iPad update space & Kids Messenger issues

Hey JJBS15,

You may be experiencing a common issue that happens when major updates are done on a device. This issue will fill up the System Data on an iPhone or (in your case) an iPad and cause the storage to be completely full. To see if this is what is happening, go to iPad Storage in Settings on your iPad. If you scroll down, you should see the two system amounts. iOS and System Data. If System Data is less than ~10GB, this may be another issue I'm not aware of. If System Data is greater than around 10GB, here's what you can do to potentially lower that storage.

1. Open the Exposé interface (swipe up from the bottom to the top and hold, or double click the home button) to show all the open apps. Close all of them
2. Open Settings and navigate to Apps > Messages > Message History > Forever. If you use iMessage on your iPad, this is critical so you don't lose any messages in this process.
3. Set your iPad in Airplane Mode.
4. Open Settings, navigate to General > Date & Time > Change the date ahead from a year from now
5. Wait ~60 seconds (keep the iPad on!)
6. Change Date & Time back to regular.
7. Go back to iPad Storage. You should have a lot more free space now.
8. You can now turn Airplane Mode back off.

These steps trick the iPad into removing cache data and other files that are no longer needed because Apple doesn't provide a manual way into removing these without resetting your device at this time.

If you notice that the System Data issue pops back up again, sometime like a few days later, you may need to Back up your iPad and Erase all Content and Settings on your iPad.

Presumably your child's iPad is base-model with only 16GB or 32GB of internal storage. This can be verified from iPad settings:

Settings > General > About > Capacity

If so, regrettably, you are always going to 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.

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 the internal storage is near 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 should 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

“Offloading” Apps can be a helpful method of creating temporary space for a software update:

https://9to5mac.com/2020/01/21/how-to-offload-apps-in-ios-to-save-space-without-deleting-their-data/

Additional information about creating sufficient space for installation of a software update can be found here:

If you need more space for an update on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - 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. If 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

Using a Mac computer or Windows PC can help with system software updates - as the update package is initially downloaded to the computer, unpacked and verified by the computer, prior to the computer installing the updated system software on the target device.

As is, perhaps a workable remedy is to ensure that you have either an iCloud or iTunes backup of your iPad - and then completely erase the iPad. With no user-data present, you should be able to update the iPad; once updated, you can restore your backup to the iPad.

How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Erase all content and settings:

Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPad > Erase All Content & Settings

After the reset, set-up the iPad with your AppleID - but do not restore the backup. Perform the system software update using whichever method works for you.

Finally, restore the backup to your iPad:

Restore all content to iPad from a backup - Apple Support