iCloud storage full but 5GB free?

I had had the same issue and neither the generic troubleshooting solutions nor the ones put forward in the subsequent posts of this thread solved the issue.

As somebody suggested, the actual cause lies in an error in communication between the iDevice and iCloud.

Yesterday I called Apple technical support and after I briefed'em in on the issue, a Senior technical officer fixed it for me. He took a look at my iCloud account and saw that there was, as he rightfully put it "one backup stuck in limbo" (between the iCloud and the Device). He explained that the mechanism of action behind it was:

1. The Device initiated a backup to iCloud
2. Respective iCloud storage was locked in anticipation of the backup
3. the Backup failed at some point
4. the iCloud storage quota claimed by the failed backup was not restored and the failed backup did not show up on the Backups list

There was no way for me as a user to either see the cause of the problem or resolve this issue on my own. To do this some "administrative" iCloud privileges, if you will, are required in order to both see and delete the cause.

The Officer deleted the faulty backup and freed the wrongfully reserved quota. The moment I ended the call and tried the function, it was back to working order.

So there is no way to fix this without help from Apple? I spend 2 hours on the phone with them yesterday and even mentioned this as a possible issue. Still no resolution - they are "looking into it"

leighfrompeachtree city wrote:

So there is no way to fix this without help from Apple? I spend 2 hours on the phone with them yesterday and even mentioned this as a possible issue. Still no resolution - they are "looking into it"

Doesn't sound like it. But not sure why you got that response, since piotr_ch got a resolution. Maybe you should call them back and ask to be escalated to a higher level. You could share what piotr_ch posted with the person you speak with - that may help get it resolved for you.

Cheers,

GB

Do you have a question? This is a support forum, not a social media site (not to mention that the post you are replying to is almost 5 years old). If you have something to contribute then please do so.

GB

I have the same problem!!! The guys from the Genius Bar told me to restore the device, I did it and it didn't work at all!!! Same thing!! Did you find a solution???

Regards

Same thing here what gives?!?!?!?! Anyone @ Apple alive over there to look into this thread? I have tried a buch of things. I have 4.8 gigs free of 5G and it will not backup. I am just trying to back up notes and messages, etc Nothing big. What gives?!?!?!

I'm getting the same error. Mine was full, so I downloaded all my photos and videos into my computer an deleted them from my iPhone and iCloud. This freed up 3GB of space. This wa two weeks ago and I continue to receive the error message saying it cannot back up because there is not enough storage. Anyone have any ideas?

I have the ssame problem. My 4s says it has 1.2GB AVAILABLE and then below it says I need an additional 1.2GB in order to make a backup.

Why is this issue not answered anywhere yet?

Okay, well, I figured out the problem for MY issue and I hope it's the same issue.

I DID have 1.2 GB free on my icloud storage and I was only using 3.8 but this only refers to the latest successful backup I made to iCloud.

It does NOT refer to the current amount of space taken up on my iphone that would need to be backed up if I were to do another iCloud backup. My phone had since filled up to more than 5GB and so I just changed by backup settings to not back up certain apps and brought it back down to under 5GB.

All you people have more data to backup than you have space in iCloud. So you have the full 5GB free in iCloud? So how much of your 16/32/64GB iPhone is wanting to be backed up?

Benito - you have 1.2GB available and are trying to backup 4.4GB: hence another 1.2GB is needed.

Having the same issue on my ipad 3 (Sorry the NEW 2) and I am only backing up my bookmarks!! (I am not backing up anything else, once again I am getting 5GB as the reported free space

Apple got me to reset my network settings which did not help, and now want me to restore the entire device.

Ironic since I can backup fine with dropbox, skydrive, google drive, sugarsync both with client apps and with Readdledocs.

Problem is, I want a basic IPAD SYSTEM backup, with the third party providers do not seem to have (like a bare metal recovery program for a computer) nor would I trust since they are not from the same vendor.

So I will prepare to write off a day and visit an apple store in the future....

Think the real issue is not the apple so much as the communications with icloud back end. FYI I was able to log into the icloud at www.icloud.com and noticed that some (calandar) info was there (once I turned calandar on as a test for additional backup) so even with the error SOMEthing has backed up at SOME time.

This is the web front end for the cloud storage. It must be either the IPAD is reporting to the ICLOUD server an incorrect amount of data, OR ICLOUD is simply not functioning correctly, which makes you wonder about using the service if you really needed it.....(it may not be there).

I think apple need a better Service Level Agreement with Icloud, particularly if a paid customer.Since my job is not a beta tester or a quality consultant for apple I will leave it to them to resolve their issue, and until then my money ($19 per month) will go to dropbox!

Maybe it is backing up SOME data at its discretion, its a bit like the HDMI (geniune) connector that says when first plugged in that "this accessory is not supported" (thats even with 5.1.1 IOS) but functions anyway....

I too put all my photos and videos to my pc and removed them from my phone and was getting the same message so then I clicked on the "Delete this backup" and it removed the old back up from the phone, instantly replacing all that free storage I had freed up. I then went ahead and backed it up so it backed up everything I currently had still on my phone. Maybe this will work for you too 🙂

-elise

I have deleted all backups, it says 5GB free. I have turned off all app backup options - all set to off. I have wiped and reinstalled my iphone from backup (itunes backup that is), and yet with nothing selected, it still says Next Backup 5.1GB - not enough space...

This is a major bug, and must be an iOS bug. I suspect it is counting all the videos that I have already deleted, so it raised the bar high, and just hasn't lowered it.

Same here. And nobody has a solution for this. Telling us to buy more storage space is nonsense. iCloud has residual junk in it from previous backups, and there is no way for me to go in there and wipe it clean.. Solution anyone???