How do I delete "documents & data" that is consuming space?

Thanks, but... I'm at a loss. Been trying to make head or tails out of this "Documents & Data" for a couple of weeks now, since I found it chewing up 29gb out of my 64gb phone. I'm pretty sure I know the solution -- factory reset, reload apps, etc., but am still hopeful there's a less painful way to correct this. Searching the Apple forums and Google, it seems no one has really found a good answer, however.

After plugging my 64gb iPhone 6s in and bringing iTunes up about a couple of weeks ago, I noticed with a bit of alarm that this "Documents & Data" category was chewing up a little over 29gb (!!!) of space. So, I went through, deleted a few apps, cleared out some old messages and some old voicemails, etc..

Unplugged the phone, restarted, plugged the phone back in. Now, iTunes was reporting that Documents & Data were taking up 19gb of space. Quite an improvement, but that's still a pretty good chunk... So, figured I'd back up and delete my old photos (about 1gb worth) off the phone. Tracked down and found another small app I could delete. Restarted and plugged the phone back in. iTunes fires back up, and now reports Documents & Data are taking up 26gb (!!!???). This made no sense to me whatsoever as I didn't open any apps or install anything, but that's where it still stands today -- still around 26gb.

At this point, I went in to Settings -> Storage & iCloud Usage -> Manage Storage (under Storage), went in to each app listed, and tallied everything up. This is what I came to:

Apps: 9.91gb

Data & Documents: 9.32gb

This included native iOS apps like Photos & Camera, Music, Messages, etc. I know that's not 100% accurate, but I would think it should at least be in the ballpark. iTunes, for comparison, reports this:

Apps: 7.82gb

Data & Documents: 26.22gb

I don't know. I'll give it until this weekend to see if I can figure anything out... if I don't by then, I'll just get the wipe and reload over and done with. If I do have an epiphany, I'll be sure to post here what I figure out.

I agree.. While i love Apple products ( remember having to reboot when you install something?) , I find simple things like freeing up memory are tough.

Example: you take 500 photos on your iphone. you want to delete them off the phone but keep them on icloud. you cant. they have to stay on your phone. So in theory, you could run out of space for photos.. you are forced to move them to Google and off icloud.

any way.. thus ends the rant.

This is Apple at its best: it drags you in with the promise of ease of use and the most up to date tech in the world, then it drops you off the edge with no parachute. I am sick to the back teeth with this company. They fix things hat aren't broken and make them worse, they updated my software and wiped my HD clean (yep, really thrilling, that was) and while I use an iPhone, iPad, Macbook Pro and an iMac, I want to bin them all and start again. I hate this company, I hate their joke of an alleged customer service (forums, where you have to find answers yourselves – no email address to send a complaint to). I just hate it. As you've probably already guessed, the very moment, the second there is another viable option, I am off, and I will happily, gleefully smash every single one of these devices to pieces with the biggest, heaviest sledgehammer I can find.

I was having this issue and it was driving me nuts because I already have such little amount of space! I followed the advice of someone on here (I can't remember which forum it was) and went to: Settings > General > Usage and I could see immediately that my Messages was taking up all the space in "Documents and Data" category. It was showing 6gb of messages (saved) so I went and deleted each message one by one (ridiculous that there isn't an option to delete all messages at same time or at least multiples without having to hit each one individually!) but I made sure to back them up first on this software I have called iExplorer (I think I paid $29 for it but can't remember as I got it so long ago but really never used it until now). Then I synced my phone on itunes and it worked! I can't believe how long I've been trying to fix this stupid issue and I finally got rid of that huge 6.60gb of space under Documents and Data! I regret ever upgrading to ios7 as I never had problems before until I upgraded but I was forced to as most apps required the upgrade.

It's great Usmc2655 had a good experience with PhoneClean. I, however, did not. I literally lost a day cleaning up the damage it did to my phone - and resolved nothing.

The Quick Clean deleted text messages though it does not say that it will. Not all of them, but the vast majority, so you won't notice it immediately.

