how to determine what is taking up iphone space

[dubs83]

In iTunes it breaks down how much space photos, apps, documents & data and 'other' are taking up on my iphone. Does anyone know how to determine exactly what documents and data and 'other' is specifically taking up space? Would like to free up drive space, but no idea what is taking up the space.

thanks

 

[Shirasaki]

First is media files such as music, video, photos. They takes a lot of space naturally. Deleting them could free some space if they have a lot.

Then apps. Many apps store data for whatever purpose. Deleting those apps you don't use while storing a lot of data is a good choice.
What iTunes shows is barely correct at its best. you don't need to care a lot about it.

"Others" are everything not belonging to app, movie, music, photos, documents. They might be iOS system files, caches, or even not recognised media files even if they are actually useable.

 

[dubs83]

First is media files such as music, video, photos. They takes a lot of space naturally. Deleting them could free some space if they have a lot.

Then apps. Many apps store data for whatever purpose. Deleting those apps you don't use while storing a lot of data is a good choice.
What iTunes shows is barely correct at its best. you don't need to care a lot about it.

"Others" are everything not belonging to app, movie, music, photos, documents. They might be iOS system files, caches, or even not recognised media files even if they are actually useable.

Thanks! Any idea if there is a way to order files from largest to smallest so I can attack/delete those bigger files if I choose? Seems like a tedious process otherwise, in trying to find the biggest files...

 

[Shirasaki]

Thanks! Any idea if there is a way to order files from largest to smallest so I can attack/delete those bigger files if I choose? Seems like a tedious process otherwise, in trying to find the biggest files...

You will have no way to delete largest files directly without jailbreak. But you can delete the largest chunk of data in "Storage" section, available under "General" in settings app.

 

[dubs83]

You will have no way to delete largest files directly without jailbreak. But you can delete the largest chunk of data in "Storage" section, available under "General" in settings app.

Yeah, I just noticed that many of my apps have a ton of data in them outside the size of the app itself. I think that is what is taking up so much space.

When I delete that data (and not the app), any idea what exactly is being deleted? For instance, I imagine with Spotify it is deleted music that has been set up for offline access, but what about, for instance my messages on my iphone that is taking up around 700mb. I'm not able to delete the data in the general settings, but are messages being saved to my phone? seems unnecessary to save all of them