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iCloud storage help please

It says my storage is almost full but the only 2 things I have backed up is photos, 2.6 gb and contacts. None of my apps backup, I don't have music or movies on it, no documents. What else should I check?

iPhone 4S, iOS 6.1.2

Posted on Mar 15, 2013 5:39 PM

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25 replies

Mar 15, 2013 6:44 PM in response to Dez1978

Other includes data such as iPhone settings, contacts, calendar events, Safari bookmarks/cache/cookies, email and email attachments, SMS/MMS/iMessages, notes, app data, Safari cache, cookies and bookmarks, stored passwords, search index, home screen organization, wi-fi network data, etc. Sometimes it can continue to grow over time to an unreasonable level. It should generally be about 1GB. Yours is much larger than it should be. This can usually be fixed by backing up your phone, the restoring it and restoring to the backup at the end. If this doesn't fix things, then the problem is contained in the backup and all you can do is either live with it, or save as much of your data as you can, then restore your phone as new (without using your backup) and start over.


When Other grows that large it can sometimes result in the problem you are experiencing. You can see if switching to backing up in iTunes, then back to iCloud will resolve the problem if you want, but your Other is likely to continue to grow until you address the problem by restoring your phone.

Mar 15, 2013 7:03 PM in response to Dez1978

To restore your phone, do the following:


  1. Connect it to your computer
  2. Open iTunes and go to File>Devices>Transfer Purchases
  3. When this finishes, click on the name of your phone, go to the Summary tab of your iTunes sync settings and click Back Up Now under Manually Back Up and Restore
  4. When this finishes, click on Restore


So you know what to expect, the major steps you will see are:


  • iTunes will give you the option to Back Up (choose to do so), then click Restore
  • iTunes may download the iOS from Apple if needed, extract it and verify it with Apple
  • iTunes will prepare your phone for restoring, restore the software, verify the restore and restore the firmware
  • The phone will restart and reappear in iTunes (be sure not to disconnect it)
  • iTunes will give you the option to set it up as new or restore from backup. Choose to restore from backup.
  • Follow the prompts, when done you wil get a message that it has been restore and that it will restart and reappear in iTunes (don't disconnect it)
  • You phone will reappear in iTunes and will automatically sync, restoring your apps and other iTunes media to the phone
  • When it's done, everything should look the way it did before. Hopefully Other will now be a much more reasonable level.

Mar 16, 2013 6:13 PM in response to Dez1978

Hmmm. I would think that would be enough, but try freeing up more space on your phone. For example, if you have a lot of music on your phone and it is all in your iTunes library, delete if from your phone by going to Settings>General>Usage>Music, swipe across All Music and tap Delete. You can sync it back later.


Then try restoring again.

Mar 16, 2013 6:27 PM in response to Dez1978

Something doesn't sound right. Let's try freeing up more space. (If that doesn't work, I'll tell you how to force it into recovery mode to restore it.)


First be sure you have backed up your phone in iTunes as explained earlier. Then try importing your camera roll photos and videos from your phone to your computer, then deleting them from your camera roll. This guide explains how to do this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4083.


Then try restoring again.

Mar 16, 2013 6:34 PM in response to Dez1978

OK, then it's time to force it into recovery mode. This article will explain how: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1808. Follow the steps under "Placing your device in recovery mode". When it's in recovery mode you should see the image below.


Then connect it to your computer with iTunes running and you should get a message that iTunes has detected your device in recovery mode, and that it needs to be restored. Then restore it.


User uploaded file

iCloud storage help please

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