Why does the system use more than a half of my storage?

I had this problem in my 16GB ipad. The entire 16GB was used up by the OS. I did a full reset and installed the latest IOS which was 11.4. All is good now and the ios is only using 4.81GB currently although I have noticed it climbing slowly. It really wasn't that hard to do the reset and only took a few minutes to get all my apps and photos back on the device. I didn't do a restore of a backup because I wasn't sure if that would bring the problem with it.

Here's a link to a support page that was helpful.

Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to factory settings - Apple Support

Good luck!

That’s crazy. Have you backed up your iPhone to a computer, done a hard reset to factory settings/ completely wipe all data and then put the backup back on the phone? That’d be my first port of call.

One quick fix I that worked for me (Iphone 5s) was completely deleting the podcast app. My system storage went from 7.88 GB to 4.2 GB, and curiously enough, I also cleared 7 GB of space. I was subscribed to multiple podcasts but not once did the storage page in settings tell me that the library was taking up so much space!

My phone storage screen looked very similar to "natarave"'s before I deleted the podcasts app.

I think Apple does not communicate well on how ICloud storage affects media usage. For example, when the Iphone Storage page calculates my photo memory, it will alternate between 180 MB and 3.5 GB used.

I am honestly disappointed that an issue so detrimental to user experience is so poorly addressed. Sometimes I can't take photos or download books when I want.

Good luck, Senior Ghiradelli

ON my end, using an iPHone 6S plus 16 gig. I was able to fix the issue when made an iCloud back up then I wiped out the phone and restored the icloud back up. It works and now I got 7 gig available extra.

I read on other forums that Go to Settings --> iCloud --> iTunes and App store --> Apple id --> Sign out and Sign back in. This shall help to some extent

7-8 gigs of system storage is considered normal, if you have a device with "system" showing over 10 gigs, youll need to call apple support, and we'll have to escalate the call to a senior advisor.

I also have this problem. I have done everything recommended to optimize space. I have removed most photos. It's the System files that are eating half the space. Somewhere it was recommended to try a backup and restore via iTunes, but I'm unable to complete the restore because it says I don't have enough space on my MacBook. Similarly, on the MacBook, the System files are eating almost 340 gig of my 500. I've cleaned up everything I can think of... Something is not right here. The problem on the MacBook side is bigger and creating more roadblocks to production, but really they seem like the same thing on a different scale. What's up with this, Apple?

I have the same issue with you before, I used my mac for video editing and animation and many junk files taking my storage. I found a good apps that removed all my junk and I got 139 GB free after removing all that junks :') try using dr. cleaner, it is free and there is paid version aswell. it might help you >.>

Hello Becky,

I have the exact same problem and it seems that the more space I manage to free up, that space is filled within minutes with more Systems Data. Since Iphone is supposed to automaticaly remove files to free up space, how is that possible???

I have the same issue 16 g and half is the grey other and the analytical data is horrible my phone is really slow I have had enough and ready to give Iphone the toss.

imperiously over it being ripped off

Well I have this issue on a 256gb iPhone X. So that’s not the issue it’s just bad programming in how to display what system is made up of.

Come on Apple fix us a way to see what system is made up from!!!

As you can see below I also have this problem with my bankbook, and frankly it is ridiculous.... 119GB taken up by system??? Common Apple, This is very disappointing for loyal customers.

I got exactly the same issue. 47.3GB of space eaten up by system and the phone is running out of storage and hanging. Did you get any resolution to this, please share

I have the same issue and my phone is painstakingly slow. I’m this close to switch to Samsung or whatever’s out there.

Apple team please help.. why are you silent. I am also having same problem