iPad 50GB of "other" storage

[GreatUsername]

I have a 128GB iPad Air so those little bits of storage categorized as "other" shouldn't be a problem for me, right? Well, for some reason, it's taking up 50GB on my device. I'm not even joking here...

Any way I can fix this or do I have to reset my iPad to factory settings? I'm pretty sure I can't restart from a backup because all the other storage is saved to the cloud backups.

I'm pretty sure this happened because of iTunes Match. My library on my iPad was messed up (lots of duplicates, some with cloud icons, others without, etc.) so I deleted everything in my music app. Then, I created a playlist with all my songs in it and hit the "download all" button (about 2,300 songs). Nothing seemed to happen, so I tapped it again... then again... then I got the idea to go to the iTunes app and check on downloads. Loh and behold, I had about 7,000 items in queue to download. There was no way to clear the queue and I wasn't going to tap to delete every one so I just let the iPad sit overnight and download everything.

So I wake up this morning and everything is fine, my iPad didn't even loose 50% battery, I've only got one copy of each song in the music app even though I downloaded each song three times. I went to iTunes on my computer to do a quick wifi sync there and then I see the ginormous yellow bar at the bottom.

As I asked before, any way I can fix this? From what I've read, my only option is just to reset my iPad to factory settings and start from new without restoring from any backup.

 

[Rodster]

Try this program to clean out the bloat of data that has accumulated. Some have had good success with this.

http://www.imobie.com/phoneclean/

 

[MisakixMikasa]

I have a 128GB iPad Air so those little bits of storage categorized as "other" shouldn't be a problem for me, right? Well, for some reason, it's taking up 50GB on my device. I'm not even joking here...
Image

Any way I can fix this or do I have to reset my iPad to factory settings? I'm pretty sure I can't restart from a backup because all the other storage is saved to the cloud backups.

I'm pretty sure this happened because of iTunes Match. My library on my iPad was messed up (lots of duplicates, some with cloud icons, others without, etc.) so I deleted everything in my music app. Then, I created a playlist with all my songs in it and hit the "download all" button (about 2,300 songs). Nothing seemed to happen, so I tapped it again... then again... then I got the idea to go to the iTunes app and check on downloads. Loh and behold, I had about 7,000 items in queue to download. There was no way to clear the queue and I wasn't going to tap to delete every one so I just let the iPad sit overnight and download everything.

So I wake up this morning and everything is fine, my iPad didn't even loose 50% battery, I've only got one copy of each song in the music app even though I downloaded each song three times. I went to iTunes on my computer to do a quick wifi sync there and then I see the ginormous yellow bar at the bottom.

As I asked before, any way I can fix this? From what I've read, my only option is just to reset my iPad to factory settings and start from new without restoring from any backup.

I think factory rest is the most effective way... I do not have iTunes Match so I do not know how iTunes Match actually works... All I do is sync all my local content into iPad

 

[GreatUsername]

Actually... Does iOS save your reading list for offline? Because I recently deleted my entire reading list that I'd been building up since November last year with 20+ sites a day. It's possible that the huge "other" area is just my huge reading list that got saved for offline but, for some reason, didn't get deleted.

I know, now were dealing with two Apple services that nobody uses

 

[really.roman]

A lot of people freak out over their "Other" usage, but it's nothing to be concerned about, really. Things like messages (including associated media), app files, reading lists, will be categorized as "Other" on iTunes. You can do a factory reset, but your "Other" section will balloon again once you start loading more content onto your iPad.

 

[GreatUsername]

A lot of people freak out over their "Other" usage, but it's nothing to be concerned about, really. Things like messages (including associated media), app files, reading lists, will be categorized as "Other" on iTunes. You can do a factory reset, but your "Other" section will balloon again once you start loading more content onto your iPad.

I think it's something to be concerned about when it's taking up nearly half my device's storage.

 

[Rodster]

I think it's something to be concerned about when it's taking up nearly half my device's storage.

No one should blame you for questioning why you lost 50GB. With Android at least you can clear program app cache and data as well as storage cache. I wish Apple introduced that feature into iOS.

 

[Night Spring]

I would try restoring the iPad and restoring a backup. Most of the Other don't come back when you do this.

 

[GreatUsername]

No one should blame you for questioning why you lost 50GB. With Android at least you can clear program app cache and data as well as storage cache. I wish Apple introduced that feature into iOS.

