how do I delete diagnostic and usage data on my iPad 3 please

Using the don't send is purely a preference. On an iPhone, or an iPad using a cellular data plan, someone might want to stop the sending of that data over their for-fee cellular connection. The data is small, but someone still may wish to limit when the data gets sent.

On a wifi-only iPad, connecting only to free wifi services or home subscription services, it is sort of moot I'd say.

In iOS 7 you can disable the auto send, and go into location settings go to system services and disable it there, but the files still get generated, at least some do on my devices. So yes, I have not found any way to completely disable the generation of the crash and incident logs. I'm assuming that the setting in Location services merely disables the tagging of location from the diag. & usage data, and thus does not stop the logs themselves from being generated.

So if you want to keep the log listing truly minimal, disable diag. & usage in location services, but leave the auto send enabled so anything that does get generated gets periodically purged.

BTW, even with hundreds of logs stored, you would be talking about kilobytes of storage use, not megabytes or larger. The logs are just simple text files, which are in turn highly compressible, so even a great many of them takes a tiny bit of storage space and very little bandwidth to transmit.

Red Back wrote:

Hi Michael, how are you, thank you so much - I am sorry to worry you again, I haven't sync my iPad as yet, can I ask you, can I sync it to Windows 7, as I don't have a iPhone or iPod as such?

Sure, you need to installs iTunes, then sync with that, see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386

You should be regularly sync'ing your device (either with iTunes of iCloud) as that is your only backup should you ever need to restore the device.

Red Back wrote:

Also could I ask you, when you said turn off the automatically send option do you mean the Diagnostics and Usage section > it says Automatically Send and underneath it says Don't Send, so tick that option.

Sorry for all the questions - I love the iPad, but it is very different from Windows, in a sense.

Thank you again ~

Yup, check the "Don't Send" option there.

FYI

Complete guide to using iOS 6

http://howto.cnet.com/ios-6-complete-guide/

Guide to Built-In Apps on iOS

https://sites.google.com/site/appleclubfhs/support/advice-and-articles/guide-to- built-in-apps-ios

You can download a complete iOS 5 iPad User Guide and iOS 6 iPad User Guide here: http://support.apple.com/manuals/ipad/

Also, Good Instructions http://www.tcgeeks.com/how-to-use-ipad-2/

Apple - iPad - Guided Tours

http://www.apple.com/ipad/videos/

Apple iPad Guided Tours - Watch the videos see all the amazing iPad apps in action. Learn how to use FaceTime, Mail, Safari, Videos, Maps, iBooks, App Store, and more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT2bD0-OqBM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROY4tLyNlsg&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSPXXhmwYf4&feature=relmfu

How to - Articles & User Guides & Tutorials

http://www.iphone-mac.com/index.php/Index/howto/id/4/type/select

iPad How-Tos http://ipod.about.com/lr/ipad_how-tos/903396/1/

You can download this guide to your iPad.

iPad User Guide for iOS 5

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ipad-user-guide-for-ios-5/id470308101?mt=11

 Cheers, Tom 😉

Just talked to Apple support and was told "you cannot delete Diagnosis Usage Data from Ipad" short of a Reset. My question is:: Is this the proper answer? Was told that a sync with iTunes would only "Copy" the data, but would still stay

Intact on the Ipad. What gives???

Gadget an wrote:

Just talked to Apple support and was told "you cannot delete Diagnosis Usage Data from Ipad" short of a Reset. My question is:: Is this the proper answer? Was told that a sync with iTunes would only "Copy" the data, but would still stay

Intact on the Ipad. What gives???

You were given mis-information unfortunately. You can see the information stored by simply looking in settings->general->about->Diagnostics&Usage->Diagnostics&Usage Data.

You will see there the entries of saved data, and if you have automatic send enabled, or if you sync your device, you will see older entries in the list get purged. New entries will occur, and you cannot stop this data from being recorded, but when it is sync'd or automatically sent, old entries get removed. It does not endlessly accumulate over the lifetime of the device.

Thanks for the quick reply. I have always left the Don't Send checked (Not Automatic) and by having my device for over a year, the Diagnostic and Usage Data log is quiet lengthy. If I understand you correctly, if I Sync to ITunes on my PC, this data log will DELETE from Ipad? I am not sure if Apple would address any issues/errors since I don't have any maint contract with them, so no use in reporting this data to them. I might add, since I have ran across many things (via Google) concerning this, I also Unchecked, Privacy>Location Services>Sys Service>Diagnostic and Usage. I'm 71+, retired.......what a tool! Thank you again. Dg

Yes if you sync, it will clean up the log on the iOS device (and iTunes will transmit the data anonymously to Apple). The data is more to track things like app crashes, or bad iOS system calls and such, so the Apple developers can identify which errors are really common, systematic issues (ie. true iOS bugs) and which are app issues so app developers can be made aware of a problem with their code, and which hiccups are just random errors. So not really helpful to diagnose an individual's issues, but useful for the iOS developers to identify actual iOS code issues.

Last question??? if Syncing with ITunes transmits this data (Anomymously) to Apple (Anyway), (which I understood you to say only deleted data on Ipad, nothing more)why not just keep ipad in Auto Send if Backups to my cloud are done regularly? If as you say, older entries get purged wheather synced or auto sent.What is the difference? It sounds like there is no way around not having this data forwarded on unless ipad is kept in Don't send mode and log continues to build. I suppose this getting Tracked is the issue.......I've taken enough of your time

prerequisites: Mac

Plug your device into a mac.

On your mac, start Finder

In the Finder menu, select Go -> Go to Folder

Enter ~/Library/Logs

There are 2 folders here of interest. One is CrashReporter and the other is DiagnosticReports.

Go to CrashReporter -> MobileDevice -> yourDevice -> Retired

The files here can be moved/deleted.

Go to DiagnosticReports -> MobileDevice -> yourDevice -> Retired

The files here can be moved/deleted.

yourDevice is whatever your device is named.

That data will ordinarily be deleted when you sync the device. You can also turn off the automatically send option which substantionally reduces what gets created there in the first place.