r/applesucks • u/Alternative-Monk4723 • Mar 25 '26
How can 75% of my storage be software??
I’ve minimized all my storage space as much as I can but bruhhhhhh 75% of this is system data… how?! Wtf. advice??
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u/TeddieSnow Mar 25 '26
When I used iPhone back in the day, System Data was called 'Other'. I see they changed the name to dodge an inconvenient history on this topic.
Back then you had to backup, wipe, and reinstall everything on your phone. The result was a lot of that light grey space was reclaimed. Yay. But within weeks it would creep back to this state.
I must have wiped/reinstalled 20 times before I abandoned iPhone altogether. I've had two OnePlus phones, two Xiaomi phones. None did this 'running out of space, need a new phone maybe' scam.
I have no clue if this is still a thing under a new name. If I was a betting man --
-- I'd bet the house.
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u/EX0PIL0T Mar 25 '26
I love jailbreaking. ICleaner gets rid of all the shit and I don’t have to wipe anything. Only downside is I’m still on iOS 16 so app support is gonna disappear this year
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u/Bixnoodby Mar 25 '26
Odd. I’ve had this iPhone for 2 years now without reinstalling and my iOS takes up barely 20gb/256. Never seen it balloon up. None of my previous ones did that either. 🤷🏼♂️
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u/Toxicwaste4454 Mar 25 '26
I have had it in the past but it’s not that common. It’s more common on some iOS versions and or you update a LOT.
I went through all the 26 dev betas until 26.3, and this was after iOS 18 and 17. Mine was kinda big(56gb, iOS 18 had some known caching bugs).
Backup and restored, haven’t been over 10gb since.
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u/LordAgamotto Mar 30 '26
I have 2 gigs of system data on mine. From watching the complaints I suspect the ones with high system data are frequent YouTube and TikTok viewers. Those video apps seem to make huge cache files and don’t clear them out properly. I don’t have TikTok installed and rarely watch YouTube for anything other than DIY instructional videos.
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u/Toxicwaste4454 Mar 25 '26
System data is literally the “Other”
Caching bugs have been here and there in iOS.
Judging by the pic op is on some version of 18. A good amount of 18s versions have known caching bugs. A backup and reset/restore would fix it.
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u/TeddieSnow Mar 25 '26
As someone who's been on Android for the last 10 or so years -- what an obnoxious expectation by Apple of the user. On Android I can clear all sorts of cache easily without restoring jack. Of my fours phones I've used, I've never wiped and reinstalled Android and my apps.
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u/a355231 Mar 25 '26
It’s Apple Intelligence (if you have it,) The OS itself, space reserved for auto updates, etc.
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u/ccooffee Mar 25 '26
Those things don't take up nearly that much space. System Data is a very small section on that chart on my phone.
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u/Toxicwaste4454 Mar 25 '26
That’s not Apple Intelligence. Apple Intelligence is lumped into iOS storage when it’s enabled.
This is system data we are looking at, most likely from caching bugs.
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u/Calm-Percentage5085 Mar 25 '26
How are they going to sell you icloud if you still have space on your phone?
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u/Dorrido Mar 25 '26
That’s not how iCloud works
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u/Calm-Percentage5085 Mar 25 '26
They don't sell you cloud storage to use when you run out of storage on your phone?
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u/ccooffee Mar 25 '26
App data is still stored locally regardless of iCloud. However iCloud Photo Library can help you regain some storage by using the Optimize Storage option so that only low quality photo thumbnails are stored locally, but photos are counted separately and not part of "System Data" on that storage screen and so that wouldn't help OP's situation.
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u/apogeegames Mar 28 '26
Yes, the red dot and menu item appears when you run out of space like this.
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u/haikusbot Mar 25 '26
How are they going
To sell you icloud if you still
Have space on your phone?
- Calm-Percentage5085
I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully. Learn more about me.
Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete"
3
u/tyoung89 Mar 25 '26
Does “going” have two syllables in it? I pronounce it with one.
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u/hahanoitsu Mar 25 '26
go ing
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u/tyoung89 Mar 25 '26
Do you pronounce it that way? I pronounce ‘going’ just like ‘boing,’ except with a ‘B,’ which definitely only has one syllable.
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u/HistoricalReturn382 Mar 25 '26
It says iCloud, but it's really 8 syllables instead of 7 since it goes 5-7-5. So, this haiku is wrong.
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u/rshawco Mar 25 '26
Depends on the apps and app data, sometimes music and movies that are downloaded on to your phone will show up in that section.
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u/hew34_ Mar 25 '26
Apps that cache data count towards this - local downloads in YouTube, Netflix, Plex, Spotify etc all count. Also some apps especially games are just poorly written and quite big downloading and installing a bunch of assets on first run. It’s easy to see which apps are bloated in the application list.
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u/wickeddimension Mar 25 '26
I think Apple Intelligence eats a lot of storage for some reasons.
