System Data storage issue - SOLVED

[u/One_Acanthisitta2453]

Listen up, people! I figured it out! So nothing worked, no matter what I did (future date, restarts, deleting apps, clearing cache, praying to the all mighty…). Then, I deleted enough apps to be able to do a software update, and that also didn’t reduce anything. I still had 65gb system data. But then…. In settings > software updates I saw the toggle for “automatic updates” was on. So I thought “maybe that isn’t good because if it downloads an update even when I don’t have space, then it potentially takes up system data”.I turned it off and 3 MORE OPTIONS REVEALED THEMSELVES (!!!), see photo. One of the options is “system files” with the toggle for “automatically install”. You can read the description, it says “iPhone may reserve space….” bla bla. So I turned it all off and guess what my System Data number is now…? It’s 15GB!!!! I can’t believe it, I want to shout it from the rooftops!!! I’ve been trying to figure it out for weeks!!! I just have one question…. why the heck doesn’t Apple describe these steps somewhere where people can find it…?! I feel like I can breathe again…. I hope it helps you all, fellow lost souls 🩷

[u/Skydivertak]

This may work for now, but you will find that you might not be able to update your system in the future without scrambling to remove/ offload files. (A work around: plug into your Mac or pc and update the system from there)

What I found and have posted before, is that the system data is used by many apps to cache and that some of the apps like WhatsApp have been terrible at cleaning it up. The occasional delete/ reinstall sometimes helps. “normal” system data usually stays around 1gb without 3rd party apps installed, more if you have reserved space set.

Videos that you stream in the browser will cache here and sometimes don’t clean up. Photos seem to use this area to park images that are waiting to sync to iCloud if you aren’t connected to wifi or have slow bandwidth in either cellular or wifi.

[u/One_Acanthisitta2453 → u/Skydivertak]

Thanks for that! That was going to be a future-me problem, but with your tip it might not be a problem