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Mythtery Author

Level 1

66 points

ios 7 other data continually growing

Ever since upgrading my iPad 3 (Wifi + GSM) to iOS 7.0 I've noticed continual growth in other data. This didn't happen with iOS 6.1.3 ,so at first I put it down to an incompatible app generating lots of diagnostic data. Over the course of a day the amount of other data grew considerably. So I figured I'd run some tests to see if I could find out what was causing it.

Method:

To do this, I restored my iPad 3 (A1430) iOS 7.0 firmware restore via iTunes 11.1 without any subsequent restore from backup. That is, my iPad has nothing except iOS 7 installed. Once the restore was complete I configured the iPad as follows:-

Using iTunes with my iPad selected:

- Continue

- Start as new iPad

- Get Started

iTunes showed other data at 747.6Mb

I then proceeded to configure my iPad (using iOS 7's Getting Started setup wizard) as follows:-

- Wifi setup skipped

- No location data

- No Siri

- No find my phone

- Pin added

- Get Started

Airplane mode was switched on, after which I then left my iPad to switch into standby on it's own. Using iTunes, I then sync'd with my iPad every 2 minutes.

Test results:

The results are as follows:-

Other data size as shown in iTunes Device > iPad > Apps	Time
760.8Mb	22:33:35
790Mb	22:35:35
790.1Mb	22:37:35
790.2Mb	22:39:35
790.3Mb	22:41:35
790.4Mb	22:43:35

Unlocked iPad and took a screengrab of the usage data, sync'd photo with iMac's iPhoto and removed photo from iPad. I then continued to check other data via iTunes.

Other data	Time
795.3Mb	22:45:35
795.7Mb	22:47:35
795.7Mb	22:49:35
795.8Mb	22:51:35

I then checked my iPad's usage data to see if there were any differences. Results as follows:-

App	At 22:44 approx.	At 22:52 approx.
Calendars & Reminders	488Kb	488Kb
Mail	250Kb	250Kb
Messages	152Kb	152Kb
Safari	no data	no data
Sounds	no data	no data
Contacts	no data	no data
Music	no data	no data
Videos	no data	no data
Photos & Camera	no data	no data
Total used	751Mb	757Mb

Conclusion

The growth in other data continues whether or not my iPad is connected to iTunes and/or sync'd or not. I suspect that the problem relates to either a bug or continual debug information being generated by iOS 7 *even* when the iPad is in standby. This would also explain why my iPad's battery seems to be draining far faster post upgrade while not in use (I shall be shutting it down when not in use until this fault is fixed).

To reiterate: This test was done on a fresh install of iOS 7.0, with no additional apps installed, no apps running, minimal configuration and airplane mode enabled. Most of the time the iPad was in standby (i.e. blank screen).

Questions

Am I alone or is anyone else experiencing abnormal amounts of other data since "upgrading" to iOS 7?

Does anyone know what's causing it?

Does anyone know if there are any settings that will stop other data constantly growing?

Note: I've completed a feedback form, but would encourage anyone else experiencing this problem to do so at http://www.apple.com/feedback/

iPad 3 (Wifi + GSM)-OTHER, iOS 7

Posted on Sep 22, 2013 7:19 PM

43 replies

Feb 12, 2014 10:58 PM in response to Mythtery

This has been a frustrating problem and I wish Apple would come up with a fix. I have four different ios7 devices and they all have this problem. I did the restore on all of them and it is a short term fix. The "other" data continues to grow. The next step is to do the "restore as new" option but it just annoying. Thanks to all for your ideas and suggestions.

Rozzie77

Level 1

1 points

Feb 13, 2014 1:05 PM in response to Mythtery

i've had this issue for the fifth time now. i never remember how it clears out and at this point this is getting annoying.. anyone find a fix that sticks?

Feb 18, 2014 7:48 AM in response to Mythtery

I've got 7GB of this Other data on my iPad Air 16GB and there's no way to clean it out without jumping through hoops? (i still haven't figured out how to do this)

I thought Apple had solid products with solid design. This is absolutely bizarre and completely unacceptable.

This is my first Apple product and possibly last.

Feb 27, 2014 10:20 AM in response to Mythtery

This is a serious bug. Added up my app data, got 6gb, but noticed i only had 50mb remaining, on a 16 gb iphone 5s. Did a factory refresh, restored from my last icloud backup, and got what i should've, 6gb used, roughly 6gb free. Now I see that my free space is quickly dwindling, I've lost 0.3 gb of free space in less than 24 hrs, downloading nothing to my phone.😠

Feb 27, 2014 3:37 PM in response to Mythtery

This is unacceptable Apple. What's the point of selling 16gb devices when +10gigs is used by iOS7?

