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iPhone & iTunes available space differ

Just updated to iOS 8.3 and thankfully it cleared the "Other" data that was as much as my Apps and Photos combined.


But now iTunes (pre OS X 10.10.3) is indicating I have 7.92 GB (of 12.6 on a 16GB iPhone 5) Free, but on the iPhone, my available storage is 6.5 GB. That's over a gigabyte discrepancy. Is this an old issue just rearing its head for the first time on my phone or is this something new?


Would appreciate your insight and thanks in advance.

iPhone 5, iOS 8.3

Posted on Apr 8, 2015 9:28 PM

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5 replies

Apr 20, 2015 5:45 PM in response to Ben Dimagmaliw

Just a small update. I updated to OS X 10.10.3 as well as the latest iTunes (12.1.2.27) and this phenomenon still exists. 7.76 GB free with a total of 4.84 GB used which properly adds up to the 12.6 GB capacity indicated by iTunes. However, on my iPhone it's 6.4 GB used with 6.2 GB available which also adds up to 12.6 GB. For some reason the iPhone is counting 1.6 GB that iTunes is not. I've tried adding free space and used space in multiple combinations and it all works out on iTunes and iPhone individually, so why don't the two indicate the same numbers? Very odd.

Apr 20, 2015 6:23 PM in response to Ben Dimagmaliw

No, that difference is not 3.4 GB to iOS. The 16 GB spec of the phone is base 10 GB, based on 1K = 1,000 bytes. The space on the phone is reported in base 2 GB, where 1K = 1024 bytes. So your 16 GB phone will appear to be 14.9 GB total on the phone. It's still 16 GB, but in a different measurement system. So the difference is actually 2.3 GB, not 3.4 GB. And not all of that is iOS; some of it is system data, the file map, the root directory, and other "housekeeping" data.


See this for more details: How OS X and iOS report storage capacity

Apr 20, 2015 11:29 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

OK, sure. But there's still a difference in reporting. If Apple has decided to not count those system data/housekeeping data as "Other" which is now no longer suspiciously large, then iOS needs to follow suit. It's human nature for people to ask why iTunes is saying one thing and iOS another. Some consistency would alleviate doubt that "something is wrong" because if my bank's ATM reported a balance different from an online statement, I would sure be demanding answers from the bank.

iPhone & iTunes available space differ

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