iPhone System taking up storage space

If "Other" is large (>500 MB) it means there is data corruption in your phone's storage. Most often this is caused by an interrupted iTunes sync or a sync that did not complete. The solution that usually works is to restore iOS from a backup using iTunes: Restore your iOS device from a backup - Apple Support

fazillatheef wrote:

Go below in storage you can see system storage. I think it is another Apple trick to buy iCloud subscription.

Total, utter nonsense. Buying additional iCloud storage will have no effect on the use of storage on your phone. If you add a terabyte to iCloud and look at the same image that you posted it will look exactly the same.

Further, System and Other are not the same thing.

If you want to fix the problem instead of posting nonsense conspiracy theories just restore your phone from a backup using iTunes: Restore your iOS device from a backup - Apple Support

Do you have an Apple Music subscription? Saved Apple Music is included in System data. If you don't your phone has data corruption. Restore to factory settings, then restore your backup:

Restore your iOS device to factory settings - Apple Support

Restore your iOS device from a backup - Apple Support

If the question is to Apple this is the wrong place, as Apple does not read or participate in this user-to-user forum. To contact Apple use the Contact Support link at the top of this page.

What they will tell you to do is to restore iOS from a backup using iTunes or iCloud: Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support

And if that doesn't fix it (it probably will) restore again and set it up as a new phone: Restore your iOS device from a backup - Apple Support.

One of these will almost certainly fix it. But you can always Contact Support and be told the same thing. If neither fixes it your phone has a hardware problem, and Apple will tell you to make a Genius Bar appointment: Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

For the person who’s system is taking up 77.4 GB, try and test these steps:

Restore from an iCloud Backup

iCloud: Restore or set up iOS devices from an iCloud backup

Restore as new

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

For the discussion starter, who told you that that was a lot of space taken up by system? That’s below average for system.

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.

It probably is not a problem of any kind. Other includes system software and settings, plus the data from all of the built in apps. That means all iCloud email messages, all text threads, all calendar entries, all notes, all reminders, all bookmarks, All cached news stories, Stock data, Weather data, Health data (this can be huge), Wallet data, Game Center, Siri settings, your Keychain, the cache of all open Safari pages, and any attachments to any of these. It also includes the storage map, whose size is proportional to the capacity of the phone.

Make a backup and restore the phone as New without logging in to your Apple ID. Check the size of Other. This is the space taken by iOS. Then restore your backup. The difference in the size of Other is the size of all of your data for the built in apps. See this for a more detailed explanation-->What is "Other" and What Can I Do About I… - Apple Community

The point is that after restoring to a backup whatever is in Other is real data that belongs to you.

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 that and worked perfectly. I had 6 Gb of free space on my iPhone 7 32 Gb as the iOS system files were taking a whopping 15.2 Gb of space.

After erasing the whole thing and restoring to the last backup I now have 20 Gb of free space. System is down to 6 Gb.

Trying doing that to my iPad and the iOS space didn't change much... It went from 10 Gb to 8 Gb.

this is not true in all case.. I have 3 iphones.. when we restore 1 phone is showing 1.5gb another phone 4gb another one 5.5gb.. apple ios is not consistent.. apple need to fix this issue.. also apple is adding system storage when picture and songs are added.. not sure why system storage is going up for these 2 mainly..

The "Other Files" are the iOS system files. I guess the iOS has a bug that doesn't delete the previous versions files and it keeps "hoarding" it on the phone memory. What I would advise you to do is back up to iCloud and then erase all content and settings to factory settings. Then you set it as a "new iPhone" and after all done, you go to settings and check the space. The system files (Other Files) are likely to be reduced to somewhere around 5 Gb. Then you reset to factory settings again and restore your backup.

It worked for me. My "Other Files" was reduced in size from 15.2 Gb to 6.2 Gb..

I called support today and she indicated that she would be submitting a ticket for this issue. My phone was showing System 56GB!!!! I was on the phone and on that screen for a while and the info changed while on the screen to read 7GB system and the rest was actually Photos. So since the update presumably my storage has been growing daily and it’s my Photos that’s growing when it should not be. I have removed at least 10GB of stuff off of it and it keeps growing! I am hoping they fix this soon because it seems to be affecting a lot of people.

I'm having the same issue. IOS System taking 17.1gb on my 32gb iPhone 7. Problem started when I upgraded to IOS11. Looks like a bug. I'd like to see an official answer from Apple on this. Not sure why it would take so long for a reply?!?!

I think my problem (and maybe the same is true for others) was that my Optimize Photos was no longer worker. My entire 43 GB of Photos was on my phone instead of the Optimize option (which was turned on but apparently not functioning since an iOS 11 update). I now have only 7 GB of Photos on my phone and my free space went from 1GB to 40 GB free. I am annoyed that Apple seems to be very buggy lately.

So after the third time of resetting my iPhone 7s in less than 24 hours, I’ve managed to get the “other” storage down to only 7gb. Why does iOS 11 take up so much space, seemed earlier versions were smaller... I’d like an actual solution other than resetting the phone every time I run out of space. Apple’s about to lose another lifetime customer...