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

I'm having the same issue as everyone else.  I just purchased my Ipad Air two days ago.  I added 2.89gbs of songs, 3.5gb of apps (55) and two photos.  Its a 16gb Air that shows 12.85 capacity in iTunes.  My "other" space is currently taking up 4.85gb.  I have no idea what is taking up so much space but I am down to roughly 2.35gb of free space left and I don't have much on there.  I hate to restore my Air after only two days, but what else can I do??

Go into:

Settings

General

Usage

Show all apps

This will give you a list of all apps and how much space they are using on the device.

Keep in mind, the operating system uses about 3 GB of space.

Before you try anything else, try powering down your device (not put it to sleep or standby but actually power it off).  Then wait about a minute and power it back on.  Now check the other area?  Is it smaller? 

I've found that even though I delete lots of video on both my iPad and iPod, the deleted stuff disappears in my iTunes but goes to some hidden space on the device called Other.  I think it acts like a trash or recycle bin on the desktop computer, only Apple does not make it visible to see what is in it or to empty it.  They just call it Other and show in the bar the space it is taking up.  With thousands of people viewing this discussion, you'd think Apple would chime in and give us better options for handling this space hog.

Cindy

Can someone please help me out here I've tried about everything

This is a brand knew ipad air I got yesterday and the other space shot up to 1.65gb and I didn't even have any apps or games or messages and I currently have no pictures on my ipad it's already at 10.1 gb and I only have 10 apps

I have 15 apps on my iPhone 5s and 10 pictures and 6 conversations as well as all 3 emails on my ipad

I also have all 3 emails on my ipad I have my iCloud email yahoo and gmail

Note my iPhone 5s has 15 apps 10 pictures 6 conversations 3emails 133 songs and it's a 9.9GB

iPad air bought on December 1,2013 has 10 apps 5 conversations 133 songs 0 pictures 3 emails and I'm at 10.1GB

The apps I have on my ipad are small amount of apps

But I realized that once I connected my ipad to the computer it shot up the other to 1.65gb from before it showed 435.5mb and it shot up quickly on its own

Any help this is driving me crazy /:

PLEASE

You could try plugging the ipad into the computer just to let it sync then safely remove. If this does not work the best thing you could do is book an appointment at the Genius Bar, they might even give you a basic solution that can be shared on the discussion.

I have already tried that I've restored it 3x

I've reset settings and network settings

I've deleted messages and I've called apple they just told me it's normal cause that's the software but I asked them why is it growing in its own and they couldn't give me an answer

They told me to restore it again they can't even explain to me what's going on

Because I know the ipad is 16gb but we get around 12 gb free because the rest 4gb from the missing 16gb is software and stuff so the other folder is not software

If you go to the Apple store and tell them exactly what you have done and possibly show them the posts on the forum then it may get swapped out if you are assertive enough. You should not have to put up with an item that is faulty and not working so make sure there is a backup and tell them swap it out.

I've already gotten it exchanged once cause my first ipad kept restarting on its own and a blue screen would pop up so it was exchanged for a new one but that one also had the same 1.65gb of other space

Even when I dint have any apps or Any pictures nothing I noticed once I synced my ipad to iTunes and the sync completed the other file shot up to 1.65 gb from 456mb leaving me with 10.6gb to use

That's strange, maybe there could be something corrupting the ipad when you put all of your stuff on it or when restoring it. Do you use the eject button before you remove the ipad from the computer?

Yes I do use the eject button

Do you think their could be something in my iCloud causing it to shoot up like that?

Do I need to make a new iCloud account

Or could their be an issue with iTunes cause I also uninstalled and reinstalled my iTunes still no help

And before I had an ipad mini with same apps everything the same and I had 11.3gb free to use and I had 133 songs 10 convos 10 pictures and I had 13 apps in my ipad mini and my ipad air I noticed is way different something is wrong with it or something is just storing up in my memory I don't know what it is though

Even if I uninstall everything my other file will go down but to 1.03gb

I'm just so confused I don't know what to do cause I have a 16gb ipad and I can't afford to get a 32gb to much at the moment

I'm sorry I haven't helped, I don't think you need new accounts for all of these things. Maybe you need an iTunes or iOS update? This is something Apple really needs to investigate as it seems fairly common. Once again apologies but I do not know what else to say.

It's okay thank you so much for trying appreciate it (:

This is a known problem. Nobody knows if Apple is working on a definitive software solution, as it may not be feasible given the system architecture of iOS. Here is the best solution that Apple has offered:

128GB iPad

I adopted this one myself a few weeks ago. Haven't looked back.

Let you think I'm being sarcastic, I am. But it is, in fact, the only solution that will work for everyone.

Are you a big user of IMessage?   I am and that is what ***** up a major portion of my Other space.  My family ships around a lot of video and pics. Those get backed up in Other. You need to periodically delete Threads and restart The IPad to clean out the space. 

My two cents

Curtis

I think I figured out why the "other"  category was so large. I didnt realize that when i play movies from the cloud, they store on my ipad. Once i deleted the two movies, i cleared up over 3gb. Now my "other" files are down to 1.3gb. Is that the norm? Thank you all for your help! I now regret purchasing the 32gb ipad