Definitive meaning of "other"

[vexorg]

I have searched many times on this without ever finding a straight answer, and now confused as I thought it was space for the app data. Now this iPhone has "Document and Data" and "other", and other is up to 3Gb.

This is a significant portion of the "16Gb" phone given that it's really 12Gb according to iTunes, 25% space wasted.

So what is this "other" space in IOS8.1.1 if it isn't documents and data for apps?

 

[maflynn]

Other is all the storage that doesn't fit the other categories, including cache, temporary files and what not.

 

[kolax]

Might also be your 'deleted photos' album too. I'm not sure if that gets moved to 'other' once you trash them.

 

[Abazigal]

I have searched many times on this without ever finding a straight answer, and now confused as I thought it was space for the app data. Now this iPhone has "Document and Data" and "other", and other is up to 3Gb.

This is a significant portion of the "16Gb" phone given that it's really 12Gb according to iTunes, 25% space wasted.

So what is this "other" space in IOS8.1.1 if it isn't documents and data for apps?

iOS apparently has a cache issue where temporary files (such as videos you stream in the videos app) aren't deleted after you are done with them, but instead continue to reside on your device and hog space.

There are ways of getting rid of them, from doing a clean restore to signing out of home sharing and signing in again (depending on the cause). Here's one possible explanation.

http://blog.jaredsinclair.com/post/83884174298/bug-in-videos-app-doesnt-clear-cached-data-for

 

[vexorg]

ok, so why would these not be under "data" for a specific app? So what document and data refers to?

and why is there no option to clear the temporary data rather than letting it grow on the memory?

 

[dhlizard]

ok, so why would these not be under "data" for a specific app? So what document and data refers to?

and why is there no option to clear the temporary data rather than letting it grow on the memory?

Sounds like questions you should ask Tim Cook

 

[vexorg]

Sounds like questions you should ask Tim Cook

Yeah, because apple are really good at answering those kind of questions. I thought it might be more productive to ask people that might have the answer AND give it.

 

[Abazigal]

ok, so why would these not be under "data" for a specific app? So what document and data refers to?



and why is there no option to clear the temporary data rather than letting it grow on the memory?

Probably because it was never intended to accumulate in such a fashion in the first place.

 

[iososx]

Yeah, because apple are really good at answering those kind of questions. I thought it might be more productive to ask people that might have the answer AND give it.

Brilliant response and ever so sad but true.

Apple is slowly letting it's true nature show. I'd sure like to know why Apple is no longer the company we could trust to deliver world class functionality and products that were properly sorted out.

 

[rigormortis]

iTunes match has the notorious bug in it, to this day!!!!

you have like 50 gigs of music!

you subscribe to iTunes match and it uploads your music library!!!!

you turn on iTunes match on your iPhone!

it says it will remove synced music

it never does

and you have 50 gigs of other, this has happened like 4 times that i have seen.

in order to get rid of "other" you can simply turn off iTunes match, remove the music, and turn on iTunes match again

you could also do the iTunes restore thing, but turning off iTunes match and deleting the music is a lot faster

when ever u see a lot and i mean a lot of "other" the first thing you should suspect is iTunes match being enabled.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

iTunes match has the notorious bug in it, to this day!!!!

you have like 50 gigs of music!

you subscribe to iTunes match and it uploads your music library!!!!

you turn on iTunes match on your iPhone!

it says it will remove synced music

it never does

and you have 50 gigs of other, this has happened like 4 times that i have seen.

in order to get rid of "other" you can simply turn off iTunes match, remove the music, and turn on iTunes match again

you could also do the iTunes restore thing, but turning off iTunes match and deleting the music is a lot faster

when ever u see a lot and i mean a lot of "other" the first thing you should suspect is iTunes match being enabled.

It's not always iTunes Match though. I have a few gb of "other" and I don't use iTunes Match. I half suspect that mine comes from when I sync my iPhone with iTunes on my Mac. I have several songs that I home shared with one of my friends back in high school, but I got logged out of her iTunes account and don't know the password. I'm not authorized for those songs anymore, so they can't sync properly but may still get downloaded by accident.

Apple really needs to fix this if they're gojng to keep 16gb as the base size. Of course "other" gets even worse with the higher capacity devices.

