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iOS 17 Storage Space Bug / Issue

This feature/item was not there upon iOS 16.6 - but after the upgrade to iOS17 - phone storage data has been taken up due to SYNCED CONTENT.

There was no reason for it to take up nearly 20-30% of the storage away from the phone (when my device had about 30-40 gigs left I'm down to 4.23gbs). This has disallowed me to back up my device to my iMac due to now lack of storage space b/c of this issue.

This seems to be an un-tested feature/bug/issue. I'm sure many users would not be happy knowing that their device storage was depleted for some unwanted/untested feature.


Is anybody else noticing this issue as well (as among many reddit forums /alternative forums as well).


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 12 Pro

Posted on Sep 21, 2023 10:16 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Nov 30, 2023 4:28 PM

Who else has updated to 17.1.2 and still having issues or experiencing new issues? I may try to withhold.

145 replies

Sep 27, 2023 9:56 AM in response to STJ23

I had the same problem on my gen 8 ipad. Had 31.98 of memory used and 5.21 available. I backed it up, restored the ipad to factory (received error message that there was a problem, but the restore continued and worked), and then restored the back up. After doing this, I was using 14.57 and had 17.43 available. Problem solved.


Clearly, I should not have had to do this, and hopefully Apple fixes the bug(s).

Sep 27, 2023 9:57 AM in response to rrtplrk7

Look through thread - i've already provided answer:


Double check to see if you have a last back up.


if it's good - go to recovery mode -

and then restore to default and do a Upgrade to 17.02 - just released see if it helps

and then restore the data.


worse case - start clearing out phone data / videos/ photos - back those up to a cloud solution and/or delete or offload apps to free up enough for like 9-10gigs to do the upgrade.

Sep 28, 2023 8:07 PM in response to STJ23

I’m having the same issue. Contacted Apple support today. They acted like they’ve never heard of this before. Also tried to tell me it was normal. I sent screen shots as well. Told me to download update to my Mac then to devices. Said it will correct the issue. I haven’t tried that yet.

Sep 28, 2023 11:46 PM in response to STJ23

I called up Apple on 24 September and want me to take screen shot etc and promised me that they will let me know the probem. After talking to 3 senior advisors, they stills do not have the answer for me until today (29 September) and told me they are still investigating. Take note that teh reason why I need to talk to 3 senior advisors because every time the seniot advisor promised to call and update me but they did not, just a lip service.

Sep 28, 2023 11:54 PM in response to Water4ever

After updating my iPad to the latest version it gave me about 4GB back. My system data now only is 1.76GB, but the phone app is still growing every time I am opening a contact. Now it is at 6.02GB. The synchronized content folder is 0kB. Also the pics are more than the double the size of what it was with iOS16, 12GB instead of 5.22GB.

Sep 29, 2023 1:15 PM in response to Clapham Boy

I’ve been working with a senior escalation person since Sunday. An engineer (or engineers) have gathered data and they are on the case. I’m sure they have enough info now with all of the complaints. Now we wait for the 17.0.3 fix and I hope that my 128GB capacity phone, formerly at 57GB, and after transfer now at 90GB and growing about 1GB/day, can hold out until the fix. I have about 30 days it seems…


Suggestion: check your iPhone storage daily and take screenshots.

Oct 3, 2023 2:00 PM in response to STJ23

Hi! I have been reading through the various replies to your original post(and I truly am not the most Tech savvy) but in downloading the latest iOS 17 to date, I too realized this particular software is using over 20 GB of my iPhone storage space…


why question being… should I notify/report Apple as well(or is it something that’s still in the throes of being rectified?)


Just wondering if there’s anything I personally can do to be proactive re the resolution of the bug/issue…


thanks so much for your time!

Oct 5, 2023 1:53 AM in response to STJ23

I refuse to do the new update because I will not have enough gb for to backup my iPhone 11!

I am not ready to buy a new phone because mine works perfectly.

I don’t need a new iPhone Bill . When is enough enough. I refuse to sync all my devices because it basically eats up more storage.

I have 200gb in the cloud and can not figure out why I bother pay for it every month and don’t understand how to get the best use it of it.

I am getting ready to drop my insurance on this phone. My outer box cover is incredible/ once a month I take the phone out to ck on it and it In perfect condition like the day I purchased my phone.



Oct 5, 2023 8:26 AM in response to Seaturtlebklyn

Well, I tried to install the iPadOS 17.0.3 update. It said it was only 543mb, I had 6gb of storage available. But it too failed, came back saying they needed 5 plus GB to install.


this is a real mess here. Apple needs to get their act together and fix this problem.


I well say the phone updated fine. But the iPad is still a problem.

iOS 17 Storage Space Bug / Issue

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