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Cattywampus_

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 19, 2006
511
21
Hi

I'm a littke confused about the storage on my new iPhone 6.

Attached are a couple of screenshots of what I am talking about.

Firstly... do I really lose 3.8GB out of 16GB from the off? 12.2GB is only 75% of the 16GB that is advertised. I understand that formatting of the storage device needs some space... but are them values correct??

Secondly, it says I am using 4.7GB of the available space; but when I went through the list of apps and their sizes and added them up (including the contents, documents and data etc) it adds up to around 2.5GB. So again there seems to be over 2GB of data being used by something.

Now logic would say that if 12.2GB is the total available formatted memory, then the 2GB of used data would probably be the OS base system.

On the other hand if the 12.2GB available space is space available after taking into account the size of he iOS base install, then I am damned if I know what is using the other 2GB of space that is not accounted for after adding up the size of the applications and data.

Can anyone shed any light?

FYI: the iPhone came pre-installed with iOS 8 (obviously) and I have installed the iOS 8.0.2 update over the air. The iPhone had not been connected to my Mac at any point so has not synced with a computer at all, not sure if that make any difference.

If everything is as it should be and its not a case if missing space or anything then that's ok. Granted it is a bit misleading selling something labelled as 16GB but then you only really can use just over 60% of the space for your stuff...and if I didn't already know things like this can happen I would be really utterly pissed off. But I won't be surprised if everything is correct and as it should be and there is no chance of claiming any of that space back. Just wanted to double check :)

Thanks!


ImageUploadedByTapatalk1412390533.417401.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1412390561.566173.jpg
 

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
34,317
49,614
In the middle of several books.
Although I don't have an iPhone 6, I don't see anything out of the ordinary with what you posted.

As you noted, you lose some to formatting, along with OS and app with app installation, which is usually bigger after installation. I believe the app sizes noted in settings is the preinstall size.

I don't see anything missing. You could use a program like iExplorer to see if there are hidden cached files that can be safely deleted. An example of such would be streaming video, which you won't see or be able to delete in settings. I did a little streaming of 2 movies in my iTunes library today and lost 500 mb. It didn't show in settings to delete, but the loss showed. Once I hooked up the phone to iExplorer, I could safely delete the cache and reclaim storage.
 

grockk

macrumors 6502
Mar 16, 2006
365
5
OS is installed separate from the 12.2 available.

Email, contacts, calendars Pictures videos etc all take space. There isusually an Other category when you attach to computer and check iTunes.
 

Cattywampus_

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 19, 2006
511
21
I have actually given this some thought and I think I might want to swap my 16GB for the 64GB one.

I bought it online from the Apple Store online. Does anyone know if it's ok to take it to my nearest Apple Store and ask them to exchange it there? My 14 day returns timeframe runs out on Monday and while I can send it back and wait for a refund and order the 64GB one... It just takes a lot of time waiting around.

If I could exchange at the Store it would be just a case of handing over the extra cash and done!

Please if someone could confirm that it is ok to swap an online bought phone at the store that would be great thanks.
 

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
34,317
49,614
In the middle of several books.
I have actually given this some thought and I think I might want to swap my 16GB for the 64GB one.

I bought it online from the Apple Store online. Does anyone know if it's ok to take it to my nearest Apple Store and ask them to exchange it there? My 14 day returns timeframe runs out on Monday and while I can send it back and wait for a refund and order the 64GB one... It just takes a lot of time waiting around.

If I could exchange at the Store it would be just a case of handing over the extra cash and done!

Please if someone could confirm that it is ok to swap an online bought phone at the store that would be great thanks.
If I am not mistaken, you will need to return the one you have now, and then purchase the 64 GB.
 

Cattywampus_

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 19, 2006
511
21
Ended up buying a new 64GB iPhone 6 today as I started worrying that as time goes on, not just games with their increasing graphics quality that will no doubt mean a larger app download, but apps in general will become more complex and just eat at the storage.