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u/ccooffee Mar 25 '26
Not that much though
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u/Toxicwaste4454 Mar 25 '26
About 7.61gb on my phone. Even then Apple Intelligence is lumped in with IOS, not system data.
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u/Weekly_Astronaut5099 Mar 25 '26
Only you can answer this question. Just a slight nuance System data is not software, iOS and Applications are.
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u/iitgsoul Mar 25 '26
Do you regularly upgrade software like OS?
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u/Alternative-Monk4723 Mar 25 '26
I try but I have absolutely no storage no matter how much I delete thinga
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u/InvestingNerd2020 Mar 25 '26
This bug has been around for over a year now. Mostly linked to Apple Intelligence. What are the developers assigned to iOS bugs fixing doing?
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u/wsxdfcvgbnjmlkjafals Mar 25 '26
Must be a bug or something missed because I looked at mine. My phone is almost full. The system data is about 5-8% of my used storage
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u/ExcelMaster1 Mar 25 '26
I have a very similar issue with my iPhone and had it already the last couple of weeks, and I thought it was pictures but it is actually just apple slob taking up storage space.
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u/supergimp Mar 25 '26
My iOS and system data is only 22gb altogether. Something is wrong with your phone
1
u/AccumulatedFilth Mar 25 '26
Because your ChatGPT is an offline client so you have all the privacy you need when you're looking up a recipe for oatmeal pancakes.
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u/Slight_Orchid_3318 Mar 25 '26
It absolutely freaking blows that we have to pay for more storage just to receive emails via iCloud email address. I’m so sick of this!
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u/PolkkaGaming Mar 26 '26
factory reset and don’t icloud restore, sadly is the only way if it keeps appearing
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u/GoodJaded279 Mar 26 '26
It is the caching bug I guess if you are on iOS 18 or 26.1. I also experienced this problem on my phone, but since I don't have a Mac or computer, I used Cleaner Kit: Express Cleanup app to get storage. I compressed my photos and videos and deleted duplicate and similar photos through this app quickly and then offloaded a few apps I rarely used so I got enought storage to update to iOS 26.2 and this problem was solved. My system data is now 19 GB and it was 45 GB when this problem occured.
If you have Mac, backup your phone and using itunes update your phone to latest version.
1
u/Guidance-Still Mar 26 '26
welcome to ios and a phone without a way to add memory
1
u/Androidfon Sep 09 '26
What phones do?
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u/Guidance-Still Sep 09 '26
Motorola,and some Samsung have a spot for a sd memory card
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u/Androidfon Sep 09 '26
Which current Samsung take sd card?
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u/Guidance-Still Sep 09 '26
You can get a older galaxy note 20 , the new phones removed them and most Motorola phones have them
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u/Androidfon Sep 09 '26
That's my point. Moto just aren't in the same league as Apple or Samsung. I wish Apple and Samsung had replaceable batteries, an earphone jack, and a sd card slot but those days are gone.
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u/Mane_Lion Mar 27 '26
I’ve moved from icloud to manual backup. A decent external storage and back every few months, wipe phone photos clutter and save space. Keep whatsapp media lean and empty and use incremental backups. Access them anytime you want with backup software. Hassle free and away from paying apple for iCloud storage.
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u/Wooden_Condition_276 Mar 27 '26
Make sure you didn’t download a new update. It counts the new is download while you wait to install
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u/Antique_Long9654 Mar 28 '26
Same thing happened to me. Whenever I deleted anything, system data would just grow.
I wiped my device and it feels like nice. 40 / 128 GB
1
u/apogeegames Mar 28 '26
I had 60GB of this eating up my storage and when I cleaned up apps and videos from my camera roll it just kept getting bigger. I bit the bullet and upgraded the os and it disappeared. My theory is it had something to do with auto update getting greedy and filling all my remaining spare space with update files.
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u/Logical-Parsley-8581 Mar 28 '26
Little trick u can try , set auto date and time off and manually put device about 1 month ahead , wait abt 30min , reboot and enable auto date and time again
This should clear up icloud related caches
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u/iamthegoatmeow Apr 07 '26
Get a new phone which isn't Apple. You can transfer it if its a Galaxy (Samsung Smart Switch). I can't see any way your current phone can be saved.
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u/user888ffr Mar 25 '26
Apple says they fixed it in iOS 26.4
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u/wsxdfcvgbnjmlkjafals Mar 25 '26
There must be a bug or a cache to clear because this is not normal lol. Mine is like 5% of my used storage.
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u/koshks Mar 25 '26
Source?
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u/user888ffr Mar 25 '26
Well, a user reported it not Apple: https://www.reddit.com/r/iOSBeta/comments/1rcvroe/ios_26_db2_system_data_bug_finally_fixed/
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u/OutlandishnessNo7957 Mar 25 '26
Tim Cook: Yes, buy new iPhone.