. I ended up having to deep sleep/suspending all of my apps. This is where it removes the app, deletes cache, but keeps stored data. That gave me enough room to immediately update to 17.1.2.

I tried just clearing all cache and the suspending some apps. In both cases, I could start the update, but cache would grow to take up available memory and the update would fail.

I don't know for sure if cache was growing or not after suspending all apps, but I had enough time to complete the update. After that, I restored apps as I needed them, which was a lot at first. I think there are some infrequently used apps that I have not yet restored, but I'm pretty close to where I was and I able to do everything I need to.

I still see over 127 Gb of usage, but everything works fine. If possible, skip 17.1.1. I was able to update my iPad from 16.x to 17.1.2. Also, I don't know if this bug effected ipados or not.

There may be other issues that cause this problem too. The other solutions here either didn't work or didn't apply. Maybe this will help some others with this problem.

Best of luck!