Clearing down 'other' storage

dannyjo22 · 31 Oct 2013 at 12:59

I noticed my 16gb storage has almost 4gb of 'other' now. Anyone have any really useful apps or programs for cleaning that stuff up?

duffers20 · 3 Nov 2013 at 14:12

These instructions refer to iOS 6 but the relevant settings screens are almost identical in iOS 7 and should allow you see whats contributing to the 'Other' storage you see in iTunes. My guess is that the majority will be cached app data (covered in step 1 of the guide below):

http://osxdaily.com/2013/07/24/remove-other-data-storage-iphone-ipad/

Hope it helps

dannyjo22 · 3 Nov 2013 at 22:14

Thanks I will give that a try

dannyjo22 · 14 Jul 2014 at 12:39

A quick bump, I still can't get rid of other data on my devices

I have done all the steps above:

Removed and reinstalled apps that have large local data, there was only 1.
Removed and reinstalled Mail account
Deleted message threads
Back up reinstall
Clear Safari history

Yet I'm still at 3.5gb other data, Ipad is similar.

Short of a complete factory reset I'm at a loss how to reclaim that data. I really don't want to lose all my game saves etc. Is this something they would be able to fix at the store?

I'm still on ios but I guess I would have to upgrade before going.

ShortWarning · 14 Jul 2014 at 13:03

Are you sure that's not just the iOS install?

I haven't used an iPhone for a little while so can't remember if there is a separate section for the OS install.

dannyjo22 · 14 Jul 2014 at 13:47

No I don't think so isn't the IOS installed in the section where you don't get the full device memory. For instance a 32gb ipad might give 31 gig of useable space?

shine · 14 Jul 2014 at 14:48

To get rid of the space used by 'other' I back up my device, do a factory reset and restore from backup.

Over time the other space will creep backup and I do the above to clear it down again.

lamboman · 14 Jul 2014 at 17:48

shine said:
To get rid of the space used by 'other' I back up my device, do a factory reset and restore from backup.

Over time the other space will creep backup and I do the above to clear it down again.

This is pretty much the easiest way to do it unfortunately. Really stupid and something they should have fixed...years ago.

dannyjo22 · 14 Jul 2014 at 18:59

Surely restoring from the back up just dumps the 'other' data back on anyway?

lamboman · 14 Jul 2014 at 20:31

dannyjo22 said:
Surely restoring from the back up just dumps the 'other' data back on anyway?

For some odd reason, nope. Temporary files among other things I presume, which probably don't get backed up (it's not an image anyway).

dannyjo22 · 15 Jul 2014 at 08:02

I will give that another try when I get time, annoying me to lose 3.5gig on a 16 gig device!

traveyb · 15 Jul 2014 at 08:54

Yep, whenever I have "other" appear I will plug my i device into iTunes, run a backup and then restore to the latest version. When the device reboots, just click restore from backup and select the latest backup (time stamps should be there).

dannyjo22 · 15 Jul 2014 at 09:53

Well that worked fine on my sons ipad, took other down from 2.5gb to 856mb. Tried on my phone and nothing.

Still like this:

I would do a complete restore if I could then just sync my apps and that would put all my save data etc back on

shiver · 15 Jul 2014 at 10:33

It'll be picture messages etc.

dannyjo22 · 15 Jul 2014 at 11:18

I have deleted all message threads and my ipad with similar levels of other data has no message threads at all.

shine · 15 Jul 2014 at 20:16

Open iTunes and conner your phone. Select the phone and then click the "On this iPhone" tab.

Check to see if you have any large files. I once found some old voice memos taking a large amount of space under 'other'.

rah^ · 21 Jul 2014 at 13:52

Have you tried to restore the phone and setup as new - then restore a backup? I know it sounds odd to not just restore from backup straight away but..

dannyjo22 · 4 Aug 2014 at 15:35

Nothing worked

In the end I had to ditch my beloved ios6 and go to 7 which reduced both my phone and pad down from 4 gb other to 1gb. Best I can get.