Persistent Memory Issues

[jjudson]

This probably has been talked about here, but I can't find a thread.

I ran out of memory on my 256GB iPad Pro and found an article recently where a former Apple engineer said that it's a known bug that Apple refuses to address that causes persistent memory, even after data is deleted. He recommended backing up the iPad and doing a fresh install. When I did that, I "found" over 100GB of memory that had been lost and now freed up.

That's a RIDICULOUS amount.

Re-installing the iPad is time consuming and cumbersome. Does anyone have ideas how to better manage this so it doesn't happen?

 

[BugeyeSTI]

I've never had to deal with an issue like that.. System data is always 7-8GB or under on my devices.. 100 is crazy...

 

[FeliApple]

This probably has been talked about here, but I can't find a thread.

I ran out of memory on my 256GB iPad Pro and found an article recently where a former Apple engineer said that it's a known bug that Apple refuses to address that causes persistent memory, even after data is deleted. He recommended backing up the iPad and doing a fresh install. When I did that, I "found" over 100GB of memory that had been lost and now freed up.

That's a RIDICULOUS amount.

Re-installing the iPad is time consuming and cumbersome. Does anyone have ideas how to better manage this so it doesn't happen?o

Storage, you mean? Yeah, years-old bug. Apple, like you said, refuses to fix it. Wipe clean and setup as new to fix it, no other way. It’s very unfortunate.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

So, there have been and likely are some bugs relating to storage. But there are also behaviors that are perfectly normal, and not indicative of a problem. It's important to distinguish between the two.

In a nutshell - if you're not getting pop-up messages about storage, and if you're able to save data - but you're staring at your Settings > General > iPad Storage and wondering why something is a size you don't expect it to be - you're probably not dealing with a bug. iPadOS will dynamically manage storage, hoarding some if it's available, but releasing it if necessary (not just because "You want it released," but because it's needed for some other purpose). This is NORMAL BEHAVIOR. As it states here, "Your device automatically removes cached files and temporary files when your device needs more space."

So - if you ARE running into actual pop-up messages or you ARE having trouble saving data - then yeah, maybe, MAYBE, you've encountered a bug. If you have a 256GB iPad and you feel like you're only using 80GB but storage is 180GB full - ~70GB free - and you aren't encountering problems, then it's behaving as normal. Yes, backing up and restoring will clear 100GB or whatever. THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S A PROBLEM. iPadOS is just retaining caches/files in case you need them again, to prevent having to re-download them. If the space is needed, it will be cleared.

iPadOS is not macOS, it's not Windows, it's not Linux - don't expect it to behave like something it's not.

Of course, if you don't LIKE the way it's behaving and you want to complain about it - by all means, do! But that's not a "Bug," it's intended behavior.

 

[FeliApple]

So, there have been and likely are some bugs relating to storage. But there are also behaviors that are perfectly normal, and not indicative of a problem. It's important to distinguish between the two.

In a nutshell - if you're not getting pop-up messages about storage, and if you're able to save data - but you're staring at your Settings > General > iPad Storage and wondering why something is a size you don't expect it to be - you're probably not dealing with a bug. iPadOS will dynamically manage storage, hoarding some if it's available, but releasing it if necessary (not just because "You want it released," but because it's needed for some other purpose). This is NORMAL BEHAVIOR. As it states here, "Your device automatically removes cached files and temporary files when your device needs more space."

So - if you ARE running into actual pop-up messages or you ARE having trouble saving data - then yeah, maybe, MAYBE, you've encountered a bug. If you have a 256GB iPad and you feel like you're only using 80GB but storage is 180GB full - ~70GB free - and you aren't encountering problems, then it's behaving as normal. Yes, backing up and restoring will clear 100GB or whatever. THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S A PROBLEM. iPadOS is just retaining caches/files in case you need them again, to prevent having to re-download them. If the space is needed, it will be cleared.

iPadOS is not macOS, it's not Windows, it's not Linux - don't expect it to behave like something it's not.

Of course, if you don't LIKE the way it's behaving and you want to complain about it - by all means, do! But that's not a "Bug," it's intended behavior.

You’re right, but unfortunately this bug prevents people from storing anything. It fills up the storage, and you can’t delete it, because it’s unnecessary system storage, you can’t even know what it is, because it doesn’t tell you. And of course, you can’t access it. Yes, occasionally it will fill up and then clear itself when you needed, but this bug makes it so it doesn’t clear itself, and… there’s nothing the user can do.