The Deep Clean runs but when you click the "Clean" button it does nothing. I make software for a living, so invested a lot of time troubleshooting in all the ways I could think of with no results. If I'd taken the time to read the reviews, I would have seen that this happens a lot and not wasted $20.

In the end, I lost a day of data from my phone as I slowly realized all that was missing. Thankfully I create multiple backups within and outside of iTunes for my most important files and data. The worst part is that the software did nothing to remove the 4G of "other" and I am still searching for alternatives. DiskAid has worked well for me in the past, but you really need to be an advanced user and know what you're doing. It's very easy to inadvertenly create new problems. I do, however, recommend it strongly for backups beyond iTunes and iCloud. I have it connected to every mobile device in my home.

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A friends iPhone 4S was saying over 10GB of documents and data. It was running very slow as it said it was full and was also deleting things itself. I backed it up to my Mac and did a restore to factory settings and then did a reinstall- but was still showing 10GB over documents and data.

I then read about deleting apps and then reloading them. He only had 2! Facebook was one of them. I deleted it and then reinstalled it and that did it. 10GB of documents and data gone just by deleting the Facebook app and reinstalling it. The iPhone now runs as fast as when he bought it.

I know it is 2017 now but i'm writing this for people that might have this issue in this year with iOS10. To fix this issue and check what is taking up your space. Do the following.

Setting => Storage & iCloud Usage => Manage Storage => Click on the apps to check how much storage they are taking on the Documents & Data => Delete the apps that are taking bigger storage space in the documents and data. If you cannot delete the apps you will at least know what is causing the issue.

Hope that helps someone.

But what about a game? I play Marvel Avengers Alliance which is a 64Mb app but the Documents and Data are now at 6.2Gb. Every time the game runs or crashes it seems to just add up. The only option seems to be to delete the app and reinstall it, but if I do that what happens to the progress I've made on the game? Has anyone ever done this before? I've been waiting for days for Playdom to get back to me on this, but I thought I would write here and see if anyone has any ideas. Same thing with me - never had this problem until I updated my iOS to 7.

I feel like iTunes is giving you the wrong information. You know It sometimes shows me the wrong storage space taken and then after a while it shows me the correct one (like when I try to sync files to my phone). It is impossible to see same result after deleting some apps and message and so on. so try syncing something and you might be able to see the correct info. If the problem still exists, your only option is; to backup your phone and do a factory reset.

I feel your pain

Something so simple to ask, but its so @#@# annoying and complex to fix.

As you can tell there are dozens of part-answers..
maybe just put the phone in the microwave and start over!🙂

I have an iPhone 5 with no Facebook app. I have no f'ing clue what is taking about 9 gigs with "documents and data." I've deleted pretty much all my photos and videos. I have a handful of apps. I am so f'ing over Apple. Anyone wanna trade for an Android? heh.

Im struggling clean up space on my 4s recently and found that clearing cache wont clear the "documents and data " folder.

It is clearly not a smart way to depend on app developers to implement their cache file management. And it should be Apple's responsibility to design the cache mechanism. And apparently for whatever reason, Apple failed to do that.

I have this problem, too. I have a 128GB phone and over 30GB is/was "Documents & Data". Now, admittedly, I had not deleted messages since I got the phone and I have a lot of apps and photos. But, in following instructions in this thread, I removed Facebook (and restarted my phone) and attached to iTunes. Now my D&D is up to 49GB+. HOW IN THE WORLD IS THAT POSSIBLE?! Has anyone found an easier fix for this that is not restoring to factory defaults, starting again, and then restoring from backup? Has anyone gone to the Apple Store to get an official fix? Was going to make an appointment at the Genius Bar tomorrow if not.

UPDATE: I did remove all of my old messages and removed all but my mail from the Manage Storage area but D&D still takes up more than any other section.

There is some discussion of this at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5324174. So far it looks like this is a longstanding problem and the only solution is to delete and reinstall the relevant apps, or for apps that come with the operating system such as Mail, reinstall the operating system.

i just deleted my wife's text messages for several contacts, and removed over 2G of "data & documents".