Need space on iPhone 5. what are "other" items hogging space ? how 2 delete "others"

[Subu]

Hi

Good day folks

I'm using an iPhone 5, 16 GB

I'm on iOS 8 .. just plain 8.

*My main question is*, how to recover space / remove unwanted stuff on the iPhone 5, 16 GB.

When I connect to iTunes & search for what's hogging space I see "others" as a prominent item !! (pl see enclosed screen shot)

How can I get rid of that "other" , which is NOT music, NOT apps, NOT photos ?

Is there a way to do it on iTunes (using the pc rather than fumble around with the phone)

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I'm on iOS 8.0.2
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[dictoresno]

long long long debated issue, theres a few suggestions/options/work arounds. the easiest is to do a full restore, set up as new and manually set up the phone all over again...dont restore from backup. thats the quickest easiest way to get rid of that "other" data.

for more info or more intricate, but not always as effective options, try googling the issue.

 

[marvz]

Try going in Settings > Messages and there turn on 'delete messages older than 1 year'. If you have some very old iMessages/SMS threads then this could be helpful to get rid of all the old attachments.
Actually before doing this, go to Settings > General > Usage and take a look at how many space Messages consumes. There you will also find whats eating your storage since it's more detailed than iTunes.

 

[Subu]

the easiest is to do a full restore, set up as new and manually set up the phone all over again... dont restore from backup. thats the quickest easiest way to get rid of that "other" data.

thanks a ton !!

any quick links to such a full restore would be very much appreciated

what are the precautions I should take ? what do I stand to loose (in such a manual , from scratch process)

I've done an entire backup of my iPhone to PC using iTunes (wire) as recently as yesterday , but you tell me NOT to restore from backup and that scares me !!



TIa
Regards

 

[dictoresno]

I say not to restore because those gigs of other data will pop right back up. The only thing I'm concerned about when info a full restore is dumping my camera roll to my computer and saving the pics to resync later on. All my other app data and contacts are backed up to iCloud and restore themselves once I log in again. Google search for "iPhone other data storage" or similar search terms. You will find all the threads where people attempted to fix the issue. The only true fix is restoring the phone as new as if you just bought it.

 

[Subu]

Try going in Settings > Messages and there turn on 'delete messages older than 1 year'. If you have some very old iMessages/SMS threads then this could be helpful to get rid of all the old attachments.
Actually before doing this, go to Settings > General > Usage and take a look at how many space Messages consumes. There you will also find whats eating your storage since it's more detailed than iTunes.

Thanks Marvz

* Message are not taking much space. I checked under Settings -> General -> Storage -> Manage storage

* Here's a short list from Settings -> general -> Storage -> manage storage

Folder / Apps...................MB
--------------------------------------------
Music...........................3,300.0
Photos and camera.........2,000.0
iOS 8..............................608.0
Mail................................218.0
All apps........................2,352.0 [ including messages, find my phone, safari, contacts etc etc and all apple pre installed apps]
----------------------------------------------
Total as per above .......8,478.1

= say 8.5 GB

But IF I check the total storage left on my iPhone (using iTunes) that says only 1.6 GB left of my 16 GB iPhone !!

So where's the remaining 6GB gone .... ?? [ 16 -8.5 should be 7.5 , but I have 1.6 ]

Even assuming something is swolloed (by OS etc ), I'm missing at least 4 GB ~ 5 GB

thanks in advance for all help

regards