This situation should sound familiar to you: you try to install the latest version of iOS 15, backup and upgrade to a new iPhone, or download a great app, and your iPhone says the storage is full. You turn to storage management and there is a problem with other storage or system data. Do you know what it is and how to erase it?
Storage management
Your first reaction is probably to remove any apps you think you don’t need. Yet there is Again not enough space. So you are looking at the storage of your iPhone in the Settings > General and, of course, your iPhone is full. Worst of all, a huge part of it is simply listed as Data system. What does it mean? How do you get rid of it?
The other storage section is mysterious and confusing, this name recently changed to System Data (before it was Other). There is no one answer that works for everyone, but we hope this guide helps you solve this problem.
To see how much storage all your apps and data are taking up on your iPhone storage:
- open the app Settings ;
- select General > IPhone storage.
At the top, you’ll see a bar graph showing your iPhone’s total storage and the types of data filling it. Under that, you’ll find a list of apps on your phone and how much space they take up, both for the app itself and its stored data.
It may take several seconds for your iPhone to display the graph as it takes time to analyze and analyze its storage. Even after the graph appears, you will have to wait several more seconds for it to stabilize, as the list of apps and storage sizes may change while your phone completes its scan.
What is “System Data” storage, anyway?
Your iPhone’s storage menu will divide this bar into familiar categories like Apps, Media, Photos, and Mail, but also another category which is sometimes very big. With iOS 15, you will only see the legend of the 3 biggest categories. It’s common for others to be in the 5-10GB range, but if it’s well over 10GB, it’s probably got out of hand. You can scroll to the bottom of the apps list to see how much space “System” and “Other” are taking up.
The other category is large and varied, because it is a true catch-all category. It includes system files, caches, Siri voices (if you’ve downloaded other voices), logs, updates, and more. One of the biggest culprits of unchecked growth is streaming a lot of music and videos. When you download videos or music from the iTunes Store, TV app, or Music app, it is indexed as Media. But streams use caches to ensure smooth playback, and those are categorized as Other or System Data.
Safari caches may also start to grow. And if you send tons of texts with images or videos, the caches for that can start to fill up a lot of space.
Your iPhone is supposed to manage these caches to keep your storage from getting completely full, but it doesn’t always do a great job.
You cannot get rid of System Data completely, but sometimes you can reduce its size.
Safari caches
First, let’s try to clear your Safari caches:
- open Settings > Safari ;
- go down and choose Clear history, site data ;
- if you have a lot of tabs open in Safari, you can also close all or some of them.
The messages
You can also edit the messages to save fewer old messages:
- open them Settings > Messages ;
- scroll to section Message history and press Keep messages ;
- by default, it is Indefinitely which is selected, but you might want to change it to 1 an or even 30 days to reduce data cached by the Messages app.
Application management
You’ve probably already removed some apps from the Home screen, but there is more you can do. It’s not complicated, but it’s long and tedious:
- go Settings > General > IPhone storage ;
- follow, or not, the section Recomendations pressing Activate for the Unused apps and with Review the videos downloaded ;
- select an application from the list of installed applications and choose Download the app Where Delete the app.
Finally, go back to iPhone storage and look at the list of apps. Most apps store data classified as apps, but some will keep caches classified like others. If, for example, the podcast app takes up a few gigabytes of space, it’s probably mostly cached data. Removing the app and re-downloading it could put a dent in the other category.
The radical option: backup and reset with iTunes
You can go through your iPhone trying to remove every little cache that might increase the size of other storage, but if you really want to make it as small as possible, you need to back up your phone and reset it. It may take a little while, but much less tedious than the last proposition.
The best way to do this is to use iTunes or the Finder depending on your computer:
- connect your iPhone to your computer;
- launch iTunes / Finder;
Note : You may be prompted to allow access on your iPhone and need to enter your passcode, which you should do.
- select your iPhone and stay in the 1st tab (Summary or General);
- in the section Backups, choose Back up all your iPhone data to this Mac ;
- Preferences, check Encrypt local backup, so that your account passwords and health data are also backed up. Just choose a password that you won’t forget;
- click the button to Save now ;
When the backup is complete, disconnect your iPhone, and:
- go to Settings > General ;
- select Transfer or reset iPhone ;
- press Delete content and settings ;
- Press on To continue and follow the instructions.
This will return your iPhone to a ready-to-use state. When it restarts and is in the initial setup process, reconnect it to your computer with iTunes or Finder open and follow the onscreen instructions to restore your device from a backup.
It is not the easiest or fastest way, but it is the most effective way to reduce System Data storage size. There is simply no way to get it smaller than it will be after a new reset and restore.
–
