Maps "Documents & Data" still using 5.63 GB even after I deleted the app.

Question

Level 1

7 points

Maps "Documents & Data" still using 5.63 GB even after I deleted the app.

I have deleted the Maps app to try to free up storage, but it still shows "Documents & Data" as using 5.63 GB. My phone inexplicably went from having ~7 GB free to being completely full overnight. A seemingly bizarre suggestion on Reddit was to go into airplane mode and manually set the date forward on the phone by a year and then after an hour again allow it to set the date automatically. This actually did free up 6 GB, but I'm not sure where it came from--the Maps "Documents & Data" still shows the same 5.63 GB. I would really like to have that extra storage--how do I delete all the Maps documents and data?

iPhone 12 mini, iOS 17

Posted on Sep 11, 2024 10:00 AM

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Answer 1

6x6

Level 6

14,978 points

Sep 11, 2024 4:58 PM in response to dr.brouhaha

Not to my knowledge. Other users facing this issue were successful in clearing the Maps data using this procedure.

My understanding is that the Maps data is a cached file. Cached files are automatically deleted after reseting an iPhone to factory settings. Those files are not part of backups.

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Answer 2

dr.brouhaha Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 12, 2024 9:16 PM in response to 6x6

Wow, that was dramatically effective, thank you!! Not only did that get rid of the 5.63 GB that my supposedly deleted maps app was taking up, it also cleared an additional 15 GB! So I went from having around 59 GB used up (out of my 64 GB total) to just 38 GB! I have no idea what else was taking up all that space, as I unfortunately didn't make a note of all the details before performing the reset, but I'm very happy about it--thanks again!

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Answer 3

6x6

Level 6

14,978 points

Sep 13, 2024 7:02 AM in response to dr.brouhaha

You are most welcome.

The additional recovered 15 GB is the cached files that iOS uses to optimize the performance of your iPhone. This storage is called System Data and its size can be viewed in Settings > General > iPhone Storage. iOS will rebuild these cached files eventually, depending on how you use your iPhone and what apps it’s using.

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Answer 4

dr.brouhaha Author

Level 1

7 points

Sep 13, 2024 11:06 AM in response to 6x6

oh--very interesting! If I eventually start running out of storage again in the future, is there a way to clear the cached files that doesn't require a full reset of the entire phone? I'm also really perplexed about why the 'manage storage' option in settings doesn't address this issue... I wasted so much time following its advice to review and delete large attachments, photos, etc., when all that stuff was a drop in the bucket compared to the cached files...

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