iPadOS 26 taking up too much storage.

Sontypoo2 wrote:

Ok, thanks. Im just asking because I only have 64 gigabytes of storage and I like keeping my storage low.

Unfortunately you may struggle with an iPad that has so little internal storage. The 32/64GB devices are primarily intended for use in Educational settings, or in environments where the ability to store local data on the device is not required - such as retail and point-of-sale of applications.

It is generally recommended that you maintain at least 4-6GB of free space at all times - as your iPad needs some temporary space to complete many tasks. When performing system software updates, you may temporarily require more...

A system software update requires sufficient space to be downloaded, unpacked and verified prior to installation - major version updates (such as updating from iPadOS 18.x to iPadOS 26) requiring considerably more space than an incremental point-update. The required space, to perform an OTA update, is typically double the stated space for the installed update; after the update is successfully completed, temporary files are automatically deleted - returning free space.

If your internal storage is full, or is insufficient for the task that you need to perform, your only option is to better manage the storage that you have - and delete unused Apps or unneeded data. 

These support pages may prove to be helpful:

About storage on your device and in iCloud – Apple Support

What's the difference between device storage and iCloud storage? – Apple Support

Manage your iCloud storage – Apple Support

How to check the storage on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch – Apple Support

Clear Other storage on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

External storage options can often help with managing limited internal storage. Depending upon your iPad model, the iPad will either have a Lightning or USB-C port - and may therefore require either an Adapter or USB hub to connect the USB Storage device. As your iPad has a Lightning port, you’ll need an Apple Lightning to USB3 Camera Adapter:

• Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter

https://store.apple.com/xc/product/MK0W2ZM/A

The illustrated storage used by iPadOS for your iPad 9 is entirely as expected.

Like it or not, as with any operating system, the OS occupies storage space. Unlike temporary storage used to store cached data, or the storage used to save your own files and data, the space required for the core OS-files cannot be reduced.

iPadOS 26 has many new features and capabilities - and as a consequence will require a little more storage space than earlier versions of iPadOS. As your iPad 9 does not support Apple Intelligence, your space requirements are significantly less than more advanced models of iPad to do support this feature. By example:

Hi, I'm sorry to hear that, but there is unfortunately nothing much you can do. I have an iPad too and it's exactly the same. You can try backing up the iPad and deleting everything and restoring it. It may clear up some cache and open some space. But honestly it takes long and I don't think it's quite worth it, because it will fill up later again.

Sontypoo2 wrote:

Ok, thanks. Im just asking because I only have 64 gigabytes of storage and I like keeping my storage low.

If you bought that IPad you bought the wrong one those iPads are usually for educational institutions.

I have 1 ½ terabytes on my iPad.