Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

kcaz507

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 7, 2014
19
5
I read in a few threads people were gaining more available space on their phones, I was wondering what everyone was getting.

I have an iPhone 5 and with the latest 8.1.1 update I got 1.1GB of space back.
 
I got about 700MB back. I would have gained more but ever since iOS 8.0 came out I had to restore my phone once a week and restore from backup because the "other" storage size grew to 5+GB. Seems 8.1.1 has finally fixed the issue and my phone is no longer losing storage space.
 
Actually I lost 200MB when upgrading my iPad2 from 7.1.2 to 8.1.1

Not a big issue though. Still have some GB free, as I delete all unused apps regularly.
 
Keep in mind that you're also going to gain a lot of space simply because updating the OS will purge the system caches. As you use the device, the caches will build back up, so a lot of the space gained will likely get taken back by the OS.

On my phone, I had about 7.3 GB of space available before updating. Immediately after updating, the space available increased to 7.9 GB. Now the space available has gone back down to 7.7 GB, with no new apps installed or other changes. Still about a 0.4 GB increase in available storage, but over time the OS might end up taking back more.

Also recall that upgrading from iOS 7.1.2 to iOS 8.0 took up between 740 MB and 1.03 GB, according to Arstechnica, which did fresh installations on identically prepped devices. This is a huge increase in the amount of space required by the OS, so there very well might have been a lot of cruft that could be deleted.
 
Keep in mind that you're also going to gain a lot of space simply because updating the OS will purge the system caches. As you use the device, the caches will build back up, so a lot of the space gained will likely get taken back by the OS.

On my phone, I had about 7.3 GB of space available before updating. Immediately after updating, the space available increased to 7.9 GB. Now the space available has gone back down to 7.7 GB, with no new apps installed or other changes. Still about a 0.4 GB increase in available storage, but over time the OS might end up taking back more.

Also recall that upgrading from iOS 7.1.2 to iOS 8.0 took up between 740 MB and 1.03 GB, according to Arstechnica, which did fresh installations on identically prepped devices. This is a huge increase in the amount of space required by the OS, so there very well might have been a lot of cruft that could be deleted.

Thanks for info. Still an iPhone noob. I gained 2.6gb and will watch if it goes back up.
 
Keep in mind that you're also going to gain a lot of space simply because updating the OS will purge the system caches. As you use the device, the caches will build back up, so a lot of the space gained will likely get taken back by the OS.

On my phone, I had about 7.3 GB of space available before updating. Immediately after updating, the space available increased to 7.9 GB. Now the space available has gone back down to 7.7 GB, with no new apps installed or other changes. Still about a 0.4 GB increase in available storage, but over time the OS might end up taking back more.

Also recall that upgrading from iOS 7.1.2 to iOS 8.0 took up between 740 MB and 1.03 GB, according to Arstechnica, which did fresh installations on identically prepped devices. This is a huge increase in the amount of space required by the OS, so there very well might have been a lot of cruft that could be deleted.

Very true, but this does not apply to everyone. I am definitely the exception and not the rule, but I use battery doctor on a regular basis to clear out app caches and junk on my phone. That is how I originally noticed the problem of storage disappearing. My available storage would decrease by about 100MB a day, even if I didn't touch the phone.
 
Seems that they started to use auto clear cache even for 3rd party apps. Via usage applications storage more optimized
 
no change when i went to 8.1.1 beta 1, no change from beta 1 to gm beta to gm was ota, maybe ill try redoing it by itunes(wont be surprised if all this "free space" thing is just a placebo from caches being purged as thats nothing new..)
 
Keep in mind that you're also going to gain a lot of space simply because updating the OS will purge the system caches. As you use the device, the caches will build back up, so a lot of the space gained will likely get taken back by the OS.

That's true, but I updated my phone within about 4 hours of the release, and I reported the gain as of today. I have opened and used at least 20 apps since then, so I don't think it's purely a cache issue for me.

I just checked again, and I have 51.7GB available.
 
I really wasn't expecting this. I had 4.9gb available but that was including Usage saying that the 8.1.1 update download was using 2gb so I really had 6.9gb free. After install I now have 12.7gb free which would be an increase of 5.8gb not counting the downloaded space taken.
 
To everyone who got a bunch of space back: did you stream any purchased videos with the Video app?

Purchased includes any freebies(e.g. Apple's 12 Days of Christmas giveaways).

I did, and I found that streaming videos caused a full-size cache file to be created that could not be deleted. It seems the only way to remove the files is with iFile/similar(if jailbroken) or iExplorer(Mac/PC). Otherwise, doing a restore and then restoring your backup will clear them or, I guess, upgrading iOS!

Interestingly, because they haven't been downloaded by clicking the download button, you can't just swipe to delete!

My iPhone and iPad had about 4GB of these cache files each because I streamed Home Alone and a BBC wildlife documentary on both devices, both HD, which were given away in the promotion. The dates on the files matched when I watched them.

They're in mobile/media/DCIM/CloudAssets

Could be due to other random cache files as well.
 
Oh, that folder also has any music you've purchased and streamed through iCloud. I don't use iCloud Match but I expect anything you stream through that would end up in that folder as well.

In my case, the music files barely reached 100MB so I didn't remove them.

I'm glad I found out about it, though. Googling about 'other data' just kept hitting brick walls with 99% of responses saying "restore the iPhone!" so I just fired up iFile and went through folders one by one until I found it!
 
That's true, but I updated my phone within about 4 hours of the release, and I reported the gain as of today. I have opened and used at least 20 apps since then, so I don't think it's purely a cache issue for me.

I just checked again, and I have 51.7GB available.

As mentioned elsewhere, iOS 8 seems to have also changed what it does with music, videos, and photos, especially after you delete them. Instead of getting rid of the files, they go into a deleted files folder that stay for 30 (?) days before going away.

In the past, I've also gained back a lot of storage by restoring the device as new. That will purge the garbage files that populate the "Other" directory from botched app, music, and video downloads. Before, I could only get rid of that stuff by restoring the device as new, and a lot of it accumulated from large playlist downloads using iTunes Match that would hang.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.