Causes for sudden decrease in storage?

[acousticbiker]

I have a 16GB 6S and suddenly got an alert today that I'm almost out of storage. I checked and I'm at less than 100MB remaining.

- Just days before, I was at 2+ GB remaining and I don't remember doing anything that would have dramatically taken up storage
- I don't have any videos or photos on my device (except Photostream, which has always been there)
- I checked Settings>General>Storage>Manage and don't see anything with more than about 200 MB except 1GB for Photostream
- When I plug into iTunes, I think the biggest difference seems to be under 'Documents and Data' (significantly larger) and maybe 'Other' to a lesser degree

Would appreciate any help/tips - thanks!

 

[Armen]

I have a 16GB 6S and suddenly got an alert today that I'm almost out of storage. I checked and I'm at less than 100MB remaining.

- Just days before, I was at 2+ GB remaining and I don't remember doing anything that would have dramatically taken up storage
- I don't have any videos or photos on my device (except Photostream, which has always been there)
- I checked Settings>General>Storage>Manage and don't see anything with more than about 200 MB except 1GB for Photostream
- When I plug into iTunes, I think the biggest difference seems to be under 'Documents and Data' (significantly larger) and maybe 'Other' to a lesser degree

Would appreciate any help/tips - thanks!

I'm going to guess and say the low storage warning you saw was for iCloud and not your local storage. check your iCloud storage space.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Try restarting the device. Sometimes that will free up space if there is a lot of junk being cached by iOS. Documents & Data and Other is typically cached information from apps. If you are using FaceBook, Instagram or SnapChat, they are all notorious for saving unneeded cache. You can use Battery Doctor to delete app cache, or delete the app and reinstall it.

 

[numberfour]

Are you using apple music?

 

[acousticbiker]

Thanks for everyone's thoughts:

I'm going to guess and say the low storage warning you saw was for iCloud and not your local storage. check your iCloud storage space

Good guess, as I've been there before but iCloud is fine (2+GB remaining there)

Try restarting the device. Sometimes that will free up space if there is a lot of junk being cached by iOS. Documents & Data and Other is typically cached information from apps. If you are using FaceBook, Instagram or SnapChat, they are all notorious for saving unneeded cache. You can use Battery Doctor to delete app cache, or delete the app and reinstall it.

I've tried restarting without success but not Battery Doctor. In any case, wouldn't the cache be reflected when I check by app in Settings>General>Storage>Manage? No app is showing as more than 200MB there

Are you using apple music?

Nope

 

[LoveToMacRumors]

No it wont reflect.

 

[acousticbiker]

So I tried Battery Doctor (I think I just barely had enough space to download it!). Got 200MB freed up from the 'Clean Up Cache' function.

Does anyone know what 'Memory Boost' does? Couldn't find a great answer via quick Google search and would appreciate any background info before I try it

 

[Mlrollin91]

I've tried restarting without success but not Battery Doctor. In any case, wouldn't the cache be reflected when I check by app in Settings>General>Storage>Manage? No app is showing as more than 200MB there

System cache can also be cleared by Battery Doctor. Occasionally when running battery doctor it will clear out 500-600MB of data that wasn't accounted in "Storage".

 

[acousticbiker]

System cache can also be cleared by Battery Doctor. Occasionally when running battery doctor it will clear out 500-600MB of data that wasn't accounted in "Storage".

Thanks for the tip! I got about 200MB out of it. Memory Boost didn't do anything I could see.

I also checked Safari caches is pretty small and deleted/reinstalled Facebook without any effect.

Anyone else have any other tips or success from their own experience on this? I know things accumulate over time, but it caught my attention when 2GB got consumed all of a sudden.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Thanks for the tip! I got about 200MB out of it. Memory Boost didn't do anything I could see.

I also checked Safari caches is pretty small and deleted/reinstalled Facebook without any effect.

Anyone else have any other tips or success from their own experience on this? I know things accumulate over time, but it caught my attention when 2GB got consumed all of a sudden.

Do you stream music or video through iTunes?

 

[acousticbiker]

Do you stream music or video through iTunes?

No, just Pandora occasionally

 

[Mlrollin91]

No, just Pandora occasionally

Then I'm at a loss. When you stream iTunes it usually caches in the background and does not show up as storage, only docs/data and other. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

[acousticbiker]

Then I'm at a loss. When you stream iTunes it usually caches in the background and does not show up as storage, only docs/data and other. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

No worries, thanks for thinking through all those options!

 

[lovewd]

Logging out of iTunes/Appstore and then back in cleared 3GB for me this morning

 

[acousticbiker]

Logging out of iTunes/Appstore and then back in cleared 3GB for me this morning

That's crazy/awesome! I tried, though, and no dice for me...

 

[acousticbiker]

Do people think a delete and restore from iCloud backup could take care of the excess Documents & Data and Other?

 

[saudor]

A restore will clear the cached data for sure. I do it every now and then when the other gets too massive (5gb+)

 

[acousticbiker]

A restore will clear the cached data for sure. I do it every now and then when the other gets too massive (5gb+)

Thanks. Just want to be clear what you mean: do you mean deleting and reinstalling from scratch or restoring from an iCloud backup?

 

[saudor]

Thanks. Just want to be clear what you mean: do you mean deleting and reinstalling from scratch or restoring from an iCloud backup?

If you know how to manually put together stuff from a backup (I.e. Through ibackupbot), that would yield the best results but not really worth the trouble. A normal restore from iCloud backup should be good.

Ideally you want to re-load iOS first and restore from your iCloud backup (but this is slow since all your media/apps also need to get re-synced)

 

[acousticbiker]

Just did delete & restore from iCloud and now have 5+ GB free!

 

[Abazigal]

Looks like you have become victim to that dreaded cache bug which has been plaguing iOS for quite some time now.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Thanks. Just want to be clear what you mean: do you mean deleting and reinstalling from scratch or restoring from an iCloud backup?

You can restore via an iTunes backup and it clears out the "other" and "docs and data".