 

[rigormortis]

It's not always iTunes Match though. I have a few gb of "other" and I don't use iTunes Match. I half suspect that mine comes from when I sync my iPhone with iTunes on my Mac. I have several songs that I home shared with one of my friends back in high school, but I got logged out of her iTunes account and don't know the password. I'm not authorized for those songs anymore, so they can't sync properly but may still get downloaded by accident.

Apple really needs to fix this if they're gojng to keep 16gb as the base size. Of course "other" gets even worse with the higher capacity devices.

i meant that if you have 5-10-20-50 gigs of other and iTunes match, its iTunes match's fault

I've seen other grow as result of failed backups.

like other grows as it starts a backup, and your computer aborts the backup, like you ran out of space, and it makes other grow

 

[vexorg]

Never used iTunes match as far as I know, will make sure that is switched off.

 

[AlphaHumanus]

Never used iTunes match as far as I know, will make sure that is switched off.

He's not suggesting that's what's happening to you, but it won't hurt to double check.

He's describing another "other" related bug, that's existed for ages, yet Apple hasn't/can't/won't fix.

I do a wipe/restore to purge mine. I call it my monthly cleanse.

 

[Defender2010]

iTunes match has the notorious bug in it, to this day!!!!

you have like 50 gigs of music!

you subscribe to iTunes match and it uploads your music library!!!!

you turn on iTunes match on your iPhone!

it says it will remove synced music

it never does

and you have 50 gigs of other, this has happened like 4 times that i have seen.

in order to get rid of "other" you can simply turn off iTunes match, remove the music, and turn on iTunes match again

you could also do the iTunes restore thing, but turning off iTunes match and deleting the music is a lot faster

when ever u see a lot and i mean a lot of "other" the first thing you should suspect is iTunes match being enabled.

This is not true. Stop posting wrong info.

 

[rigormortis]

This is not true. Stop posting wrong info.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1725322/

that first post actually showed me recreating the circumstances.


https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20449105

----------

if you don't think its true when i say iOS 7 and maybe 8 has a bug with iTunes match where it throws your entire music library in "other" go talk to danwass, please don't tell me i am posting wrong info

learn to use google, man you learn a lot

----------

Figured it out in my case, with iTunes Match installed go to Settings > General > Usage then click Music and swipe to delete, then restart your phone.

All your music is still there and other is cleared. This can also help in traditional sync if your phone is confused and has music from more than one computer. This isn't supposed to happen, so the system no longer cleans older music up and this is less destructive than a total erase/restore.

shareimprove this answer
edited Sep 25 '12 at 19:04
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/37021/how-do-i-clear-data-listed-as-other-on-my-iphone

 

[rigormortis]

"I turned on iTunes match, now my iPad is 49 gigs over capacity"

https://discussions.apple.com/message/16768820#16768820


yeah right, and I'm not telling you the truth. yeah sure


all I'm saying is if you think you have a lot of other, before erasing the phone and setting it up as a new iPhone, turn off iTunes match ( if its on) and manually delete your music on the iPhone, and then turn on iTunes match back on

its a definite problem with iTunes match, and it is reproducible and it has happened to people

 

[Defender2010]

"I turned on iTunes match, now my iPad is 49 gigs over capacity"

https://discussions.apple.com/message/16768820#16768820


yeah right, and I'm not telling you the truth. yeah sure


all I'm saying is if you think you have a lot of other, before erasing the phone and setting it up as a new iPhone, turn off iTunes match ( if its on) and manually delete your music on the iPhone, and then turn on iTunes match back on

its a definite problem with iTunes match, and it is reproducible and it has happened to people

Quoting this Apple thread is pointless - the user obviously has no clue as to what they are doing! You cannot sync music plus use iTunes Match. I'm guessing they are confusing Match with "iTunes in the cloud". As I said before- figure it out yourselves as you are obviously having so much fun.
I have 19,540 songs in iTunes Match and I can play, play away on iPad or iPhone and it never uses much space - only for caching played songs. Plus these are not stored in "other", but under "music". Have fun figuring it out.