I would at least try Android if I didn't feel the need to keep all my devices within one platform for maximum compatibility. I'd consider Android if Google made good computers and I'd consider Windows if Microsoft made good phones. Only Apple is able to make everything to where it's at least acceptable.

Back on topic, I tried that program you suggested and it was only able to find about 500mb of stuff to clean. Just a tad off from what I was hoping for...

So I guess the general consensus here is that I'm going to need to reset my iPad to factory settings and restore from backup.

*sigh* This'll be the third time I've restored my iPad to factory. Wish me luck!

 

[GreatUsername]

Update: The factory reset worked

It was a lot less of a hassle than the last time I did a reset. Probably because this time I did it at home rather than at the Apple store so all the apps just downloaded instead of me having to tap each individual app to get them to download.

Anyway, problem solved for me. Hopefully this thread will be of use to anybody who has this problem in the future, especially if "other" is taking up as much storage as mine was.

 

[dumastudetto]

iOS intelligently manages this for you based on your storage needs. This is the kind of magic you just don't see on the Android side. Nobody needs or wants geeky tools to delete stuff from the filesystem. And there's absolutely no reason to restore your device. iOS will remove stuff when you need the storage for something else.

 

[Night Spring]

iOS intelligently manages this for you based on your storage needs. This is the kind of magic you just don't see on the Android side. Nobody needs or wants geeky tools to delete stuff from the filesystem. And there's absolutely no reason to restore your device. iOS will remove stuff when you need the storage for something else.

Not true. Sometimes files get corrupted, and then you get situations like the OP's, where you get a big "other" that won't ever be recovered. On jailbroken devices, this can be fixed by going into the file system and deleting the corrupt files. But on a non jailbroken device, the only way to recover the space is to restore.

 

[Matty1]

Update: The factory reset worked
Image

It was a lot less of a hassle than the last time I did a reset. Probably because this time I did it at home rather than at the Apple store so all the apps just downloaded instead of me having to tap each individual app to get them to download.

Anyway, problem solved for me. Hopefully this thread will be of use to anybody who has this problem in the future, especially if "other" is taking up as much storage as mine was.

Thanks for the suggestion. The factory reset and restore worked for me.

 

[rigormortis]

i apoliogize. this must of been a new thread. i replied to another situation like this. your reset to factory settings was totally unnecessary. it was totally OVERKILL and not needed at all

i hope you did not set it up as a new phone and lose your text messages



don't listen to the android guy.
this is not a problem with corruption of the file system
everyone who replied was dead wrong.



if you have A LOT of other, And iTunes Match is enabled, it is itunes match's fault. when you turn on itunes match it is supposed to delete your music on your phone , but it does not, and it gets put in other

to fix it, you simply turn off itunes match. delete all the music on the phone. and then turn itunes match back on

as soon as you turn off itunes match on the iPhone the music gets put back

this should be made a sticky. this is the 3rd time i heard about this happening.

this is something the average apple genius at the apple store doesn't even know about


before you delete all the music that is on your phone, go to all your other libraries and click on "update itunes match" just to make sure it is all on the cloud

here is a link to the other guys problem
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20449105

notice how all the mac rumors 68000 and 68030 users were all DEAD WRONG!!!!

 

[rigormortis]

I'm still having problems. its still a bug

i turned off itunes match
i synced 50 gigs of music to my iPhone using itunes
i used the 'automatically fill iPhone' method

i turned on iTunes match
i got the message saying my library will be replaced

i went to audio, and waited for itunes match to load

i don't see any evidence what so ever that shows itunes match is even deleting my synced music

i still see 50 something gigs in usage / manage storage. when i click music, settings crashes

i tried resyncing. itunes does nothing and doesn't even say that itunes match is even on

so far i haven't seen the other bar show up yet

i unchecked sync music , and tried to sync again and its taking a long time
says it is waiting to complete.

i don't think ' replacing your music ' even works. always delete your music on your iPhone manually, and then turn on itunes match.

 

[rigormortis]

well, there's your other

okay
here is your other
i got it to "other" me by turning on itunes match on and off and on and off
and rebooting the iPhone



notice how the phone reports no music in usage
but i have music in the music app

itunes is reporting 20 gigs of other

itunes match is OFF

 

[Matty1]

i apoliogize. this must of been a new thread. i replied to another situation like this. your reset to factory settings was totally unnecessary. it was totally OVERKILL and not needed at all

i hope you did not set it up as a new phone and lose your text messages

No I restored from the backup that I made immediately prior to the restore. I didn't lose anything.