iOS low storage issues

Hello Jeff,

You are not alone! This is a very common problem and I wish I had a better answer to give you. Sadly, in what you have mentioned will work everytime. It simply amazes me that I have nothing left. Do a restore and I'm back to having over 7GB free. Nothing has changed at all. I have tried clearin various cache and such. For most of the times it would give me back some space but never more than a few MB. I have decided it is a combination of a few things. For one I have noticed some apps will swell up in size the longer you use it. Yes, I even went in to the Usages and find that app and there is nothing to clear but the darn app as somehow swelled up. For example, I had an app that is like 60MB in the original state. Some months later it reports of being 350MB in size. It just tells me that the app is not clearing its cache when I am done with it or if it for some functionality that is required for you. The other that I find is that Apple can use a lot of space as well that is not reported anywhere and there is no way to clear it. For example, look in to the Diagnostics with in the Privacy section. You will find log files that are huge in size. I will have various logs that can be in the 200 - 300 MB in size. This is suppose to be sent to Apple for when an error has occured on your devices and such to help them out to resolve bugs and such. I have yet to figure out how to clear that out. At some point when it does get sent out it will remove itself. However, I have more problems with this with any 16GB models. On my 128GB models I can see it losing space and then clear itself up more frequently. So this topic and the reasoning for this problem is illusive at best. I'm sure there are other factors that is going on that we can't see in the Usages section at all. Very puzzling and like you. I have never been able to figure this out or come up with a solution besides doing a restore. Trust me people will tell you to clear all of your cache, messages, photos, and even download an app that can clear some cache but in the end. It doesn't help.

Hopefully, somebody else has a better answer for you and better yet a solution for the both of us. ;)

Good luck!

Hi. Got a couple ideas for ya. I have heard that the Facebook iOS app has this nasty thing where it takes up a lot of space and the more you use it the more it seems to cache things. You can delete and re-install the app, but the only bummer is that the problem may continue. Then again it may not. But you can give that a try. Also, there's an app I've been using called Memory and Disc Scanner Pro. it's a bit of a challenge to use once you first see it, but VoiceOver reads everything it should. You can set it up so the app scans your memory, cpu and the disc. It will scan, and after the scan is ccomplete, you will eventually see a button labeled one click. Double tapping this will reveal a part of the screen where the app reports a certain amount of junk files on the disc. I've sometimes seen over 300 mb, but that was only one time, because I had just deleted some audible and bard books. So right next to that information, you will find a close button. Double-tapping on this close button will delete the unnecessary files. So, you might give that app a try as well. I hope this helps somewhat!

Good point Toon Head. Yes, deleting Facebook every so often is a good and viable solution on the smaller device if you use it on a regular basis. Like Jeff I don't use Facebook either. However, there are other apps that are like Facebook where it will swell up in size that will need of a removal and then reinstalling it again. Yes, the Cleaner you mentioned does work but it only does so much. Especially when you get in to the last Gig of space. Eventually I will get back to where I was and have to do a restore again. Like Jeff I also will gain back like 6 - 8 GB in space. Although, the cleaner will help slow it down a bit.

Ok. I have an idea. I heard about this happening recently on a radio show.

There's this place that gets filled up & it's not with apps or anything like that. It's a cache with a bunch of temp files. Unfortunately, there's only one way to clean it out. But it's a good idea to do it every once in a while.

Here's how to cleanse the temp files:

Plug your de<ice into itunes, & DO A BACKUP!! Tthis is the most important part, so please do this first so you can replace your data!
Then go into itunes, & do a full reset of the divice. I''m sorry to say this, but this is the only way to do it. Then once that's done, you can put your data back & the cache of temp files is cleared from your system! Like I said, it's good to do this every once a while.

I've had this iisue on an ipad mini 4. I always go in periodically & check my apps & data to make sure nothing's gejting too bloated. Of course, if you're like me & listen to podcasts & audio books/magazines from BARD. mobile, then make sure you clear the ones you've read. That goes for podcasts too! I do this with my Kindle even though the files are smalber than audio files.

We didn't get all of that last thing, try er again? We got as far as plug your de....and that was it.

I have also experienced this problem. In my case, the problem was the default news app. Once I stopped using this and reverted back to BBC News app, the problem went away. The Apple News app also kept changing my voiceover voice as well but again, this is no longer happening since I have stopped using the default News app. It does seem as though some apps are simply not cacheing properly. This became more apparent when moving from iOS 9 to iOS 10.

Can someone detail the full ´process of deleting and restoring? As far as how to do a backup UI am confortable butt how to delete everything and restore from that I am not sure plus the info that sighted assistance would be neededed is something important. A guide would be very apreciated.

I've only done a complete restore of my iPhone once a long time ago. You don't need sighted assistance if you use iTunes to do the complete restore. You just click on the restore as new device or something like that and let iTunes do the rest.

What you are seeing is the other category takign up space. Apple and other operating systems are not good at freeing up space. You migh twant to do this every once in a while. Iv'e freed almost 20 gigs restoring one time.

As I've said many times before, it's a good idea to do a clean install on any of your computers. Good times to do this include when new major releases come out and when you experience these storage issues. i'm guessing that temp files are accumulating and taking up storage. Since iOS is so locked down, the only way I know of to get rid of this is to perform a fresh install of the OS using the iTunes restore option. When it restores, set it up as if it was new and configure all your apps from scratch. It may be more work, but I'd say it's worth it in the long run. I personally haven't experienced this issue, but my use case could be different. I don't perform upgrades from one major version to the next because I've encountered weird problems. I am using a 16 GB iPhone 5S and have about 6 GB free. I don't store music or books on my phone because I can't stand using iTunes to sync and manage my device. The only reason iTunes stays around is because it's built into the Mac operating system and it's useful for restoring my phone.

My experiences on a 5s with 16GB has been lately frustrating at best! thus your comments will surely be of help! but I'm curious as to when you mentioned the restoring the phone, do you mean via ICloud backup, or ITunes? Also there's an app I've been using for several months whose link is https://itunes.apple.com/bo/app/limpiador-m%C3%A1gico/id1176756975?mt=8 that's kind of like the CCleaner concept on Windows, that allows you to clean junk and other trash on the phone. Good luck! and thanks for enriching with more ideas on the subject.