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Is a 16GB iPhone 5S enough to handle iOS8?

S

StinkyDonk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 2, 2012
131
0
Bit of an open question really, so if you're able to tell me how much remaining storage capacity there is on a 16GB iPhone 5S straight from the store with nothing extra put on there then that'd be much appreciated.

My wife's Galaxy S3 finally died after just over 2years this morning & now wont turn on after a few days of refusing to charge now & then.

She'd like an iPhone 5s (don't suggest 6 - too costly & also prefers the physical shape of the 5s) but isn't sure about how much storage capacity will be left after hearing the stories about iOS8 using up a huge chunk of your storage.
 
iPhone with 16GB storage is actually 14.8GB without the operating system.
iOS 8 is 2GB, so you're left with about 12.8GB.
 
I've been running a 16Gb iPhone 5 since iOS8 was launched without to many issues. Got about 5/5.5Gb of music on there and running about 1Gb free. Yes you have to manage it a little bit at times but its not that difficult to do. I dont take loads of photos etc but what i do take stay on the phone for a while but then get backed up to OneDrive and removed. Got plenty of apps etc as well...its more that useable space wise.
 
TomTheRiddle said:
iPhone with 16GB storage is actually 14.8GB without the operating system.
iOS 8 is 2GB, so you're left with about 12.8GB.
Click to expand...

Really?

What's all this talk of iOS8 requiring almost 6GB then?

Or is that the difference between upgrading & buying a phone with iOS8 straight out the store?



Most of the articles i read just assume (i think) that you store 100s & 100s of photos, videos, music albums & a million apps.

In reality my wife stores NO music whatsoever on her phone
She also stores very few photos & could happily upload them somewhere if needs be.
She uses a small number of apps. Admittedly it depends how large the filesize is on these apps.


Your quote just surprises me as i imagined from everything i'd heard & read that the number would be much smaller than 12.8GB.
 
StinkyDonk said:
Really?

What's all this talk of iOS8 requiring almost 6GB then?

Or is that the difference between upgrading & buying a phone with iOS8 straight out the store?



Most of the articles i read just assume (i think) that you store 100s & 100s of photos, videos, music albums & a million apps.

In reality my wife stores NO music whatsoever on her phone
She also stores very few photos & could happily upload them somewhere if needs be.
She uses a small number of apps. Admittedly it depends how large the filesize is on these apps.


Your quote just surprises me as i imagined from everything i'd heard & read that the number would be much smaller than 12.8GB.
Click to expand...

6GB? Where did u read that?
16GB is more than enought from what u say above. Don't worry about it.
 
you should be fine... when you run updates, instead of doing it OTA, upgrade via wired with iTunes and you wont have any issues...
 
StinkyDonk said:
Really?

What's all this talk of iOS8 requiring almost 6GB then?

Or is that the difference between upgrading & buying a phone with iOS8 straight out the store?



Most of the articles i read just assume (i think) that you store 100s & 100s of photos, videos, music albums & a million apps.

In reality my wife stores NO music whatsoever on her phone
She also stores very few photos & could happily upload them somewhere if needs be.
She uses a small number of apps. Admittedly it depends how large the filesize is on these apps.


Your quote just surprises me as i imagined from everything i'd heard & read that the number would be much smaller than 12.8GB.
Click to expand...

My 128GB is actually 119GB, when I first got the phone it had 114GB, however, it came with a bunch of apps (Garageband, iMovie...), without those apps I'm left with about 116.6GB, which means iOS 8.1.2 is taking about 2.4GB
 
TomTheRiddle said:
My 128GB is actually 119GB, when I first got the phone it had 114GB, however, it came with a bunch of apps (Garageband, iMovie...), without those apps I'm left with about 116.6GB, which means iOS 8.1.2 is taking about 2.4GB
Click to expand...

the amount of space iOS8 takes up is not the same for the 16, 64, 128; its actually different amounts for each...
 
StinkyDonk said:
What's all this talk of iOS8 requiring almost 6GB then?

Or is that the difference between upgrading & buying a phone with iOS8 straight out the store?
Click to expand...
I think you're confusing OS size with upgrading the OS. The OS requires 2GB, but you need ~4-6Gb free space to upgrade from, say, iOS7 to iOS8, as the phone needs space for the current OS, space to download the new OS, space to store the unpacked new OS, and space for managing the installation of the new OS.

Most of this space is not required if you just update the OS through iTunes, as everything is then handled by the computer.
 
