xcwomac
Level 1 (39 points)
iPhone

Q: How do you fix perpetual iPhone storage problems?

I've had an iPhone (the same iPhone 5, 16 GB) for three years. For a long time I've dealt with storage issues, having to delete things to continue to have enough space, the phone claiming there's 0 MB of storage left, etc. It got to where I only kept a couple podcasts on there, very limited music, deleted all apps I wasn't regularly using, and then my main form of making space was deleting photos after I was sure they had transferred to Photos on my Mac and constantly keeping the Deleted Photos folder empty. It eventually got to the point where even this tactic wasn't keeping my storage free enough to where I wouldn't get that "Storage Almost Full" message on a regular basis, so I bought the bullet and purchased the $2.99 iCloud storage plan so that photos aren't stored locally on my phone but in the cloud. I thought that would take the problem away totally, forever, but it hasn't. The storage plan is more than enough to hold all my photos; that's not the problem. The phone still gives me the warning every so-often, and I have now removed all music and all podcasts. When I look at the breakdown of what's taking storage space on my phone, it claims that Photos & Camera is taking 3.5 GB of space. WHY!?!?!? It says the Photo Library is the entire 3.5 GB. In Settings, for Photos & Camera, I have iCloud Photo Library turned on, and I have the setting for Optimize iPhone Storage turned on. I do not have Download and Keep Originals turned on. I have Summarize Photos turned on. I have Keep Normal Photo turned off.

 

The whole point of purchasing the iCloud Photo Library plan was to make it so Photos & Camera would take the minimum possible amount of space on my phone, certainly not 3.5 GB. In the syncing settings from my computer, I have iCloud Photo Library turned on; I am not syncing any specific photos purposefully. I do not understand why it's taking so much space if it's supposed to be optimizing my iPhone storage space. It seems like it's trying to drive me crazy on purpose! HOW do I make it so Photos & Camera doesn't take more than 200 or 300 MB of space just for the app and maybe my most recent photos that are in the process of being synced???

 

In an indirectly-related issue, Messages is taking 2.7 GB of space. That and Photos are the two things taking by far the most space on my phone (the next most space-taking app is only taking 368 MB). I have my phone set to never delete old texts. I don't want to delete old conversations or old texts. Just because a text is a year old doesn't mean I want it to disappear forever. That is ridiculous. However what I think is the problem is that it's saving all the photos that I've ever received inside the Messages app. If I receive a photo I want to keep, I go ahead and save that photo, so it's pointless for Messages to save the photo. But it's the only reason I can come up with as to why Messages is taking so much space (I don't actually text all that much; I mostly use Hangouts). So, I wish there was a way to tell the Messages app to never delete old texts but to go ahead and purge photos sent, say, more than two weeks ago. Seems like that would be a very simple setting!

 

If anybody could help with these issues, I would be so grateful. It's really annoying to not be able to have any podcasts or music on my phone, not to mention to consistently get the "Storage Almost Full" message and try to figure out what I'm going to delete next. Right now it says only 142 MB Available :-/

iPhone 5, iOS 9.3.2

Posted on Jun 18, 2016 4:40 PM

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xcwomac

Q: How do you fix perpetual iPhone storage problems?

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  • by mdesignffm,

    mdesignffm mdesignffm Jun 18, 2016 5:00 PM in response to xcwomac
    Level 2 (306 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 18, 2016 5:00 PM in response to xcwomac

    1 - photos:

    icloud is a backup and transfer solution. it is not meant to save space on your phone in the first place.

    backup your photos in the photos app on your computer regularly. organize your photos, eg in albums. sync back to your phone only the photos or albums you need.

     

    2 - imessage:

    afaik there is no way to selectively store text but no photos.

     

    3 - memory:

    chances are you have a lot of data trash on your phone.

    first, connect your phone to your computer and backup your phone in itunes. make sure to check encrypted backup.

    disconnect your phone. reconnect. then restore your phone to this backup. doing so should get rid of unused data and recover memory space.

    restoring takes time. be patient.

  • by Rysz,

    Rysz Rysz Jun 18, 2016 4:49 PM in response to xcwomac
    Level 7 (20,996 points)
    iPad
    Jun 18, 2016 4:49 PM in response to xcwomac

    There is no such preference in Messages, but you can suggest it to Apple here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/

     

    As for your general storage issues, if you have not done so recently, perform a Restore from an encrypted backup in iTunes. This cleared old and unused app data, streamed videos, and other crud.

     

    Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support

  • by xcwomac,

    xcwomac xcwomac Jun 18, 2016 4:59 PM in response to mdesignffm
    Level 1 (39 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 18, 2016 4:59 PM in response to mdesignffm

    Thank you for trying to help!!!

     

    I actually just did a restore a little over two months ago which I was forced to do because my iPhone freaked out during an update and got stuck and wouldn't do anything. Unbeknownst to me, my phone hadn't backed-up to iTunes since September (a problem I now understand), so I did lose a lot of (thankfully relatively unimportant) things from September to March.

