Help, iPad's "other" space taking so much space!!!!!

It seems there are so many ways to get rid of the "other" depending on where it is, and which app it is related to. I use iTunes on my PC to sync music, podcasts and photos to my iPad, but I don't use iTunes on the iPad itself. I have used iExplorer several times to get rid of all the other files that appear under iTunes control, which seems to be my main problem, though other users are getting rid of files from elsewhere.

What I have discovered today (by keeping iExplorer running on the PC while I browse through my albums using the "music" app on the iPad), that as soon as I browse an album, a new folder is created under Media/ iTunes control. It looks like a cache of everything in the album. Nothing seems to clear this cache down, even powering the iPad off and back on again. In my case following the recommended "restore your backup" doesn't work, as the cache seems to get backed up and restored as well. It reminds me of the days when Microsoft was pretty useless at deleting temporary files when you closed a program down.

All we have are workarounds, not fixes. Only apple can provide a real fix by stopping it from happening altogether.

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rico_vancouver Apr 17, 2014 2:59 PM
Re: Help, iPad's "other" space taking so much space!!!!! in response to yuri530

I solved my issue with a variation on the delete and restore backup process. I had tried a number of other suggestions, and none had worked. I was at 3.9GB of "Other" and now I'm down to 745kB.

Here are my steps:

1. Backup iPad - I did both iCloud and this computer (to be safe)
2. Erase All Content and Settings from Settings, General, Reset option
3. When iPad restarts and you go through the basic startup entries restore Backup from iCloud
4. When that finishes, the iPad informs you that it will now download apps that you had previously installed

I think this works because you're not restoring the junk files that were backed up to the computer, whereas iCloud backup seems to only be key settings and "pointers", not the actual files and storage that are clogging up "Other" storage. Then when it re-downloads your apps from the Store, they are "fresh", and don't contain the bloated storage they use up over time.

Hope this helps some of you."

icloud vs itunes backups are virtual IDENTICAL with only very few things different

1a) BOTH, NEVER, EVER back up apps, books, TV shows, movies, etc

1b) EXCEPT - if the app, book, video, or music does NOT exist in itunes, it will copy the purchase, so it can be restored. The cloud already HAS everything so there's no need to xfer purchases

2) Both copy the following: device settings, basic passwords, all app data and config (save files for games etc)... documents for word processing.... if an app stores data in the cloud then it does not need app docs backed up, but it does need the app configurations

3) AN ENCRYPTED itunes backup does ONE thing that icloud and regular itunes does NOT do: BACKUP ALL PASSWORDS... as in ALL of them... Wifi passwords, lock/unlock password.... EVERY, SINGLE password an app may require. THIS IS REALLY THE BEST BACKUP YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR DEVICE. Basically it restores your device EXACTLY where you left it at the backup... and you dont have to redo app passwords, system PWsetd

I highly recommend letting the device back up to icloud daily.. this will allow a restore in an emergency situation if you are not near your desktop/itunes...and then do iTunes encrypted backup AT LEAST once a month...

Now with ios 8.1 and itunes 12, itunes sync over Wifi ACTUALLY WORKS!!! So you can have your device sync and backup to itunes every 24 hrs... but if you travel a lot... this doesn't work for you.... then I would say do the above... icloud daily.. and E. iTunes as often as possible..

In any case, erasing his ipad and restoring from ANY kind of backup removes the "OTHER SPACE"

But WHY.. WHY is itunes AND the ipad losing track of these VIDEO and MUSIC files??

This works.

It takes longer than something like this should, but this is the only process that actually worked for any of my devices.

If Apple would fix this and the way photos are managed, their ecosystem would be practically perfect.

Signing out and in again from the App Store worked for me:

Settings->iTunes & App Store->Apple ID->Sign Out

Recommended above is:

Another thing that worked for several people is here,

http://whalertly.com/wordpress/2010/05/26/does-your-iphone-have-too-much-other-m emory/

That gets what appears to be an add with links for various unrelated stuff like Comcast.

This "issue" seems to have been going on since 2010 --- and the only solution for fixing the problem be restoring your Ipad/ipod/iphone from a back up; which in my case seems to take about 1 day across 2 128GB devices both linked to my firm's servers. My iPad mini has 40GB of other space AND i only use it for docs, email and vids....

Dear Apple -- this is JUST PLAIN WRONG !!!!

For heaven's sake PLEASE release an APP for the device or functionality in iTunes that repairs these corrupt fragments. It is simply NOT ACCEPTABLE that you have not fixed this recurrent problem with your so call plug and play devices and you expect your users to go out of their way to solve this problem.

It CANNOT be that difficult for you..... BUT it is impossible for yor users.

This thread is one of many on this issue and yet the problem persists.

!!!!

The "other" space taken on my iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 has dramatically decreased since updating to iOS 8.3 and OS 10.10.3

I agree, the problem still persists here.

And even worst, Apple obviously doesn´t know exactly what they are doing there.

I once again reported this case to BugReport. When they tried to fix that problem at my account they deleted thousands of my important files and I had to reproduce them with Timemachine.

This is a shame Apple.

Ronald, not sure if you are replying to my immediately preceding post, but let me clarify--the problem SEEMS to have gone away since the recent updates. Still early, but my "other" space has DEcreased. We'll see if this holds.

I just did the reset network settings and now im down to 253.7 mb from almost a full 3 something gb. Thank you for the advice

Spoke too soon. Thought the issue was resolved with these latest updates, but my iPad Air 2 is back up to 5.54 GB "other."

12.97GB "other". Restored my iPad from backup, not a single bit less of "other". Fully updated to the latest iOS. This is getting annoying, especially considering this is a problem that has been going on for years now.

I had this problem on my iPad 2. I was trying to backup my data and it said my "Other" was at 5.5 gb out of my total 16 gb. I tried syncing but it said I had no room for syncing. So what I did was update to the most recent IOS and suddenly my "Other" was down to 0.5 gb. If you have a software update and your "Other" has maxed you storage or overfilled it, update it! Hope this helps.

Hello Hector, I just updated the iPad to the latest iOS and I now have over 13GB of "Other". It would be nice if "Other" is more clearly defined because it's not photos, music, app, or even documents and data. I even wiped and restored the device twice yet no change.

Sadly, I'm just ignoring the issue now since it hasn't been addressed by Apple since it all began years ago.

Hello. I hate the 'Other' part taking up so much room on my Ipad. I noticed tonight that my Ipad stores cookies for movies I watched but didn't download. A little harder looking and I realized my ipad stored cookies for any movie I didn't finish watching! Then I discovered by Changing the setting in Movies. From Play were left off. To Play from beginning! And turned the Pad off and on and then plugged it back into the lap top to chk. And Other was all but gone! only cookies from small programs remained. Maybe this will help?