"Storage Full" on the 32GB ATV4k

[Juicy Box]

Hello all,

On a few threads in the past there were people asking if it was worth paying the extra amount for the 64GB ATV4 or ATV4k, with many posts stating that it would be impossible or almost impossible to fill the storage on the 32GB ATV, so there really is not any point in getting the 64GB version.

I posted a few times that I purchased a 64GB ATV4 at launch, and over time collected many apps, and I never filled the 64GB one, but I always wondered if a 32GB one would fill up.

The answer is YES, you can run out of storage on the 32GB ATV, as it has happened about an hour ago.

I have a message on many apps stating :
"Unable To Install "[the app name]"
"Your device does not have enough available storage to install this app."

While this might not ever happen to the average user, I just wanted people to know it can fill up, and that fact alone might make the relatively low extra cost of a 64GB ATV worth it.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

YES! Exactly how I look at it. It's a £20 difference - that's really nothing when spending £180+ for the ATV. Having learnt the hard way with iPhones and Macs, with Apple, you can never have too much storage BUT you certainly can not have enough if you buy the smaller options.

Is it just Apps and maybe 15+ 4K screensaver that are on your ATV 4K Vertical Smile?

Will a reset clear maybe app cache?

 

[Juicy Box]

Will a reset clear maybe app cache?

Do you mean a "restart"? No, this didn't help. I am not sure if it is even cached. I was hoping it was and that the OS would clear some of the cache to download some more apps, but it did not after a day of waiting.

I have deleted many apps to be able to get the ones that I need.

Is it just Apps and maybe 15+ 4K screensaver that are on your ATV 4K Vertical Smile?

I don't think it is the 4K screen savers, as I thought they get downloaded over time, but maybe it is.

Anyone know if there is a way to check the space that the screen savers are taking up? I don't remember them in storage.

Maybe I will disable them and see if that makes a difference.

Having learnt the hard way with iPhones and Macs, with Apple, you can never have too much storage BUT you certainly can not have enough if you buy the smaller options.

This is so true. I have own a lot of iPhones over the years starting with the original, and I used to get the cheapest storage option, with exception with the original one, I got the 8GB vs the 4GB.

I got tired of having to delete stuff all the time, so starting with the 6s Plus I bought at launch, I started getting the highest storage available.

That is one reason I would disagree with people saying that the 64GB ATV was not worth the extra amount of money. Now, I am dealing with having to delete stuff all over again.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

I believe that the screensavers are 300-600mb each depending on their running time.
Have you downloaded games that are taking up space? Any idea what is taking up the space? Is it a rouge app that is large is size?
What does the menu say in terms of apps size?
Are you running a beta tvOS that may be large?
I always thought that apps were 50mb on average for the aTV.

 

[Juicy Box]

Have you downloaded games that are taking up space? Any idea what is taking up the space?

I know what is taking up majority of the space, it is games. As mentioned earlier, I have a huge amount of apps, mostly games on my 64GB ATV4, which never ran out of space.

But, I have been having to delete many apps on my new ATV4K. I don't think it is cached data, as cached data was always purged on the 64GB ATV4 to make room for more apps.

What does the menu say in terms of apps size?

Huh?

Are you running a beta tvOS that may be large?

No, I am pretty sure it is the games. Maybe in addition in the games, the larger 4K screen savers are having a bigger impact than the non-4K versions. But I am sure it mostly due to the games.

I always thought that apps were 50mb on average for the aTV.

This might be true, but there are plenty of larger apps out there. Plus, I have a lot of apps installed.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I wonder why Apple doesn't make the link we have to have anyway- TV to iTunes running on some computer- leverage the abundant storage on the computer to avoid this kind of issue?

Store the most-used apps locally on the TV but then stream over the less-used apps as needed. Then, owners could have 1000 big game apps "on" their TV, when, in reality, they are stored over on their computer- just like locally-stored movies, music, podcasts, photos, etc. I wonder why they would opt to not "stream" over less-used apps just like other kinds of local media, and thus take advantage of the massive storage on the computer to which an TV is linked? (and I can't believe an extra $20 retail is the motivator here, as conceptually, double the big game apps downloaded and 64GB will fill up too).

