Garbage collector does not work - Notes, Photos, taking too much storage!

[osplo]

I have kind of a Storage Bug.

My Notes in my iPhone 11 Pro will always take 29 GB, even if I delete ALL of them from the phone with iCloud sync off, and even if I delete the app, which warns that ALL Documents and Data will be erased.

If I delete the app... it still shows in the iPhone Storage screen as not installed, but still using 29 GB!

In my Mac and iPads all iCloud notes use no more than half a GB, by the way.

The same happens with Photos. I delete most of them, leave a couple of albums that are no more than 1 GB (actually less than 300 MB) and they don't go lower than 5GB.

I know how to solve the "phantom photos storage" by saving and deleting all photos and creating an iCloud backup without saving the photos and restoring from it. It is a PITA, but works (I did it for another phone recently).

But how I can remove the 29 GB phantom Notes from my phone? I cannot create an iCloud Backup without the Notes as that option does not exist.

I can do a fresh install but that would mean hours and hours of reinstalling and filling passwords and the like. And there is the risk that I would lose some data inadvertently.

I tried weird methods suggested in forums such as "leave the Notes screen all night long with the screen unlocked and connected to wi-fi, power cycle your phone and it will be solved", or deleting email accounts. None worked.

Does anybody know a solution to this? It's rather annoying considering that storage is a big part of the iPhone price tag nowadays.

Thanks.

 

[ios3]

This is kind of a dumb suggestion, but this works for messages so maybe it’ll work in this case:

1)Go to Settings>Siri and Search>Notes and disable everything
2)Reboot iPhone
3)Go back to that settings page and re-enable the toggles

This should “force” iOS to do indexing on notes data, which may reduce that number.

Other than that, is it possible to do an encrypted backup to your Mac just to see how big the iPhone backup file is for now?

 

[osplo]

Thanks so much for your input.

Unfortunately the reindexing of Notes did not do the trick.

Regarding the backup I could do it, but I don't really follow. What is the idea? What information will that give us? Excuse my ignorance.

 

[ios3]

Since your photos and notes (among other data) are stored in iCloud, they should not be included in the iPhone backup. So the idea here is that if your backup is roughly the size you are expecting(messages, documents, non-iCloud synced data), then it probably won’t have the phantom notes storage included.

If backup size is as expected, I would honestly do a fresh restore of iOS, then restore your iPhone backup. I know it’s an inconvenience, but sometimes it’s the best/only way to regain your lost space. If you have good Wi-Fi speed, your apps and data should be loaded in a timely manner.

If you proceed with a fresh install of iOS and restoring your backup, please do an encrypted backup as it will save other data like app logins and such, so less passwords to enter and setup you have to do afterwards. You will have to set up Face ID and maybe re-enter passwords for banking or apps with sensitive info.

Sorry, I know you didn’t want to do a reset, but I’ve come across many posts where it was the only option that worked

 

[osplo]

Since your photos and notes (among other data) are stored in iCloud, they should not be included in the iPhone backup. So the idea here is that if your backup is roughly the size you are expecting(messages, documents, non-iCloud synced data), then it probably won’t have the phantom notes storage included.

If backup size is as expected, I would honestly do a fresh restore of iOS, then restore your iPhone backup. I know it’s an inconvenience, but sometimes it’s the best/only way to regain your lost space. If you have good Wi-Fi speed, your apps and data should be loaded in a timely manner.

If you proceed with a fresh install of iOS and restoring your backup, please do an encrypted backup as it will save other data like app logins and such, so less passwords to enter and setup you have to do afterwards. You will have to set up Face ID and maybe re-enter passwords for banking or apps with sensitive info.

Sorry, I know you didn’t want to do a reset, but I’ve come across many posts where it was the only option that worked

The problem with this is that locally stored notes are included in the backup. They should, as you can mix local and cloud based Notes in the same phone.

Nevertheless, I'll backup to my Mac and see the size. Thanks again.

 

[osplo]

The problem with this is that locally stored notes are included in the backup. They should, as you can mix local and cloud based Notes in the same phone.

Nevertheless, I'll backup to my Mac and see the size. Thanks again.

Backup size is 80 GB (out of 141 GB reported as used by the phone). It's hard to know whether the 29GB of Notes are included there or not.

However I saw that the iCloud backup size is only 35.1 GB. I don't know why the difference is so huge. We can say that the 29 GB of phantom Notes are not included there, right?

 

[ios3]

Hmm, even with local notes the storage shouldn’t be high. Is your iCloud backup also recent? Do another iCloud backup to check, and keep the local backup copy for now, just in case.

My thought process was that you could roughly calculate how large your local backup should be. It would be your current used phone storage minus iOS, Apps*, iCloud synced data, and Apple Music(if you use). But it seems that phantom notes data is backed up 🤔.

*Note that for apps, backup won’t include the actual app, but just the app name and ID so it can be downloaded after restore. App documents and data will be backed up, but not the app’s cache.

If the iCloud backup remains much smaller than your local backup, I would try restoring from the iCloud backup.

 

[HDFan]

App documents and data will be backed up,

Depending on the app. Some data, such as health metrics, is/are not backed up to iCloud if the backup is not encrypted,

 

[ios3]

Depending on the app. Some data, such as health metrics, is/are not backed up to iCloud if the backup is not encrypted,

I remember that was the case before. But if Health syncing is enabled in iCloud, do you still need to worry about an encrypted backup to keep that data?

