How do I delete Apple maps documents and data

If Lawrence's solution is not working, the other solution would be to tap "Reinstall App" (in your screenshot) to get the app installed again on your device. Then, on the Home Screen, long-press Maps, tap "Remove App" and then ""Delete App."

This will delete the app and its associated data. Then you coud choose to reinstall a "fresh" version of Maps by downloading it from the App Store: App Store - Maps.

naftali49 wrote:

There’s no such option!

this is crazy. Have looked around everywhere. No solution! My Apple Maps data is at 7.9 GB!

If you have an iPhone with iOS 17, as the original poster in this thread does, you definitely have that option.

You can also open Maps, tap on your icon in the bottom right corner, then Offline Maps and swipe each map right to left and tap delete.

Solution:

1. Back up your phone (iCloud or Mac/PC)
2. Restore your phone to factory settings
3. Restore your phone from a backup/iCloud when prompted

Even though you make the backup with the trash data, it's cleared out during the restoration. For reference, even though my Maps file was just over 12GB and I only had ~2GB free at the time I started the process, I ended up with 35.64GB of free space. It seems there's even more garbage data clogging our phones. I hope this helps!

Edit: Adding that this was verified as the solution by the Apple Support team. I had to escalate to a specialist and discussed what I had done so far.

I have the same issue. My Apple Maps Documents & Data is at 6.7gb and has grown steadily even without Apple Maps on my phone. After sharing metadata logs, phone snapshots, etc. with the Apple Support and the Apple Engineering team, the Engineering team says the only thing that can be done is to restore the device to factory settings and setting up as new and not restoring a backup. There's no fix.

Jan 21, 2024 — Open Maps; Tap on Offline Maps; Under Downloaded, tap on each entry and swipe right to left, then tap Delete.

SOLUTION: I had the same problem only it used up 50GB even tho it was deleted for months. The best solution I have come up with, also the only one that worked, was to back up my iPhone then factory reset it. (That also cleared 100 GB worth of junk data and cache). If you don’t have enough storage to backup like myself then I suggest deleting (or offloading if you don’t want to lose data stored on the app) a load of apps to have enough space to backup. The backup option in settings should tell you how much data the backup will use. Hope this helped anyone out there who grew gray hairs over this problem.

Been there. The only thing that worked for me is backing up the phone, erasing it and then restoring it from the backup. It also helps to be on the latest iOS version. After that the problem starts again (even if you do not even have Apple Maps app on your phone), but it doesn't pick up momentum if you do not have Apple Maps on your phone. Seems to be best not to use Apple Maps.

My phone only? I'm pretty sure if any of the billion users deleted their maps app, they would have the exact same issue.

"The Engineering team says the only thing that can be done is to restore the device to factory settings and setting up as new and not restoring a backup."

I don't consider that to be a "fix". It's a "give up and start over". Imagine painting a canvas, then the green paint starts to peel. You ask the manufacturer how you can fix it, and they tell you that you have to wipe the entire canvas clean and paint it all over again. Would you buy the same green paint again from them?

'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ' -Albert Einstein

I upgraded to 17.5.1, and this problem (Maps' documents and data occupying huge space) has gone away. It has been only 5 minutes, though, since the upgrade, and I am bracing for it returning. "System Data" also went down to about 4 GB.

I haven’t found a way to get rid of the extra data, but I did find something that might help it stop growing.

1) Go to your profile (Apple ID) at the top of settings, and then tap iCloud, and then press show all underneath apps using iCloud. In here, find Maps, and disable it from updating and using iCloud. That worked temporarily for me until relatively recently when it spiked again randomly. So, to be safe, you could also do step 2.

2) Go to privacy & security, then go to Location Services, and then go in system services. In here, turn off Routing and Traffic, and I also turned off Significant Locations to be safe.

At least for now, this has prevented the data from growing for me. It initially started growing after deleting the app, so I doubt it’s just “your phone is broken” issue, since there seems to be a common cause for this issue among people. It might not be a widespread issue because many people don’t delete the apps that come with their phones like Maps. I cannot guarantee that this will keep it growing forever, or that it’ll work for everyone, seeing my first solution suddenly stopped working and caused me to seek out the second solution myself. I hope it’ll at least help somebody keep their storage from being clogged by Maps.

Also, resetting and transferring data from a non-corrupted phone that hasn’t deleted Maps didn’t fix it. It seems that as soon as you delete Maps, something goes wrong. Maybe it’s related to iCloud and your Apple ID since my first solution worked temporarily, who knows. But I’ve also seen people claim that as long as you don’t transfer the data directly you’ll be fine? I really have no clue.

This is a guess. Reinstall Maps.

Then go to Settings/Maps and turn on Optimize Storage. Leave Maps on for a while.

Next, open Maps. Next to Recents tap More, then Clear.

You can try this.

Clear your location history in Maps on iPhone

Clear your location history in Maps on iPhone - Apple Support (CA)

Ninja123abc wrote:

. Why can't the engineers fix the issue? It's like they don't care. If it's not possible, then there's something wrong with the iOS.

Because it is an issue on YOUR IPHONE, not the other 1 billion+ iPhones. Yes, there is something wrong with your iPhone, but to fit you need to engage with Apple support, or troubleshoot yourself as suggested in this thread by other users. Restoring you iPhone to factory settings, then restoring a backup will probably resolve it.

I refer to my July 11 post: "I upgraded to 17.5.1, and this problem (Maps' documents and data occupying huge space) has gone away. It has been only 5 minutes, though, since the upgrade, and I am bracing for it returning. "System Data" also went down to about 4 GB."

naftali49 wrote:

There’s no such option!

this is crazy. Have looked around everywhere. No solution! My Apple Maps data is at 7.9 GB!

• Open the Settings app
• Find and tap on Maps
• Turn ON the switch for Optimize Storage (see the screen shot below)