hedapa
Level 1 (8 points)
iPhone

Q: iPhone 6 Storage Issues

I have been battling clearing up space on my iPhone 6 (with only 11.8gb usable storage) for over a month. I'm trying to clear space to run iOS updates. Initially, I was trying to install the security patch issued a few weeks ago, but now I also need to update to 10. I have uninstalled/deleted apps, sent videos and photos from my phone to my email (so I could delete them), cleared my recently deleted photos folder, and even last night finally made the attempt to sign into iCloud.com on my macbook pro to download photos from iCloud so that I could delete them from my iPhone (which is a whole other issue: why can't a user have a "select all" button and instead has to go through and select each memory?). I had 2100 photos on my phone and 1094 in my iCloud account (I wasn't able to find where the issue is for the numbers not matching). After I went through and individually selected moments dating as far back as December 2014, it only actually downloaded 700 something photos of the 1094 I had told it to download. I then went through my download folder on my macbook pro and physically deleted the photos from my iPhone. It only cleared up 148mb of space. I restarted my phone and it moved up to 186mb. That was just before bed. When I woke up this morning, I checked again. It had went down to 173mb while I wasn't using my phone at all overnight (I also have all cellular data turned off aside from calendar, contacts, find iphone, mail (which only checks when I push it to do so manually), notes, phone, photos, safari, and settings.). Just checked it again five hours after checking this morning (and having been at work, so not on my phone), and it is now down to 142mb of available space. When I check the "Manage Storage" tab, it says that my Photos & Camera app is using 406 mb.

 

What is going on and how can I fix this?

 

I don't have internet access at home, so I'm limited to the rare events that I am somewhere with my phone and my laptop to try to deal with things. I can't run any of the updates because there isn't enough space to do so. I'm overly frustrated and completely out of ideas.

iPhone 6

Posted on Sep 16, 2016 10:34 AM

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hedapa

Q: iPhone 6 Storage Issues

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  • by irina_w,

    irina_w irina_w Sep 17, 2016 8:52 AM in response to hedapa
    Community Specialists
    Sep 17, 2016 8:52 AM in response to hedapa

    Thanks for joining Apple Support Communities, hedapa!

    Device storage is almost a sacred thing. I want to be able to use all the apps and services I can and, since there's so many, it makes it quite the juggling act. I'll be glad to help you reclaim some of that storage space on your iPhone 6.

    iCloud Photo Library -- Open that article and scroll down to the heading "Save space on your device". If you don't have "Optimize iPhone Storage" turned on, your iPhone is re-downloading the pictures from iCloud to your phone.

    Use iTunes to check the storage on your iOS device -- If you have iTunes installed on your computer, use it to check the storage being used on your iPhone.

    When you update any device wirelessly, the installation application is placed on the device temporarily. That's why you're warned that there isn't enough space available. IIf you're not able to update wirelessly, you can always connect the device to iTunes causing the installation app to be placed on the computer instead of the device. In either case, that app is deleted as soon as it's no longer required.

    How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch -- Whenever you're updating a device, it's always advisable to make a fresh backup. It's always better to "have" one than to "need" one.

    Update the iOS software on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch -- This article will help guide you through updating your iPhone using iTunes on a Mac or PC. Just scroll down to the heading "Update your device using iTunes" for direction.

     

    Take care!