Mar 7, 2014 3:22 PM in response to Mythtery

I had a suspicion that some of the "other" files on my iPad mini were actually music files that iTunes wasn't handling correctly. I used a program (ibrowse) to view the filesystem on the iPad and sure enough, there was 6 gigs of music on the iPad when while iTunes claimed that there was no music on the device.

Apple MUST fix this. The discussion boards are full of iOS complaints, and they mostly seem to involce file handling and the music database. How have they got this so wrong?

Mar 10, 2014 1:36 PM in response to Mythtery

Updated to 7.1. Looks like there's still a lot of "other" data that I can't account for.

Going to try to restore and set up as new later tonight. I'll update you guys once I do.

Mar 11, 2014 3:58 AM in response to Timothy.Dang

I restored my iPhone to delete 8GB of other data. After 2 days of use my iPhone is up to 14.08GB of other data (from 254MB) on my 32GB phone. I'm not sure what to do. The Genius Bar was no help either. This problem seemed to appear after the latest iTunes update to 11.5.1. All my software is up to date. Apple, what is going on here?

Originally I had to restore my phone twice because the first time the antenna stopped working. So, I'm afraid to restore again. Do iPhones usually expire at the 1 year 11 month mark?

Johno.

Level 1

0 points

Mar 11, 2014 3:44 PM in response to Mythtery

Potential solution.

I was having this issue today which was preventing my iPhone 4s running iOS7.06 from backing up to my Mac running OSX 10.7.5 and iTunes 11.1.5.

After reading through this and other related threads I went looking through options.

There is an options in Settings --> iTunes & App Store where there are two slider buttons under SHOW ALL.

I turned off Videos and then turned my phone off and back on.

"Other" went from over by 12GB to 7.3GB free.

The text under the SHOW ALL slider buttons says.

"Show all store purchases and iTunes Match uploads in your music and video libraries even if they have not been downloaded to this iPhone."

It appears that as suspected the iPhone is caching songs and videos to the iOS device automatically.

By turning off the slider and restarting it frees up the storage being used by "Other".

The same goes for Music.

I hope that this helps.

Mar 11, 2014 5:59 PM in response to Johno.

I tried jonno's solution. No help. I did the restore twice. Each time the "other" category shrinks but it grows every time I sync. I wonder if anyone is having this problem with iPhone 5? Is it a 4/4s thing and that's why Apple is so silent?

Johno.

Level 1

0 points

Mar 11, 2014 7:19 PM in response to Euchrebug

I found that I have "installed" another 2 GB in the "Other" category since I made space. It seems that something, perhaps all the apps that are not installed are pre-caching as well. Trying to find where I can turn this off.

Unfortunately some of the apps are syncing to another device so I cannot delete them altogether in iTunes which might be an option.

Mar 12, 2014 3:59 AM in response to Johno.

Thanks for offering the solution above. It didn't work.

I realized that the 14GB of Other data on my phone is actually my music. When I restored, only the first song of every album appeared in iTunes. The rest of my music was missing. It is now Other data. Bizarre.

Mar 18, 2014 3:31 PM in response to Mythtery

I just starting having this problem when I updated to ios 7.1! I tried downloading a movie and it wouldnt download and then realized i had 19 GB of "other" on my 32 GB ipad. I had to restore my ipad, and once I did that it started off with over 1 GB of other already! i downloaded the movie and its already gone back up over 2! SO frustrating!

Mar 26, 2014 12:14 AM in response to Nomad_76

I'm up to 16.27gb of Other, having un-checked sync Music and deleted all music from my phone... it must be cached email. I have 4 primary accounts that have lots of emails; I imagine it is trying to cache too many..but the Mail app is not listed as using much space. Just lots of .... Other. thanks, Apple...

Mar 26, 2014 3:27 AM in response to Mythtery

Having applied the fix I suggested earlier in this thread I can now safely say it's fixed the issue for me:

Settings -> iTunes & App Store -> Automatic Downloads -> Apps -> Off

Then give the device some time to clear its memory

(I have to admit I turned off all Automatic downloads but from what others have said I suspect "Apps" is the important one")

I have also subsequently noticed if you have automatic updates turned on it starts to install apps that you have on another device when they get updated regardless of it was on that device in the first instance.

Hope fully this will fix the issue for others.

ios 7 other data continually growing