 

[rigormortis]

Quoting this Apple thread is pointless - the user obviously has no clue as to what they are doing! You cannot sync music plus use iTunes Match. I'm guessing they are confusing Match with "iTunes in the cloud". As I said before- figure it out yourselves as you are obviously having so much fun.
I have 19,540 songs in iTunes Match and I can play, play away on iPad or iPhone and it never uses much space - only for caching played songs. Plus these are not stored in "other", but under "music". Have fun figuring it out.

what i am talking about is a bug in tunes match.
pleae stop insuting me and bossing me around and accusing me posting wrong info

i want to repeat myself. if you have an iPhone and you have 5 or 50 gigs of "other" it is because you turned on iTunes match.

please read my message word for word and slowly.

if someone wants to know what his other is, ask them "do you have iTunes match" if they say NO, then proceed to tell him your canned answer of restoring your phone and checking messages. or whatever you say

if they do have iTunes match and its a large amount of other it is their old music library

what happens is someone syncs music to their iPhone.
they are happy with carrying around sync'ed music
at some time later they decide to turn on iTunes match
iTunes match gives them a warning that if you enable iTunes match, the sync'ed music on the iPhone will be deleted.

turns out in iOS 7 and iOS 8, sometimes iTunes match does not delete your library and it just sits in other wasting space

since iTunes match is now on, not even iTunes itself can remove that music, as far as the iPhone and iTunes is considered, that music does not exist. it does not show up anywhere but in the "other" situation it is still there.

so if you have say 50 gigs of "other" , or you are wondering why your iPhone is taking up so much space, to other, it is simpler to just turn off iTunes match, any music library will go come back, then you delete it manually, and then you turn iTunes match back on

I've personally had this issue and it personally has happened to at least 4 people i know of.

it is bug that sometimes shows up and i was able to get it to happen in iOS 8.1.2

i am tryng to help others here. please do not personally insult me or order me to stop posting wrong of off topic posts.

i get offended when people reply to me thinking i am lying on forums.

this iTunes match bug personally happened to me.

when you turn on iTunes match and it says it will delete your existing sync'ed music on your phone, don't believe it for a second, and you should delete your sync'ed music manually.

if someone on mac rumors wants to ask what other is, tell them the stock answer, but you really should explain to them that sometimes "other" can be an old music library of sync'ed music .

if you turn on tunes match on a iPhone that has never had music sync'ed to it, then you do not have this problem and you will never have this problem , because the iPhone blocks you from syncing music

if you turn on iTunes match on a phone that holds synced' music, oh man watch out this means you

 

[Defender2010]

what i am talking about is a bug in tunes match.
pleae stop insuting me and bossing me around and accusing me posting wrong info

i want to repeat myself. if you have an iPhone and you have 5 or 50 gigs of "other" it is because you turned on iTunes match.

please read my message word for word and slowly.

if someone wants to know what his other is, ask them "do you have iTunes match" if they say NO, then proceed to tell him your canned answer of restoring your phone and checking messages. or whatever you say

if they do have iTunes match and its a large amount of other it is their old music library

what happens is someone syncs music to their iPhone.
they are happy with carrying around sync'ed music
at some time later they decide to turn on iTunes match
iTunes match gives them a warning that if you enable iTunes match, the sync'ed music on the iPhone will be deleted.

turns out in iOS 7 and iOS 8, sometimes iTunes match does not delete your library and it just sits in other wasting space

since iTunes match is now on, not even iTunes itself can remove that music, as far as the iPhone and iTunes is considered, that music does not exist. it does not show up anywhere but in the "other" situation it is still there.

so if you have say 50 gigs of "other" , or you are wondering why your iPhone is taking up so much space, to other, it is simpler to just turn off iTunes match, any music library will go come back, then you delete it manually, and then you turn iTunes match back on

I've personally had this issue and it personally has happened to at least 4 people i know of.

it is bug that sometimes shows up and i was able to get it to happen in iOS 8.1.2

i am tryng to help others here. please do not personally insult me or order me to stop posting wrong of off topic posts.

i get offended when people reply to me thinking i am lying on forums.

this iTunes match bug personally happened to me.

when you turn on iTunes match and it says it will delete your existing sync'ed music on your phone, don't believe it for a second, and you should delete your sync'ed music manually.

if someone on mac rumors wants to ask what other is, tell them the stock answer, but you really should explain to them that sometimes "other" can be an old music library of sync'ed music .

if you turn on tunes match on a iPhone that has never had music sync'ed to it, then you do not have this problem and you will never have this problem , because the iPhone blocks you from syncing music

if you turn on iTunes match on a phone that holds synced' music, oh man watch out this means you

I didn't insult you. Match works perfectly on all my devices. No "other" build up. Must be user error.