iCloud full? Can't figure out what's eating space? Have a look here.

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Level 1

12 points

iCloud full? Can't figure out what's eating space? Have a look here.

This post isn't a question, it's a piece of knowledge I'd like to share with others who have the same problem as I had.

If your iCloud is closing in on it's limit and you can't figure out what's eating disk space, this is a tip for you: iMessage/SMS/MMS attachments could be the culprit.

I've asked twice in this forum what could it be that's eating space, but no one has pointed me to the source of the problem. Today I found it, iMessage attachments. I've deleted images and videos for the past hour, which was basically duplicates of files I already saved to external drives. No need for those attachments to be clogging up my iCloud at the expense of new photos I take.

Here's how to do it:

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2016/01/26/how-to-bulk-delete-attachments-from-the- ios-messages-app/

iCloud doesn't really give you any hints as to what it is taking up space when it's iMessage attachments, so if you're like me and not interested in buying more iCloud space - check it out.

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 10.3.3

Posted on May 16, 2018 1:54 AM

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Answer 1

munkavle Author

Level 1

12 points

May 16, 2018 8:59 AM in response to gail from maine

”So, clearing out your messages and especially any video or photo attachments will reduce the amount of memory that is being taken up on your iOS device.”

That’s correct. By deleting attachments to imessages I freed about 3.5Gb of disk space on my iPhone.

”But it has no affect on iCloud storage at this time.”

That’s incorrect. Since iMessage/sms/mms are included by default in the iCloud backup, it affects iCloud storage. Like the case was for me.

After cleaning old attachments - a tedious task - I now have 3.2 Gb free in iCloud.

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Answer 2

May 16, 2018 8:39 AM in response to munkavle

Just a minor correction. iCloud does not currently store messages at all. They are stored on your iOS device only (which is why the only way you can get them back is by restoring to an iOS backup that was done before the messages were deleted).

So, clearing out your messages and especially any video or photo attachments will reduce the amount of memory that is being taken up on your iOS device. But it has no affect on iCloud storage at this time.

Best,

GB

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Answer 3

May 16, 2018 7:55 PM in response to munkavle

The only way you would have freed up iCloud space by deleting your message information would be to also have deleted those backups that had that data backed up. So, if you are indicating that you deleted the old backups, then correct, that would do free up iCloud storage.

But unless you are running Beta software, simply deleting that data on your iOS device, would have no direct affect on your iCloud Storage. Messages are only stored in iCloud as a part of your iOS backups.

Best,

GB

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iCloud full? Can't figure out what's eating space? Have a look here.

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