64GB might not be a lot to some; but for me, coming from only ever having 16GB devices ... It's a big step up; way enough to take plenty of photos and videos, maybe put a bit of music on there and still have room of plenty of apps. But more future proofed for someone who only changes phones roughly every three years.

Thanks guys!
 

Menel

Suspended
Aug 4, 2011
6,351
1,356
iOS 8 & iPhone 6 Used & Free Space Don't Add Up

Hi

I'm a littke confused about the storage on my new iPhone 6.

Attached are a couple of screenshots of what I am talking about.

Firstly... do I really lose 3.8GB out of 16GB from the off? 12.2GB is only 75% of the 16GB that is advertised. I understand that formatting of the storage device needs some space... but are them values correct??

Secondly, it says I am using 4.7GB of the available space; but when I went through the list of apps and their sizes and added them up (including the contents, documents and data etc) it adds up to around 2.5GB. So again there seems to be over 2GB of data being used by something.

Now logic would say that if 12.2GB is the total available formatted memory, then the 2GB of used data would probably be the OS base system.

On the other hand if the 12.2GB available space is space available after taking into account the size of he iOS base install, then I am damned if I know what is using the other 2GB of space that is not accounted for after adding up the size of the applications and data.

Can anyone shed any light?

FYI: the iPhone came pre-installed with iOS 8 (obviously) and I have installed the iOS 8.0.2 update over the air. The iPhone had not been connected to my Mac at any point so has not synced with a computer at all, not sure if that make any difference.

If everything is as it should be and its not a case if missing space or anything then that's ok. Granted it is a bit misleading selling something labelled as 16GB but then you only really can use just over 60% of the space for your stuff...and if I didn't already know things like this can happen I would be really utterly pissed off. But I won't be surprised if everything is correct and as it should be and there is no chance of claiming any of that space back. Just wanted to double check :)

Thanks!


View attachment 500645
View attachment 500646
Its a common misconception that formatting causes you to lose space. In reality that part is minuscule.


16 GB advertised is metric, 16billion bytes. You have this.
16,000,000,000 bytes / 1000^3 = 16GB

The operating system labels data wrong, its counting actually counting GiB but labeling GB. In a Gibibyte... a kilobyte is 1024 bytes, and s megabyte is 1024 kilobytes, and a Gibibyte is 1024 mebibytes.
16,000,000,000 bytes / 1024^3 = 14.9GiB (this is your real starting point)

14.9 - 12.2 = 2.7gib of OS and undeletable apps and data.

Your breakdown of your 4.7 used was erroneous. Its program file, plus music, plus video, plus cache, plus swapfile. If you plugged unto iTunes, you'd probably see 2+gb of 'Other'.

----------

Do you have an auto-downloaded system update? That you haven't installed?

Also, FYI, the situation isn't better on the other side of the fence.


http://appleinsider.com/articles/14...samsung-galaxy-s4-declared-biggest-memory-hog

Among 16-gigabyte smartphones, Apple's iPhone 5c ranks first among available storage, with 12.6 gigabytes, or 79 percent of its advertised space, according to Which. Not far behind, in third place, is the flagship iPhone 5s, which ships with 12.2 gigabytes of capacity available, representing 76 percent of the advertised capacity.

Coming in dead last in the analysis conducted by Which is the Samsung Galaxy S4, which has just 54 percent, or 8.56 gigabytes, of its advertised space. It's speculated that this capacity is limited by the amount of customized software Samsung includes on the handset, including its Android skin "TouchWiz," and features such as eye tracking.


----------

Ended up buying a new 64GB iPhone 6 today as I started worrying that as time goes on, not just games with their increasing graphics quality that will no doubt mean a larger app download, but apps in general will become more complex and just eat at the storage.

64GB might not be a lot to some; but for me, coming from only ever having 16GB devices ... It's a big step up; way enough to take plenty of photos and videos, maybe put a bit of music on there and still have room of plenty of apps. But more future proofed for someone who only changes phones roughly every three years.

Thanks guys!


Good choice. The quadrupling of storage for the extra $100 is a much better deal than in years past. (Better... But still pricy for $2/gb)
 
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