iCloud storage full but 5GB free?

Hi You can buy more ICloud storage. But I would do a Factory Restore this will get rid of any bugs. Just use the same Apple ID & password then you will get all your data back. Cheers Brian

The iPhone stores deleted photos for a period of time, so even if you delete them from the device they will be backed up to iCloud. You can go to "Deleted Photos" and remove them completely by selecting all the photos and pressing "Delete" again. Your back up should work after this.

Don't know if you are aware of this, but you responded to a post that was written in 2013....

Also, unless you delete tons of photos, an issue with enough storage for an iCloud backup is not likely to be affected by the photos in the Recently Deleted album.

Cheers,

GB

Who knows who may read posts and threads dated back to 2013. I got a response PDQ from gail from maine. Works for me. 🙂

I have the same issue... but perhaps - slightly more complicated ?

All my devices say iCloud is full.

When I login to iCloud... it says I have 5B free.

None of my devices are set to backup anything.

I have no photos on any device.

I have deleted every single SMS message from every device.

I have shut down and restarted every device.

I have logged in and logged out many times.

Any help is appreciated.

My devices:

iPad 3 64GB Verizon (Qty 3)

iPad 2 64GB Verizon (Qty 1)

iPad 4 128GB Verizon (Qty 1)

iPad 1 64GB Verizon (Qty 2)

iPad 1 64GB AT&T (Qty 2)

iPad Mini 64GB Verizon (Qty 1)

iPad Mini 16GB Verizon (Qty 1)

Mac Pro Zeon 64GB 2012 (Qty 1)

Mac Mini i7 2013 16GB (Qty 1)

Mac Mini i7 2012 16GB (Qty 1)

Mac Mini i7 2011 16GB (Qty 1)

iPhone 4S 16GB (Qty 1)

iPhone 6 64GB (Qty 1)

Thank you! Looks like 3 years later and this bug is still not fixed. There should be an option to not back up messages

It isn't a "bug". There is no option to not back up anything that is in a backup. You can see how much space will be used by several of the backup items by going to Settings>General>Storage & iCloud Usage>iCloud, but you can't remove any of them from there - you have to manually go in an pare down the items in that category. You can see how much storage your Messages are taking up by going to the Storage section above the iCloud section on that same screen, so that will give you a good idea of how much room it is going to take for your backup.

But again, there are no controls as to what will be backed up:

iCloud: iCloud storage and backup overview

Cheers,

GB

There is nothing that indicate messages is taking up all the storage space. I had to search and find this thread to resolve my issue. Yes it's buried in the iCloud backup description, but the fact that many people encountered this issue that even genius can't address means this is something Apple should make clearer when displaying backup size.

Sorry, I don't understand your point. Your backup size includes Messages, and if you look at your Device Storage, you can see how much space your Messages are taking up on the device, and therefore, how much of your backup it will take up. What, specifically, are you looking for here?

You originally stated you wanted to be able to delete it from the backup. You can't delete anything from a backup. It backs up everything that it backs up as outlined in the article I linked.

Can you clarify what you are looking to find out?

Cheers,

GB

Gail,

I'm saying that it is not obvious that messages are being backed up by default. All the other items backed up by default doesn't take up much storage. The message size is broken out in device storage, but not in iCloud backup calculation. It is very frustrating to remove all data to back up in the iCloud manage storage, and still see the backup size exceed 5GB.

As Wilaberi pointed out back in 2013, it took some investigation to figure out that message was causing backup to exceed 5GB. It's now 3 years later, and there's still no way in the iCloud manage storage screen to see what's causing the backup size to exceed 5GB.

I think Apple underestimated the potential size increase in messages, and didn't break it out as a separate category for iCloud backup. For the average users, this is the kind of issues that can drive them nuts.

Regards,

Steve

Well, usually Messages isn't a problem for most people. The biggest hog is Photos.

However, you can share your observations with Apple here: Apple - Feedback

I don't disagree that it would be nice for Messages to show up somewhere to indicate that they are being backed up. You need to let Apple know you would like to see that improvement.

Cheers,

GB

Thanks Gail. I went ahead and submitted the feedback. I tried clicking on the 'Helpful' button for your response, but it doesn't work, so I want to thank you for answering my questions.

Regards,

Steve

You are most welcome, Steve. Glad I was able to help 🙂

Cheers,

GB

I am having the same problem here.

And what did Apple say when you contacted them about it?

GB