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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

Dec 7, 2023 8:12 AM in response to STJ23

The 17.1.2 update didn’t help, but I am seconding the restore comment.


Back up your phone, wipe it, then restore it from that backup. Since I’m a Windows computer user and I don’t use iCloud, I backed up my phone via iTunes. I then did a factory reset of my phone (make sure to keep your eSim/carrier data, it will give you that option before you completely erase it), then backed it up from the backup I created. You should also be able to create a backup from iCloud if you don’t have iTunes. It’s been around half a day and it LOOKS like everything is normal so far. One of my apps shrank from 1.4gb to 417mb, and the Documents & Data size now looks reasonable. Previously, simply deleting apps did nothing to change the size of Documents & Data.


It took a few hours and time will tell if is bloats back to its bigger size, but it’s worth a shot. Just be very careful when backing up and erasing your phone.

Dec 13, 2023 9:39 AM in response to STJ23

I keep trying to find my previous responses in this thread but haven't been successful with that either.


So, the latest....fun.... I mentioned recently that after doing all the updates (currently on 17.2) AND wiping my phone and doing a completely new install, I still got no joy! But I was able to function each day (app bugs aside) with the storage issue by rebooting my phone each morning. Again, somewhere in here there are before/after photos that show that - it would be nearly full and then after a reboot it would drop to normal size.


This morning, I did my usual morning reboot and the storage did NOT drop down like usual. I rebooted 4 more times with no joy. So, I went to the gym prepared for my phone to "brick" sometime before lunch. When I got back out to my car, I was going to try and schedule my appt to have it looked at after work today so I double checked the storage.


Miraculously, as it sat in a locker, on silent, with do not disturb on, the storage dropped back to the normal level.


No idea if something happens between 8am and 9am ET that does this or if today was a fluke.....


Will continue to monitor to see how it goes....



Dec 14, 2023 8:18 PM in response to guboji

Same. Im on ios 17.2 Im actually more concerned with the icloud storage increasing for no reason. I delete texts manually and I know it takes up to 4 days to delete from the server end but the backup storage keeps increasing. I also noticed that in icloud under next backup size it just says LOADING I heard ppl who have macs have this problem too. I hope its fixed. Another issue it the messages in icloud wont toggle on its frozen. I had to buy more storage just to be safe.

Dec 26, 2023 8:46 AM in response to STJ23

This is where I leave you all....best of luck!!


So, I had a couple of IT folks tell me that it sounded like the problem with my phone was that the OS itself was corrupt. No matter how many times I erased and backed up from iCloud, it wasn't going to be fixed until the OS itself was fixed. That seemed to track so I looked to see if I was eligible for an upgrade and I was so I just bit the bullet and got a new phone. I know this isn't an option for everyone but it solved my problem. The storage is holding steady every day.


So, for those still trying to fix this, I would suggest trying to get the actual iOS removed and reinstalled. I have no idea how hard this might be but would certainly try to have someone at an Apple store do it if that's possible. That might fix it...or...putting on my favorite conspiracy theory hat...maybe some of us have this happen so we'll buy new devices. These days...anything is possible!


Good luck all!!! I know this is frustrating!!


Jan 19, 2024 2:52 PM in response to STJ23

iOS17 right though to 17.2.1 will count past purchases (even if deleted) towards your storage.

Strange? yes iOS 16 did not do this.

I've been on the phone for 8 hours with apple and they have confirmed this now. for me this is happening in Books.

years worth of deleted books are not in the library but confirmed to be now counting towards the phone storage.

You can't remove this. There is no remedy.

If you sign out of your Apple ID. it will remain.

If you delete the app and sign out of your Apple ID then reinstall the problem app you will see all the bloated data will remain.




iOS 17 Storage Space Bug / Issue

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