Synced Content iPhone Storage - iOS 17 Update

my iPad has 256Gb storage and is on version 17.2 and my synced data is nearly 102Gb. I have a separate allocation for music and that is 1.47Gb so how can that be correct? Why are Apple not responding to our concerns?

I have a lot of music. 89.44GB of synced content. My phone will not do the current update until I free up storage... iPhone 14 I just bought a couple months ago. Not wild about deleting and reloading to update if the update will not fix this.

Can anyone tell me what files are actually counted under “synced content”? Where can I find that information?

also, if “synced content” shows up as separate data, then it includes data that is not covered under other file categories. That would imply that the suggestion that it double counts data, or covers already counted data categories, is not true.

i can imagine that any data synced through the iCloud falls under this category, but for me that’s less than 5gb (I don’t have any extra data for iCloud), and yet my phone reports close to 60gn as “synced content”

[Edited by Moderator]

Soo I found this to be an issue too.

But: can someone actually tell me where I can find a definition for “synced content”? I have not been able to find what data falls under this category. This part is quite important, because it will tell us (and Apple) what data categorised as “synced content “, which then determines how much of this category is duplicate, and how much is unique. For example, I can see how my notes are synced content as they are synced across all my Apple devices. But music is not synced at all. Nor are documents like pdf files, or photos for that matter.

1-19-24 and all if a sudden my phone showing synced data now too so No, they have not fixed this. It’s taking up 26.45 GB. My purchased music library has been stored on my phone on the apple music app for many years since my windows 7 computer died. But my music is only 185.6 MB and shows it’s still stored on the apple music app on my phone. I pay extra monthly for extra iCloud storage too 1/2 of which I don’t even use. So I want to know what all this synced media is and I want it gone. I am tired of all the constant “improvements” that are just another mystery and headache. I watch no tv and very few videos and play no games on my phone. I browse Insta and offload when not using. I browse etsy & ebay. There is just zero explanation for what is taking up all these GBs on my phone now. My phone is an 11. At almost 70 on SS I can’t afford to keep investing into the latest tech devices. I have already invested plenty but they just can’t seem to leave well enough alone. Oh I saw my samsung smart television listed as another device on my iPhone today too! And I didn’t do that. It’s never been listed there before. So I am thinking they just hooked up to my phone without my knowledge and maybe THAT’S what is now taking up 26.45GB on my phone. I clicked on it and said to remove it. But it’s still showing the synced 26.45 GB of media. Can anyone help?

Apple edited my response by removing it. (Soo yes they read these forums)

here it is once more slightly modified…

Can anyone tell me what files are actually counted under “synced content”? Where can I find that information?

i would expect the phone to make that information available. Or maybe some support page, but so far nothing.

also, if “synced content” shows up as separate data, then it includes data that is not covered under other file categories. That would imply that the suggestion by others, that it double counts data, or covers already counted data categories, is not correct . 

i can imagine that any data synced through the iCloud falls under this category, but for me that’s less than 5gb (I don’t have any extra data for iCloud), and yet my phone reports over to 50gb as “synced content”.

Forgot to mention: my Music takes up only 3.95GB and my photos take up 6.02GB. All other apps on my phone that use storage take up 1GB or less each. So what does the 196.72GB of Synced Media contain??

Well joespagg1, you can either store 192.72 of synced music or delete some of it. It’s up to you. But if you chose to keep all of it on a 256GB phone, why are you surprised that it is using the space that you chose to store it in. ???

It's planned obsolescence. That's the business model. People would not keep buying new $800-dollar phones if the old ones worked fine. They are double-counting your data, reducing storage, then sending software updates that require more space. It's like when they admitted reducing phone performance to 'save batteries'. That's also why new OS's are not 'compatible' with older computers. If you make a stink about it, they can do it (trust me, said the guy with the 2009 iMac!) but everyone is racing for the new model, not squeezing out value.

Same issue here. 12 mini.

I am using an application called iMazing. I am not, and have never, subscribed to Apple Music.

And you used the word "logically" which is exactly the issue I am referring too!

I do have this category on my iPad Air (4th Gen).

After painstakingly removing just enough content from my "almost full" 2020 SE to allow for an update from iOS 17 to 17.0.1, my storage dropped to 79 of 128 GB.

Go figure.

So this dummy "synced content" storage amount may prevent an iOS update because the logic "thinks" it has that much less storage. Correct?