Can't transfer purchases from iPhone to Computer, says there is not enough free space on the phone

Question

Level 1

105 points

Can't transfer purchases from iPhone to Computer, says there is not enough free space on the phone

This is really strange. My phone (iPhone 6 Plus) has 2.2Gb of space available. I am not trying to sync the phone or send anything to the phone. I am using the "File > Device > Transfer Purchases" option to copy updated and new apps from the phone to my PC via iTunes (12.2). However, it starts the transfer then about half way through, aborts with the message that there is not enough free space on the phone, and the phone it self throws up a warning that storage is full. Then the capacity bar in iTunes updates and shows *ALL* free space is now filled with "Other" and the phone is "Over Capacity". Restarting the phones clears this "Other" and I am back to having 2.2Gb free.

To me, it seems like in order to copy things from the phone to the computer, it first creates a (possibly compressed?) copy on the phone and then transfers that, but requires a very large amount of free space to do this, if the apps are large. In this case its "Infinity Blade 3","Fallout Shelter" and "Vainglory" - combined they are about 3.6Gb. I don't wish to delete any of them from my phone because it would take hours to re-download them.

Is there a solution I'm not seeing here? It seems crazy that you need *SO* much space on the device to copy from it.

iPhone 5, iOS 6

Posted on Jul 25, 2015 1:36 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jul 25, 2015 3:27 AM in response to Drunlade

Have you tried resetting your iPhone? Do so by simultaneously pressing and holding the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons until you see the Apple Logo. This can take up to 15 seconds so be patient and don't release the buttons until the logo appears.

Try again to see if the problem persists.

Reply

Answer 2

Drunlade Author

Level 1

105 points

Jul 26, 2015 3:16 AM in response to Alfred DeRose

You have, in fact, suggested "Have you tried turning it off and on again" 😝

For the sake of making sure, I did exactly that, and no, it didn't help. I'm pretty sure its an issue with how transfers are done but I just don't get why, seems terrible implementation.

Reply

Answer 3

Jul 26, 2015 5:50 AM in response to Drunlade

Actually, no, I haven't. A restart and a reset are two very different things. Did you follow my instructions or did you simply restart the device?

Reply

Answer 4

Drunlade Author

Level 1

105 points

Aug 3, 2015 2:07 AM in response to Alfred DeRose

I did exactly as you suggested, just to make sure.

The difference between a restart and a reset is if the device keeps track of its current state exactly or not - basically graceful restart vs not. Possibly more too it but that's the gist.

The behaviour is pretty exact, it does not come across as some obscure "bug". It uses almost exactly as much space as the app takes up in additional storage when backing apps up, no matter the app size.

Reply

Answer 5

Aug 11, 2015 6:56 AM in response to Drunlade

I also have the similar issue. I can transfer the podcasts but not apps.

Reply

Answer 6

DaveM@

Level 1

0 points

Dec 1, 2015 9:39 AM in response to August Sun

This is a very old Apple problem, as such I sadly don't have a fix for you other than to delete some of the larger Apps you have to give yourself the free space need to transfer everything else. Apple seems to take all purchases and cache them in the free space on device which doesn't make sense to an end user. There's probably some programming sense being made there but it's not user friendly in the least. I can't even update my OS to the latest as my 1.1 gig of space isn't enough. Do watch your Usage section as Apple has been sneaking the OS update download onto my device even though I have auto-updates etc. turned off. On my iPhone it will use cellular data to do so, again all wifi assist and auto download/updates are off. Apple just ignores it. I was 2GB over my data usage last month on my cell phone. Guess what? Apple download 9.1 to my device twice (1.1 gb of data). Thanks Apple.

Reply