Can I set my phone up as new whilst still having my current data safe in the cloud and not on my phone/ help with clearing 34gb of system data?

I’ve currently used 62.5gb out of 64gb storage, 34gb is on “system data” and I’m unsure how to get rid of it, (I’ve completely deleted all the apps that I possibly could, numerous times, down to the clock, calculator, facetime, every social media app on top of constantly clearing website data etc). At most I can have 4 apps on my phone with multiple being offloaded, and when my phone (iPhone 12) bugs out I have to completely delete & re-download all of them in rotation, based on whichever app I want to use at that moment, which is obviously an inconvenience when it comes to banking or uber etc. If anyone has a resolution for significantly reducing this, I’d much prefer it, I may be missing a key piece of information to resolve this issue but I’ve tried what I’ve read so far. I also haven’t been able to update my IOS due to this and currently, I’m running IOS 16.5.1 which was released last May I believe.

I pay for 2TB of iCloud storage and admittedly have a lot of photos on my phone from as early as 2017 to now. I considered the storage issue could be due to all of my photos, but the system data is nearly double the amount. My photos take up 18.74gb/in the 90,000s to be precise lol, I am a photographer (& memory/photo hoarder) so it builds up & it’s impossible to get through to delete unnecessary photos - that’s why at this point I’m not opposed to factory resetting my phone & starting fresh with a new iCloud; I’ve used this iCloud since 2019 so I can’t lose my photos, messages or emails. I don’t want them on my phone after the reset, I just want them stored safely on the cloud for me to access whenever I need to.

Is there a way to do this safely? (IF there’s no way to reduce system data first) ◡̈

Thank you in advance!

iPhone 7, iOS 14

Posted on Mar 24, 2024 2:33 AM

Top-ranking reply

LD150

Level 10

104,196 points

Posted on Mar 24, 2024 4:29 AM

Assuming you are using iCloud Photos and all your photos are in iCloud, and assuming all other data is sync’d to iCloud, then the best way to get back to the “normal” 6GB of System data is

Backup the phone to iCloud (this only backs up data not sync’d to iCloud)

Restore the phone to factory (Settings, Transfer or reset iphone, Erase all content & settings)

Set up the phone from the Hello Screen and restore the backup.

When the phone resets then as soon as possibke check iPhone, Settings, [tap your name], iCloud, that

iCloud Photos is on

Optimise iphone storage is on

Then you only get thumbnail copies on the phone. They should take up less than 10% of the icloud photo storage

If you don’t want any of them on the phone then don’t turn on iCloud Photos and they will stay on iCloud so long as you pay the subscription, but any photos you take will only be on the phone full size. Turn everything else on of course.

I would not recommend starting with a new iCloud ID if that was what you meant. Having to maintain your payment credentials on an inactive account as well as an active account is a recipe for disaster.

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Can I set my phone up as new whilst still having my current data safe in the cloud and not on my phone/ help with clearing 34gb of system data?

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