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"Other" still hogging space, after all these years!

J

jfreed

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2015
104
13
New York
Okay, so my phone (iPhone 6S) is now showing "Other" as 4.7GB in iTunes. What is up? It seems like this is an issue that has plagued me - and countless others, I suppose - for years! Help!
 
Yeah I had 8GB of it the other day. After reading some forums I used a programme on Windows called phone clear. I was a little scared to do it in case I broke anything but took the chance and everything was fine. It dropped down to 1.36GB after the clean up.
 
If I have data such as music files and photos stored in some "file manager" apps such as GoodReader instead of storing them in standard iOS music app or camera roll, are those files categorized under "Other" ?
 
I was fixing an iPhone and found pornography in the Videos app. iTunes lists those files as "Other"

Just saying
 
Last edited:
First of all, you should know exactly what is the "Other". There are just too many things that require physical storage. That's why Apple chose to lump a lot of things into the "Other" category. it's seems like your phone is filled with cached files and data. That can include:
  • Documents & Data
  • Safari browsing data
  • Mail data
  • iTunes data, including files that have been streamed (which can be BIG).
Deleting data, and then restoring is a good way, but you should back up first. or it will cause data lost. So it will take a little risk. Have you updated the application on your iPhone or upgraded iOS system to the newest version available? Some similar problems have been resolved using this way. If above ways still not work, you can choose some professional iPhone clean up apps. I know a programme called iMyfone Umate on Flipboard. It claims that this tool can optimize storage space and reduce the storage space occupied by apps. Maybe it's useful.

Hope this helps. :)
 
William Wales said:
First of all, you should know exactly what is the "Other". There are just too many things that require physical storage. That's why Apple chose to lump a lot of things into the "Other" category. it's seems like your phone is filled with cached files and data. That can include:
  • Documents & Data
  • Safari browsing data
  • Mail data
  • iTunes data, including files that have been streamed (which can be BIG).
Deleting data, and then restoring is a good way, but you should back up first. or it will cause data lost. So it will take a little risk. Have you updated the application on your iPhone or upgraded iOS system to the newest version available? Some similar problems have been resolved using this way. If above ways still not work, you can choose some professional iPhone clean up apps. I know a programme called iMyfone Umate on Flipboard. It claims that this tool can optimize storage space and reduce the storage space occupied by apps. Maybe it's useful.

Hope this helps. :)
Click to expand...
Album artwork also gets lumped in. On my 128GB iPad Mini 2 and my 128GB 6S+, the other is about 2GB but that's because I added high quality artwork for albums not bought in iTunes.
 
I looked at each of 3000 files from iPhone back-up folder in March (due to certain bug, iPhone 5S with iOS 8.3 couldn't restore from backup with 8.2. So I had to manually recover each file/picture/document.)

I was shocked to see some pictures I deleted years ago were present in the backup. And many random stickers from messaging apps that were never seen or downloaded were also in the backup. Furthermore, I noticed deleted apps leave certain files behind. All these could pile up, and end up taking up space.

Solution? Clean install - manually redone load apps, reconfigure settings, reimport documents/music, etc. Yeah, it's not fun, but it's worth it
 
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The "Other" file storage category doesn't refer to Other categorized files, i.e. Album Art or Videos. It is the phone's streaming and lone file cache. If you watch a lot of videos in Safari, listen to a lot of Apple Music, or have deleted quite a bit of apps that leave files behind, your "Other" category will be fairly large. However, your phone's file management system is pretty advanced, and it will use that space when it's needed. That's why it doesn't show up on the phone itself. It's nothing to worry about and it's pretty unnecessary to try to flush it or delete it.
 
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tjwilliams25 said:
The "Other" file storage category doesn't refer to Other categorized files, i.e. Album Art or Videos. It is the phone's streaming and lone file cache. If you watch a lot of videos in Safari, listen to a lot of Apple Music, or have deleted quite a bit of apps that leave files behind, your "Other" category will be fairly large. However, your phone's file management system is pretty advanced, and it will use that space when it's needed. That's why it doesn't show up on the phone itself. It's nothing to worry about and it's pretty unnecessary to try to flush it or delete it.
Click to expand...

But I prefer to clean the caches and temp files to release some space before I am ready to get a 64/128GB new phone. :)
 
At least with OS X, there are other utilities to better define who your storage is being utilized. In iOS, its really not that useful.
 
e93to said:
I looked at each of 3000 files from iPhone back-up folder in March (due to certain bug, iPhone 5S with iOS 8.3 couldn't restore from backup with 8.2. So I had to manually recover each file/picture/document.)

I was shocked to see some pictures I deleted years ago were present in the backup. And many random stickers from messaging apps that were never seen or downloaded were also in the backup. Furthermore, I noticed deleted apps leave certain files behind. All these could pile up, and end up taking up space.

