iPhone System taking up storage space

I had this issue and found it was media within the GoPro app.

I deleted the gopro media from within the app and my system size returned to normal.

Because the media is not in the camera roll/photos app the iPhone sees it as system usage.

This could be similar for other audio/video apps, so check them first before doing anything crazy like a restore.

Hope this helps some people.

WhatsApp itself is under 100 MB. So you have 2.8 GB of messages and related content such as images, videos or whatever. And you bought the cheapest possible iPhone with practically no useful storage beyond the basic built in functions. Your 10 GB of System includes all of your texts and their attachments. There is a reason Apple sells phones with more storage. Some people have needs that exceed the minimum configuration. Your solution is to either buy a phone with greater capacity or delete most of your content, meaning most of your WhatsApp threads and most of your text threads.

Just turn off iCloud drive in you settings!!!

Just turn off iCloud drive in you settings!

I told you what the problem is. There is nothing further anyone can do. You must delete your thousands of messages if you want to recover the data in the System category that is stuff you put there.

Sometimes, deleting old back-ups and deleting photo or image attachments will clear space on iPhone.

Who told you System is taking too much storage? It’s not.

Best way to clear unnecessary files from Other is to Restore your phone, but when you updated it to iOS 11, you already did that, so there’s little benefit to doing it again.

How to free up storage on iOS devices

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203097

I am also still having this problem in iOS 12.1.1. On my iPhone 6S I have 7.5 of 16 GB filled with "System" data.

I've tried: a hard reset, backing up with iTunes, leaving it connected to iTunes for a while, a factory reset and backup from iTunes (this got back some space, < 1 GB), and deleting as many apps and data files as possible (which is not related to the issue of course).

Apple Associates on this forum, in store, and on the phone have said that this is how it should function, that 4-8GB of System files is normal, or that I should buy a new phone (of course).

There are 2 options I haven't tried: resetting and setting it up as a new iPhone (because this would require deleting all app data and not restoring it, with the exception of things stored in iCloud) and erasing the device to recovery mode (how-to recently published here). I'll give the recovery mode a try and see what happens, was hoping to find a better answer here though.

So I had this problem on my Iphone 6 - too much space taken up by Other.

I did take it to the Genuis Bar. They suggested backup, factory reset, restore from backup -- I did that twice (I used Itunes, not Icloud), with no effect / improvement.

I now have an Iphone XS with 256GB storage, less than 1.5 months old. It shows the same issue --right now its 50.7GB of System Usage (iphone) or 31GB (per Itunes).

And yes, I have tried all the steps suggested here as well as by members of the Genuis Bar on the new phone as well -- it does not work.

So its obvious, this is not a hardware issue - new iphone XS (plus a factory reset on the old iphone 6 cleared the problem on the old phone).

It certainly appears like this is a software problem -- and none of the suggested solutions fix it for me (and I am presuming for the many other posters on this thread).

Should I assume all of this is due to software corruption -- that is getting transferred from phone to phone via backup restore ?

And the only way to fix this is to do a factory restore without restore -- which means I lose a significant amount of content ?

Any thoughts ?

My iPhone 6S has 64gb of storage and 39gb is in use by "other" files. I have updated to latest version of iOS (11.2), I have synced it with my iTunes... I have done backup and restored it but so far nothing has helped me to reclaim that amount of storage. I've been reading and searching all over the web about system files, log files, diagnostics and many more... I've disabled almost everything in the phone and still it's using 60% (39gb) of the storage which is absurd even if you consider logs and so on.

From what I can gather, the bug is in including Other under System. If that’s the case, a Restore should be able to clear a large part of Other storage (streamed music and videos, temp. files, etc). In any case, report the bug to Apple.

Restart: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201559

Restore: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204184

The more people report the bug, the better chances of Apple addressing it.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

I have a brand new iPhone X 64gb...FIVE to be exact...and guess how much system storage is taking up...when I ripped the SIM card out and put it back in my 7...it was at 60gb of system storage.

THIS IS NOT OKAY APPLE!!! I have wiped the phone and replaced the phone and let Apple into my phone to do screen grabs and still no different only worse.

I don’t have what’s app or anything else this time because I give up on trusting that phone is going to work.

Someone help!

What am I supposed to do... I have an iPhone 6 SE with 16GB of storage, I'm still running IOS 11.4.1 I think, I really don't know the version, but really, this is an exaggeration, I can't really download anything, and I will say it in spanish... ESTO ES UN DESCARO POR PARTE DE APPLE. My system occupies 10.72 GB from my storage, and the only (literally) the only app that I have is whatsapp which occupies 2.88 GB from my memory, I already deleted pictures, videos, documents, caches, etc. I DON'T EVEN HAVE INSTAGRAM. I am really mad at apple, and disappointed. Please if someone can help me...

Thank you

I did completely reset the iPad and it's still taking huge amounts of GB, just because drugs are acceptable it doesn't mean it wont hurt your brain Apple! Seriously, there have been lots of complaints. I did what you recommended and it was a joke and waste of time.

it's a bug. my 32 GB phone is showing 13GB used by System Storage. 5GB used by my Photos library. But then sometimes my Photos library will double in size to 10GB and System Storage will shrink to about 7GB. I've been deleting lots of apps but that just causes System Storage to increase. If you read this forum, you'll see plenty with the same problem.