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"Other" Space Huge in iPhone 6 - 16 Gb

I am old iPhone user (the first one was a 3G) and have always been restrained in numbers of applications, so I opted for the iPhone 6 16GB, capacity already used in the previous one, an iPhone 4S. The big problem is that since the purchase, often when it is in the wi-fi and in the outlet, I see the free space continually plummet, to effectively zero, with more than 7GB in "Other" category. So, It's impossible to update applications, take photos etc.

The situation can only be solved with a backup in iTunes, full erase and restore from backup. It is ok for some time, maybe a week ou two and then again ... apparently is an iCloud backup being done but never finished but even with the backup turned off, the situation repeats. Maybe it could be some account or iCloud inconsistency...

This month I have already restored my iPhone 4 times. To avoid or at least postpone the problem every time that I plug it in the outlet, I turn wi-fi off. I have another problem: My iCloud Drive documents do not show at iCloud Drive app in iPhone, only in my computers (MacBook Pro and Mac Mini), issue already known by Apple and never solved.

Some points: use iCloud Drive intensely (today are 150 GB of data), use the iCloud Photos (90 GB library) and a few non-native applications (bank app, Twitter, FB, Whatsapp, Nubank, TelecinePlay ...) none strange or very specific that could be causing the problem. I've done the factory reset and set up as new.

Someone is in a similar situation? I appreciate the comments!

iPhone 6, iOS 9.2.1, 16 Gb

Posted on Feb 5, 2016 12:20 PM

27 replies

Feb 12, 2016 3:48 PM in response to gregory202

Gregory, thank you for all your help and time. I'll wait to see if another explanation or solution shows up. The link posted by Drew points to other directions and some people are with the same problem:

"swvanderlaanDec 18, 2015 4:48 AM Re: iPhone storage in iOS 9.2
in response to Daksh48

II've been resetting as well. The upcoming reset would be the fifth. I don't get it. Yesterday I reset, it has 4.9Gb left, work all day, go to sleep: this morning 0 bytes left. Seriously? Where's the real solution?

Apple Music: I don't have that.

iTunes Match: I turned off.

Music: I put less than 1 Gb on.

Apps: the biggest is Whatsapp.

iCloud Photos: that's on "optimize".

I really don't get it."

Feb 13, 2016 4:04 AM in response to Carlos Gabriel Arpini

What is other? why it is OTHER and nothing else is the answer to your question and confirmation of what I told you?

Feb 17, 2016 4:10 AM in response to Carlos Gabriel Arpini

Another clue, what is the file extension?

Feb 17, 2016 7:01 AM in response to gregory202

Actually is not possible to see files storage under "Other" label at iPhone since the system itself manages it. I can only see how much data I have in each category. And "Other" only shows up when the iPhone is plugged in iTunes as show below:

Feb 18, 2016 4:37 AM in response to Carlos Gabriel Arpini

Carlos Gabriel Arpini wrote:

system itself manages it

You getting it, so what is the file extension? and you will get there.

Feb 18, 2016 6:58 AM in response to gregory202

Since I'm not putting it manually in iPhone, how can I see the file extension? There's no Finder or File Manager to see the files and sizes.

Feb 18, 2016 9:10 AM in response to Carlos Gabriel Arpini

Carlos Gabriel Arpini wrote:

Since I'm not putting it manually in iPhone, how can I see the file extension? There's no Finder or File Manager to see the files and sizes.

it does not matter what you see, it matters what IOS can or can not see. IOS is deciding if it is applications, photos, or files that are too large to download completely so file extension is never recognized. So when you phone starts talking to icloud and downloading all the stuff that you told me before does not sync, but your phone does not agree with you and it connects to cloud and downloads stuff back, by the time it is overfilled it can't recognize files anymore.

Hence you phone is too small for your cloud. Other is files that operating system never recognizes as any particular type.

Feb 19, 2016 4:40 AM in response to gregory202

Then, if Apple sells 1 TB iCloud plans, it should not be used with an iPhone? We don't have 1 Tb iPhones...

Why, with the same amount of data, could I work perfectly with DropBox, only downloading files that I want to use?

Feb 19, 2016 5:56 PM in response to Carlos Gabriel Arpini

Carlos Gabriel Arpini wrote:

Then, if Apple sells 1 TB iCloud plans, it should not be used with an iPhone? We don't have 1 Tb iPhones...

Why, with the same amount of data, could I work perfectly with DropBox, only downloading files that I want to use?

Are you asking me what right does Apple have to sell up to 1 terabyte plans to people, if you personally do not want to buy larger iPhone while a lot of people do? or are you asking me why icloud works different from Dropbox, cause you feel that they should work the same way and if they don't it is just plain wrong?

Both of those answers would contradict terms of service of that forum to avoid speculations on why Apple does things the way it does.

Feb 20, 2016 1:22 PM in response to gregory202

No, my question is not philosophic or financial. Is technical, actually: if you buys 1 TB iCloud plan and uses half of it, can you have iCloud Drive enabled on iPhone? Simple like that. Remember that the maximum amount of data supported on an iPhone is 128 GB.

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Feb 20, 2016 1:54 PM in response to Carlos Gabriel Arpini

Carlos Gabriel Arpini wrote:

No, my question is not philosophic or financial. Is technical, actually: if you buys 1 TB iCloud plan and uses half of it, can you have iCloud Drive enabled on iPhone? Simple like that. Remember that the maximum amount of data supported on an iPhone is 128 GB.

It could be useful for someone who owns multiple Macs with multi terabyte HD's. It seems like an extreme case, but there could easily be a few users with that setup considering the numbers that Macs sell (around 20 million last year).

Not everyone has the same needs as you. iCloud is so limiting that it does not fit your needs. Other services are available (and are more flexible).

Feb 21, 2016 4:22 AM in response to Carlos Gabriel Arpini

Carlos Gabriel Arpini wrote:

No, my question is not philosophic or financial. Is technical, actually: if you buys 1 TB iCloud plan and uses half of it, can you have iCloud Drive enabled on iPhone? Simple like that. Remember that the maximum amount of data supported on an iPhone is 128 GB.

You now jumping to completely different conclusion then before and presuming that amount of storage in icloud has to be equal to the phone and you are incorrect - 64 gigs iphone most likely could handle your situation. 16 however can't. Some of the files like you said before, have to be physically pulled out from icloud, you just need enough to allow those that sync to sync and then allow some more for those you want to download. Obviously you can overfill anything you put your mind to, but 16 gigs phone is just too easy to overfill nowadays. Plus as technical questions buying 1 TB of storage is very rare and very specific to use.

I would also respectfully disagree that icloud is not for you, other services when researched also may fail your original expectations and that is how we learn.

Icloud is very much for everyone as well as may be a bigger iphone next time for you.

"Other" Space Huge in iPhone 6 - 16 Gb