Solution? Clean install - manually redone load apps, reconfigure settings, reimport documents/music, etc. Yeah, it's not fun, but it's worth it
Click to expand...
But I still think it is necessary to back up your files on Mac before you uninstall and reinstall some apps manually. Because if you don't back up any files, maybe something you don't want to delete will be gone.
 
Newtons Apple said:
It is just how the OS works. Even if you can get rid of it with a clean install it just keeps returning.

Just part of being in the Apple eco system.
Click to expand...

Are you serious? That's not how any OS should work. Its a flaw just as Apples memory management is flawed. They don't fix it cause they'd rather release useless extensions then fix the core.
[doublepost=1453690915][/doublepost]
Goatllama said:
They did, at least, finally publish some official word on the 'Other' storage: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201656

Also, I've heard that syncing the phone with iTunes can help reduce the impact of 'Other' storage.
Click to expand...

Here is the only piece of information on that page of any value: system data, and cached files
And thats where most of it end up being. I expect Apple to police this or offer a means to review and purge.
[doublepost=1453690967][/doublepost]
ZipZap said:
Are you serious? That's not how any OS should work. Its a flaw just as Apples memory management is flawed. They don't fix it cause they'd rather release useless extensions then fix the core.
[doublepost=1453690915][/doublepost]

Here is the only piece of information on that page of any value: system data, and cached files
And thats where most of it end up being. I expect Apple to police this or offer a means to review and purge. Think of all the time wasted trying to get that number down, when you never had a chance. That's why a fresh install works so well.
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1453691050][/doublepost]
tjwilliams25 said:
The "Other" file storage category doesn't refer to Other categorized files, i.e. Album Art or Videos. It is the phone's streaming and lone file cache. If you watch a lot of videos in Safari, listen to a lot of Apple Music, or have deleted quite a bit of apps that leave files behind, your "Other" category will be fairly large. However, your phone's file management system is pretty advanced, and it will use that space when it's needed. That's why it doesn't show up on the phone itself. It's nothing to worry about and it's pretty unnecessary to try to flush it or delete it.
Click to expand...

If it will use it then why report it as in use?
I think you are wrong and that space is never reused.
 
William Wales said:
But I still think it is necessary to back up your files on Mac before you uninstall and reinstall some apps manually. Because if you don't back up any files, maybe something you don't want to delete will be gone.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's an absolute mandatory to back up files before clean-installing. I didn't mention it in my posts, but I took screenshots of all settings/configurations before wiping my iPhone clean. And I exported all the documents.

I was surprised months' worth of call history was somehow reimported to my phone while text messages were not. I did use some app to export text messages to keep them on my computer, but I wish text messages are also auto redownloaded after clean install
 
e93to said:
Yes, it's an absolute mandatory to back up files before clean-installing. I didn't mention it in my posts, but I took screenshots of all settings/configurations before wiping my iPhone clean. And I exported all the documents.

I was surprised months' worth of call history was somehow reimported to my phone while text messages were not. I did use some app to export text messages to keep them on my computer, but I wish text messages are also auto redownloaded after clean install
Click to expand...

You wish text messages can be redownloaded after cleaning up, maybe it is difficult. Because you have to recover your messages manually when you want to get them back from your computer. As for why your call history was somehow reimported to your phone, would you mind explaining more clearly?
 
William Wales said:
You wish text messages can be redownloaded after cleaning up, maybe it is difficult. Because you have to recover your messages manually when you want to get them back from your computer. As for why your call history was somehow reimported to your phone, would you mind explaining more clearly?
Click to expand...

Now I've gotten into the habit of exporting texts to pdf every once in awhile. I guess it is better that way instead of text messages taking up space on my phone

Call history ("recents" on Phone app) was somehow there even after restore. I guess iCloud backs up call histories as well. From what I remember, the complete log was on my new phone after set-up.
 
e93to said:
Now I've gotten into the habit of exporting texts to pdf every once in awhile. I guess it is better that way instead of text messages taking up space on my phone

Call history ("recents" on Phone app) was somehow there even after restore. I guess iCloud backs up call histories as well. From what I remember, the complete log was on my new phone after set-up.
Click to expand...

Well, I also think iCloud backs up your call history. Do you have many text messages? Yes, you can export texts to PDF to save your storage, but I think it has limited effect.
 
William Wales said:
Well, I also think iCloud backs up your call history. Do you have many text messages? Yes, you can export texts to PDF to save your storage, but I think it has limited effect.
Click to expand...

I'm keeping texts on computer for personal viewing purpose (as records), not to save storage on my phone. If something happens to my phone, I risk losing them. So I export them to my computer every once in awhile
 
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