     

    For a while, probably a month, after the restore, my phone was much better. That was also the point at which I purchased the $2.99 monthly iCloud Photo Library storage plan. I was so happy, then the problems just creeped back in again. My phone was never keeping anywhere close to 3.5 GB of storage just for Photos & Camera before (or soon after the restore). If I have it optimized for iPhone storage, it makes no sense that Photos & Camera would be taking 3.5 GB of storage on the phone. I guess what I am trying to say is, your explanation that I have a lot of "data trash" on my phone doesn't seem to address, at all (to me with my limited understanding), the issue that there's 3.5 GB of storage is being taken up by Photos & Camera. I do not see how that could be connected. To me, it seems like 3.5 GB of storage being taken up by Photos & Camera, means that it's storing a bunch of photos locally on my phone when it should not be doing that.

  • by xcwomac,

    xcwomac xcwomac Jun 18, 2016 5:02 PM in response to Rysz
    Level 1 (39 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 18, 2016 5:02 PM in response to Rysz

    Thank you for the tip about reporting that suggestion to Apple. To me, it seems like a no-brainer!!! I had figured there's no such setting, since I hadn't seen it. I can't believe they wouldn't think to include a setting like that (and it seems SO simple).

     

    I did respond to the other commenter/helper about restoring, if you're curious to see my answer. Thank you!

  • by mdesignffm,

    mdesignffm mdesignffm Jun 18, 2016 5:03 PM in response to xcwomac
    Level 2 (306 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 18, 2016 5:03 PM in response to xcwomac

    please see my edited post.

  • by mdesignffm,

    mdesignffm mdesignffm Jun 18, 2016 5:10 PM in response to mdesignffm
    Level 2 (306 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 18, 2016 5:10 PM in response to mdesignffm

    another thing:

    your iphone stores your photos taken in the camera roll in full resolution (obviously).

    but when you store these on your computer and sync them back to your phone, there will only be lower res copies on your phone. this saves a lot of memory.

  • by xcwomac,

    xcwomac xcwomac Jun 18, 2016 5:12 PM in response to mdesignffm
    Level 1 (39 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 18, 2016 5:12 PM in response to mdesignffm

    It's funny you say iCloud Photo Backup is not meant to save space on your phone in the first place, since that's exactly how Apple promotes it and gets people to purchase it. I do not see a point to it other than being (ideally) a space-saver ;-)

     

    I do regularly backup my photos into the Photos app on my computer. I do not sync back to my phone ANY photos or albums.

     

    I will wait a few days and if nobody can give me a better answer/help as to why Photos & Camera is monopolizing 3.5 GB of storage and how to fix that, specifically, then I will try doing a restore again, even though I only did one two months ago. I think it's beyond ridiculous if Apple expects people to do a restore every two months just to keep their phone storage clear and usable. What a huge flaw, if that's true.

  • by mdesignffm,

    mdesignffm mdesignffm Jun 18, 2016 5:33 PM in response to xcwomac
    Level 2 (306 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 18, 2016 5:33 PM in response to xcwomac

    ok, i try again.

     

    obviously, you have a lot of fullsize photos on your phone. they are not supposed to be there.

     

    the procedure is: take photos on your phone. sync them to your computer, at the same time erase your camera roll on your phone. sync back lowres copies from your computer to your phone. this way, your phone can hold thousands of photos without needing too much space.

     

    icloud does NOT free you from doing so. you may store photos in icloud that you do not need permanently on your phone, but that you want to access from time to time. this is what apple refers to in their promotion. but this does not mean you should leave all the photos you have taken in your camera roll. the process is like unloading your shopping bag into your fridge before going out buying new stuff. you would not carry around everything you ever bought in your bag all the time, would you?

  • by xcwomac,

    xcwomac xcwomac Jun 18, 2016 6:14 PM in response to mdesignffm
    Level 1 (39 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 18, 2016 6:14 PM in response to mdesignffm

    Thank you for your continued advice! I will try doing what you said later tonight or tomorrow.

     

    I totally agree with your shopping analogy; I DO NOT have my settings anywhere on my phone or computer, or the actions I take to optimize the settings I chose, set to cause my phone to "leave all the photos [I] have taken in [my] camera roll." I purposely do things with my phone, computer, and iCloud storage to NOT do that, but yet still, Photos & Camera are monopolizing 3.5 GB of storage on my phone (just like you said: "they are not supposed to be there"). That is the whole reason I came and asked this question: because I knew that the storage being taken-up is not congruent with my settings and actions.

     

    I'll reply again once I follow your procedure!

  • by mdesignffm,

    mdesignffm mdesignffm Jun 19, 2016 2:47 AM in response to xcwomac
    Level 2 (306 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 19, 2016 2:47 AM in response to xcwomac

    in rereading my recent post, i find it not quite clear. sorry about that. please let me clarify:

     

    of course you can configure your icloud to store fullres photos in the icloud and lowres photos on your device. but still, you will have ALL of your photos on your device - and even in lowres they may take too much space. my library consists of 35.000+ photos, so even in lowres this would be roughly 15 GB of data, exceeding the storage capacity of a 16 GB iphone by far. it is even worse with videos.

     

    since keeping fullsize photos in icloud AND on your device is an option, too - please make sure you did check the lowres option in settings. please see here:

     

    iCloud Photo Library FAQ - Apple Support

     

    anyway - how many photos do you have on your phone? how many videos (and how long are these typically)?