Gryfter said:
the amount of space iOS8 takes up is not the same for the 16, 64, 128; its actually different amounts for each...
Click to expand...
iOS8 is different sizes for different models of iPhone or iPad but i didnt think it differed for different memory sizes. Isnt the OS the same size for a 16gb iPhone 5S as it would be for a 64gb iPhone 5S?
 
a iphone 6 starts off at 200 bucks... 200 bucks is not costly dude not in america and not in a third world country

didnt know people actually buy phones off contract
 
Freshmen said:
a iphone 6 starts off at 200 bucks... 200 bucks is not costly dude not in america and not in a third world country

didnt know people actually buy phones off contract
Click to expand...

$200 is a lot of money for many people. I would never buy a phone on contract, too many issues. Especially if you're on a good prepaid plan, than a contract becomes overly expensive and annoying.

In regards to the OP, the 5S runs iOS 8 fine. The iPhone 6 isn't that much of a performance update. 16GB is constricting, but its only if you do a OTA upgrade that you need massive amounts of space.
 
Gryfter said:
128gig:
capacity: 114gb
actual: 110gb

64gig:
capacity: 55.6gb

here: its explained in this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1796084/
Click to expand...
Thats nothing to do with what iOS8 takes up on the device though as far as i know. The actual iOS8 installation on a 16gb 5S and a 64Gb 5S will be the same size no matter how much memory it has to start with. The issue you are seeing is that a 16gb memory device wont have 16gb to use even if its completely empty and this difference is magnified the bigger the amount of memory.
 
Defender2010 said:
6GB? Where did u read that?
16GB is more than enought from what u say above. Don't worry about it.
Click to expand...

Yeah my wife has 16gb iPhone 6 and no issues. She has several pics and games but no music. No problem with space so far.

----------
oldmacs said:
$200 is a lot of money for many people. I would never buy a phone on contract, too many issues. Especially if you're on a good prepaid plan, than a contract becomes overly expensive and annoying.

In regards to the OP, the 5S runs iOS 8 fine. The iPhone 6 isn't that much of a performance update. 16GB is constricting, but its only if you do a OTA upgrade that you need massive amounts of space.
Click to expand...

8.1.3 stopped the "massive amts of space" requirement. Some site (the verge maybe) updated OTA a 5 with only 400+mb free. Never could do that before 8.1.3.

----------
Gryfter said:
128gig:
capacity: 114gb
actual: 110gb

64gig:
capacity: 55.6gb

here: its explained in this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1796084/
Click to expand...

Well part of it could be the Apple apps. Keynote, Pages, Garageband, numbers and iMovie all came preinstalled on my 64gb iP6 not on wifes 16gb iP6. Those are all huge!
 
StinkyDonk said:
Bit of an open question really, so if you're able to tell me how much remaining storage capacity there is on a 16GB iPhone 5S straight from the store with nothing extra put on there then that'd be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

No problem with my 16GB 5S. You're looking at about ~12GB without any 3rd party software installed. I always do update install from iTunes.
Obviously you'll use up some space once you start using it for messages, email, pictures, etc.
 
AHHHH that's the issue then - OTA updates vs going via iTunes.

Thanks for clearing that one up as that's been the bit of a sticking point for her. Bought a Galaxy S4 today as it's £300 with the iPhone 5S at £470 but thankfully she's not opened it up so should be ok to return
Freshmen said:
a iphone 6 starts off at 200 bucks... 200 bucks is not costly dude not in america and not in a third world country

didnt know people actually buy phones off contract
Click to expand...

Well i'll concede you didn't know what country i'm from, but just to let you know that price in dollars is irrelevant to me.

Also, iPhone 6's over here are not THAT cheap.

Here you go ... STARTING at £539 https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/phones/apple/iphone-6/#contractType=payasyougo


$822 if you're an American
$1036 if you're a Canadian
$1058 if you're an Australian

:)
 
It's fine on my 16gb iPhone 5. I've used 10.9gb and have 1.8gb available. That's with music, photos, etc. She will have to be careful about the "other" that builds up, but you can get rid of it by backing up and restoring from iCloud.
 
Rhonindk said:
As long as you are content with remaining married to iTunes .... physically.

OS update size vs. open memory vs. Other
Click to expand...
For OTA updates it seems like iOS 8.1.3 had a change in it to address that part.
 
When thinking of space, it's funny, but how many think of the space APPS take? Nowadays, take a look at how big most app updates are when you're updating them. Facebook alone is something like 67MB. That's 1 app.

I have a 16GB 5S and for any future purchases, I finally feel as if I need a higher size. I've had every version of the iPhone so far except the 6's and I've always had 16GB and always had enough space.

I have no music synced, 53 apps, 1,300 photos, 11 (short) videos, and I have 3.89 GB remaining. Apps are becoming more and more advanced and taking up more and more space. With just 2 pages of apps it is by far the biggest memory hogger of the categories.

16GB is not ideal, at all.
 
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