Help clear out "other" space on iPhone

I would suggest taking a look on the app market to see if you can find any apps that tells you exactly how much space things are taking up. I use an app called ASTRO file manager but then again I use android. I dont know if iphone allows you to download apps like that.

I consulted with Dr. Google and have another suggestion. Doing a reset- not a restore- will help clear application cache's (basically the longer an app runs the more system resources it consumes)

so you can do this by going to SETTINGS>GENERAL>RESET>RESET ALL SETTINGS.

No this will not cause you to lose any of your data like apps or contacts or music.

when you plug your phone in to your computer do you ever get an option to just view its contents? if you do- give it a shot. This is one of the best ways to learn about your own phone, just by poking around.

go through and look at file sizes.

I had the same problem, and I've found a solution.

You don't need to reset the phone or install any apps to sort it out.

The 'other' space is the area where things like text messages, emails, documents, etc are stored. It is also where data from apps are stored; things like settings, it's web cache, etc.

All these things are backed up when you back-up the phone, which is why it's still there when you restore from a back-up.

You'll never get rid of it completley, but you can get rid of big chunks of it.

My phone uses iOS 6, I'm not sure about earlier iOS versions.

1. Make sure your phone and apps are synced in iTunes.

2. If possible, make sure you have backed up or copied off any documents or data you might need, as you will loose it. A lot of apps allow you to email documents and data.

3. On the phone, go to Settings/General/Usage. You should find a list of all the apps. The list is mainly 3rd party apps, not apps that come with the phone.

4. On the right hand side, is a list of the total storage space the app is using including the app inself. The list is also handily listed in decending order of size. If you tap on on one of the apps on the list, it shows you how much space is being used by documents and data. You also have the option to delete the app.

5. To delete the app, simply tap on Delete App. The app is deleted, and so is the data which is stored in the 'other' area. Repeat for other apps if neccesary.

6. To re-install the app(s), plug it in to your iTunes and re-sync your phone. The app(s) are re-installed with no data taken up in the 'Other' area.

This worked for me. I had one app that was taking up 2 gig of space in the 'Other' area alone. I did exactly what I've described, and cleared off a chunk of space.

It sounds like your messages may take a lot of space--sending a few videos by iMessage can bloat the size of your "other" category (and, incidentally, your iCloud backup) significantly. There are more involved solutions, but one thing to try is deleting lengthy videos you've sent or received from the Message steam. (More likely sent--I think you receive videos in fairly compressed form.)

You won't see results instantly--it takes an indeterminate amount of time for ios to figure out the space is free. Make sure you keep a backup first, of course.

Dear Friends

I've the same problem on my iPhone 5. Well I think that more video on iMessage are the problems.

Now Are there a way to remove the video on messages but not the text in a easy way?

I've try to scrool my messages but are too long for find old video inside it...

How Can I do?

thanks

w.

If your "others" category is eating up entire available space, follow these steps:

1. Ensure that your phone is backed up. It may complain of not having enough space, just delete some app from iphone to freeup atleast 20-30MB. Try backup and finish it with success to avoid data loss just in case below steps do not work.

2. Click on Restore Backup (not restore iphone). It will complain of space problem and reboot your phone automatically. This will reclaim the space without doing restore. Make sure you do not free up more than 800MB space otherwise it will restore your phone unnecessarily.

Above steps always worked for me. This started to happen post itunes upgrade to 11. It happens with my iphone every 2-3 days. Certainly there is some bug in ios and may be itunes 11 version disturbed its sleep.

Please report back if it works for you.

I've use DiskAid to clear more mp4 file inside the folder Media -> recording about 2,3Gb of file that I can't know.

Now I've clear some Other space.

My phone filled right up to the brim and I couldn't figure out why. I ended up using iPhone Explorer to look at my files. Oh hey look, under Voice Memos there was FIVE Gb of M4A files. Sixteen phantom duplicates of each voice memo that do not actually appear in the app on my phone. (Press delete 1,814 times.) All better!

This just happened to me with my iPad and I was searching online for a solution (didn't find one) but actually stumbled upon a very easy solution myself. I had a huge amount of space being taken up by "other" and didn't know what it was. I pushed the home button twice to see which applications(?) were still actually open, and there were loads of them. As soon as I closed them all, the "other" space got much smaller and I had lots of room again.

BrookeDenehy - I don't have an iPad, so I can't really comment. I do know that pushing the home button twice on an iPhone doesn't show what apps are running, it opens the shelf.

Does anyone know if there is a way of showing what apps are running on an iPhone? I've always assumed going back to the home screen closes the app. A lot of apps anyway.

Does anyone also know if closing any open apps on an iPhone will clear out space in the 'other' area?

I've found out how to close apps running in the background on the iPhone.

You double-click the home button to reveal the multi-task bar at the bottom (I called it a shelf earlier; I didn't know the proper name).

Tap and hold the icons until they shake. A minus symbol will appear.

Tap on the minus symbol for all the apps you want to close. Press the home button to stop them shaking, and again to return to the home screen.

I have read that this clears a lot of the 'other' space for a lot of people. But in my case, it made no difference whatsoever.