iPhone 4 'Other' Space is 6.8GB!?!?!

I'm super irritated with this. I just went to update my 16 gig 4s with the new iOS, and noticed that I had a whopping SIX gigs of "other" space. So I immediately went to google, found out that you had to restore it to factory settings. I did all that. I didn't even put MUSIC back on my phone. So now I have a phone I barely recognize, no music, and FOUR gigs of "other" space. Not sure if it was worth it. Anyone else have any suggestions? Would definitely appreciate it.

This page has some useful suggestions to look into:

http://osxdaily.com/2013/07/24/remove-other-data-storage-iphone-ipad/

Followed aaronjk55's procedure and successfully removed the Other space in an iPad2 running iOS7. But it did not make any difference for an iPad mini also running iOS7, nor useful by resetting all content followed with a restore.

So the bottom line is that whilst aaronjk55's procedure is very useful to some devices, it is still a hit-and miss. We still don't understand what exactly is in the 'Other'.

P.S. iOS 7 'Other' does not contain iMessage content.

Still like to take this opportunity to thank aaronjk55 for your procedure.

iOS 6 & earlier Other definitely was partly comprised of iMessage content.

iOS 7 might now display how much is in Messages but categorizes it as Other.

For iOS 7, Message space is counted under Documents & Data, Not 'Other' in iTunes. I've verified with iBackupBot and noticed this after the upgrade to iOS 7 in iTunes. Initially I had a lot of dead space under Settings-->usage-->Messages, which was also reflected in iTunes under 'Documents & Data'. After deleting all the contents under MediaDomain/Library/SMS/Attachment and HomeDomain/.., the recovered dead space is showed under 'Documents & Data', not under 'Other'.

I finally got rid of the dead space under 'Other' for my ipad mini by doing a restore from iCloud, followed by a sync with iTunes. Initially I had 700MB in 'Other'. Now it has completely gone --> 0!

This means restore from iCloud is different from iTunes.

Note: before erasing all contents and reset, make sure you have the latest backup on iCloud and iTunes (as a second backup).

Just like to provide an update from my last post in regard to the 'Other': it came back to this original size of 700MB overnight. So my previous understanding was not correct :( still don't understand what exactly is 'Other' counted for?

aaronjk55 wrote:

I found this elewhere, but it worked for me.

On your iPhone, go to Settings>General>Usage. Swipe the Music line to the left and press delete. IMMEDIATELY shut the phone off-don't exit or anything like that. When you turn on your phone and connect it to iTunes, you may find a huge chunk of your "other" space gone.

When I first did it, it scared the living daylights out of me, but it worked. My other space was quite a bit smaller, but I now have 0.1 GB of other space.

worked for me, for now...

This totally just worked for me. I have just freed up 3.8 g on my 16g iphone 5s. Even though other was only listed as 1.8 g

Strnage bug that one but thanks for the advice

Grr...

I did the aaron method and it didn't work for me.. So annoying.

aaronjk55 's solution worked for me too.

Strange this bug hasn't been fixed yet!

Other is taking 39.25GB!!!! and yet it took hours to synch my music and other only appeared after the last song was synched. Then trying to access my music has become impossible because it says the iphone is over capacity... I have a 64GB iPhone and on AppleCare and so far the Apple folks have been useless... All problems appeared with iOS 7.0.3 - I look forward to Tim Cook being replaced...

I just bought a new Iphone 5s (64gb), did a data back up of my iphone 4s (64gb), the 5s wouldnt take on my music because I was short of 5gb...??? 'Other' was taking up 26gb!? ***? did aaronjk55's trick, went to the music line under usage, and it said 56mb... thought that was weird, and didnt think it would work - but deleted anyway. Restarted the phone, and other has shot down to 7.8gb... So I guess it has worked! Wow! Thats weird - but so pleased to have resolved it - wasnt keen to restore the phone incase i lost messages etc... Cheers Mate!

aaronjk55 wrote:

I found this elewhere, but it worked for me.

On your iPhone, go to Settings>General>Usage. Swipe the Music line to the left and press delete. IMMEDIATELY shut the phone off-don't exit or anything like that. When you turn on your phone and connect it to iTunes, you may find a huge chunk of your "other" space gone.

When I first did it, it scared the living daylights out of me, but it worked. My other space was quite a bit smaller, but I now have 0.1 GB of other space.

I first deleted all my SMS and conversations on messenger especially the ones with pictures, movies etc... afterwards I logged in to my account and hid all the apps i downloaded in the past and don't use anymore, then I followed aaronjk55 technique, and miracle it worked, it didn't delete my music!! I still had 500MB in "other" tough, so I did again and miracle it's gone !!!! cheers because i had originally 2.5 GB of "other" and since I only have an 8GB phone that didn't leave much space... So thank ou so much Aaronjk55 !!

My understanding is that not all music will be ok after that procedure. Furthermore, it will grow to around 1GB (varies depending on your phone's music content format and some other data) after a few days of time.

My suggestion is to delete all unnecessary stuff first before backing up on iTunes, then clear all contents followed by a restore. This will normally do the trick with the "other" at around 600MB initially, and subsequently grow to around 1GB overtime.