Also, do you have any suggestions to OP regarding their Notes storage issue? Thanks

 

[osplo]

If the iCloud backup remains much smaller than your local backup, I would try restoring from the iCloud backup.

Yes, the iCloud backup is fresh, actually it does it every day.

The size makes me think that no phantom Notes (nor phantom Photos, which I also have, and probably no phantom AnythingElse) are backed up to iCloud, but everything and the kitchen sink is backed up in the Mac backup.

Probably the best way forward would be to restore from the iCloud backup but at this point I do not trust the rest of the backup either. I mean, I have had iPhones for a decade and never did a fresh install, always restoring from backups. I think it is time to start fresh, and to leave a lot of unused apps behind at the same time. I just bought a new 15 Pro and I am doing that, start from scratch (it is a pain in the butt, but having the old phone to compare and transfer stuff if required makes it easier and less riskier).

I will try restoring from iCloud in the old iPhone anyway, if I have time, and I will report findings, as it can be useful for me in the future or to others in the same situation. I am almost sure that all the phantom stuff will disappear. But for how long? That's my concern.

Thanks for the good ideas!

 

[HDFan]

But if Health syncing is enabled in iCloud, do you still need to worry about an encrypted backup to keep that data?

Two separate things. One is having your data automatically saved and encrypted in iCloud. The other is backing up all the data on your phone to either iCloud or your Mac. In the later case making sure the data is encrypted makes sense.

As for the space issues there are probably hundreds of posts about unexpected values. Apple may or may not recover the space, and if it does it will be when Apple decides to not when you want it. Wiping and starting from scratch is the only surefire way to at least initially save space. Personally I don't want to have to deal with these space problems which have existed as long as I remember so always get a phone with much more storage than I need so I don't have to worry about it.

 

[kimjongbill]

Yes, the iCloud backup is fresh, actually it does it every day.

The size makes me think that no phantom Notes (nor phantom Photos, which I also have, and probably no phantom AnythingElse) are backed up to iCloud, but everything and the kitchen sink is backed up in the Mac backup.

Probably the best way forward would be to restore from the iCloud backup but at this point I do not trust the rest of the backup either. I mean, I have had iPhones for a decade and never did a fresh install, always restoring from backups. I think it is time to start fresh, and to leave a lot of unused apps behind at the same time. I just bought a new 15 Pro and I am doing that, start from scratch (it is a pain in the butt, but having the old phone to compare and transfer stuff if required makes it easier and less riskier).

I will try restoring from iCloud in the old iPhone anyway, if I have time, and I will report findings, as it can be useful for me in the future or to others in the same situation. I am almost sure that all the phantom stuff will disappear. But for how long? That's my concern.

Thanks for the good ideas!

Did you figure out a solution, OP? I have this problem with my phone and it drives me CRAZY

 

[osplo]

Did you figure out a solution, OP? I have this problem with my phone and it drives me CRAZY

So far my solution was to start from zero with a fresh iOS install and re-install manually all the apps.

Fortunately most of the important data was saved in iCloud (such as Notes, Health and Fitness+ data, etc.), and I had ways to restore data from other apps and services (such as WhatsApp, Contacts, emails, etc.). However it proved extremely time consuming. Even the Apple Watch did not preserve anything and I have to start from scratch with it. And I am not finished yet!

But I went from 140+ GB to about 50GB used. A lot of old apps were discarded, I must admit, but a lot of junk disappeared, including the phantom photos and phantom Notes.

The other possible solution is to save everything to the iCloud backup, and restore from the backup, crossing the fingers hoping that the iCloud backup does not include any phantom junk. I seriously doubt it will contain junk, judging from the size of it, so this should be a way to get rid of the phantom storage.

I did not try it as I am switching to a new phone but I think it is a viable solution.

Caveat: make sure the iCloud backup contains all the apps and data you need, and beware that passwords will not be saved.

The other possible solution is to do a full encrypted backup of the phone to a Mac, and then restore from it. This will surely preserve all passwords and data (but no touchID or faceID stuff and the like), but for the size of it I am not fully sure it will delete the junk. If I have to bet, I'd say it will solve the problem.

I cannot try any of these methods as I am still copying stuff from my old phone to the new one. But if I have some time to spare, I will try to do it just for the sake of knowledge.

If you go for one of these routes let us know the result. Good luck!

 

[osplo]

Unhappy to report that restoring from an encrypted backup on the Mac did not solve the problem.

Space taken by Notes before:

Space taken by Notes after:

Still near 30GB.

Also, Photos storage is still reporting too much space - sign of phantom photos as well as phantom Notes.

I will erase the phone again and restore from the iCloud backup. I have a little more faith in this method.

BTW, I am in iOS 17 now, latest released patch.

 

[osplo]

I did the iCloud restore.

It seemed to work for a while, the Notes app showed less than 0,5 GB occupied space.

I rebooted the iPhone and use the Notes app a couple of times, then boom:

This seems to be some shenanigan somewhere that it is kind of hidden deep in the app or the system.

Again, in my new phone, fresh installed, Notes takes only 374 MB. That's all, and that is accurate, in line with space reported by the same Notes in my iPads and Macs.

I will just erase this old phone and hope the 30 GB of Notes do not reappear in my brand new iPhone.

So no solution for this thing, at least so far. If anyone has ideas please let us know.