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Understanding iPhone Memory Usage

I have an iPhone 6 apparently 16GB. I realize that iOS gobbles up memory, as does music, photos, apps, etc. but my phone is telling me its low on storage (860MB remaining). In settings, capacity is listed as 11.9GB which is nowhere near 16GB. Also, iTunes is at 1.6 GB and Photos are at 1.5 GB. I have a limited number of apps which are saying about 400MB each. Can anyone suggest why the phone would be full? I'm at a loss. Thanks.

iPhone 6, iOS 8.4

Posted on Jul 23, 2015 7:46 AM

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2 replies

Jul 25, 2015 6:52 AM in response to mrwashburn

Hello mrwashburn,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.


From your post I understand you're wondering why your 16GB iPhone is reporting less storage than 16GB. For explanation of this situation please see below:


The storage media in your Apple product, like all storage devices, uses some of its capacity for formatting, so actual capacity available for applications and files will be less. In addition, other factors, such as pre-installed systems or other software and media, will also use part of the available storage capacity.

How OS X and iOS report storage capacity - Apple Support


Take care.

Oct 9, 2015 7:35 PM in response to chuck_3rd

But Apple is inconsistent about this. In OSX since v10.6, capacity is always as IEC stated in 1998 and according to SI, with base 10 metric units (1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes). But, I don't know why, and again Apple is really inconsistent, in iOS capacity is represented as base 2 binary units, but labeled as if it were metric (1GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes).


E.g. A file that is 279 MB in OSX, is labeled as 266 MB in iOS.


So, why Apple wants to confuse us when reading different numbers on both systems? Where is simplicity, usability, continuity?

Understanding iPhone Memory Usage

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