If perhaps the goal is to eventually end the dependency on being linked to a computer at home, the same concept would work storing less-used apps in iCloud... and streaming them down when someone wants to run one of those apps and it's not already in local storage on their TV. Again, this would be much like streaming down music, photos, videos, etc stored in iCloud and not stored locally on the TV. Why would apps be treated as the exception vs. all those others kinds of media?

 

[Mrbobb]

My question is, how many Apps do you have and of those how many do you use regularly?

 

[Juicy Box]

My question is, how many Apps do you have and of those how many do you use regularly?

Over 400 on the 64GB ATV4. 10-20 apps used daily.

 

[Audit13]

In Canada, the price difference between the 32 ($220) and 64 ($240) is only $20 CAD plus taxes.

Since I was able to get a 32 4k through direct tv shipped to my home in Canada for $73 USD, the difference between the 32 for $73 USD including taxes vs the 64 for $240 CAD plus taxes was too large to warrant getting the 64 GB version. Had I not been able to get the deal from direct tv, I would have purchased the 64.

 

[Juicy Box]

In Canada, the price difference between the 32 ($220) and 64 ($250) is only $20 CAD plus taxes.

Since I was able to get a 32 4k through direct tv shipped to my home in Canada for $73 USD, the difference between the 32 for $73 USD including taxes vs the 64 for $240 CAD plus taxes was too large to warrant getting the 64 GB version. Had I not been able to get the deal from direct tv, I would have purchased the 64.

This was the case more me as well, except I got the 32Gb ATV4K for $105.

But, if one was paying full retail price, which many people do, I think the 64GB ATV is worth the extra amount.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Over 400 on the 64GB ATV4. 10-20 apps used daily.

OMG DUDE!!!!!!!! I only have WSL, RedBull TV, Netflix, MUBI, YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud, MixCloud, Chill, AirBnB, M2M Fashion, FTV and maybe 2 or 3 more
I'm a minimalist with tech

 

[Juicy Box]

OMG DUDE!!!!!!!! I only have WSL, RedBull TV, Netflix, MUBI, YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud, MixCloud, Chill, AirBnB, M2M Fashion, FTV and maybe 2 or 3 more
I'm a minimalist with tech

Well, it is kind of a long story, the short version is that I had around 140 apps installed, and I wanted to see how many more apps I could put on my 64GB ATV.

I downloaded a bunch of free ones, and was never able to fill it up.


I was going to delete them all, but I found it to be a good way of app discovery, especially with games. There has been many apps I would have never tried if it was not for my experiment.

While there are too many apps to list that my family ended up liking, some notable ones are:

SongPop
CrazyCast
Inside
Mikey Jumps
2048
Linda Brown
A bunch of card games

There are many others too. I would have never discovered them without trying to see if I could fill the 64GB ATV.

As for using about 10-20 a day, some I just long into long enough to collect the bonus items, like crosseyroads. I also have a large family with almost everyone using at least one app on it a day.


Anyways, the point is that a 32GB ATV can get filled, and if someone is paying full retail pricing, then I think the extra $20 would be well worth the hassle of having to delete a bunch of apps, which I am going through it now.

Also, I am unable to use the iCloud Home screen feature without deleting many apps from my 64GB ATV.

 

[benji888]

What does the menu say in terms of apps size?

Huh?

I think he means:

Settings>General>Manage Storage

This shows a list of apps installed, beginning with the largest one first.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Well, it is kind of a long story, the short version is that I had around 140 apps installed, and I wanted to see how many more apps I could put on my 64GB ATV.

I downloaded a bunch of free ones, and was never able to fill it up.


I was going to delete them all, but I found it to be a good way of app discovery, especially with games. There has been many apps I would have never tried if it was not for my experiment.

While there are too many apps to list that my family ended up liking, some notable ones are:

SongPop
CrazyCast
Inside
Mikey Jumps
2048
Linda Brown
A bunch of card games

There are many others too. I would have never discovered them without trying to see if I could fill the 64GB ATV.

As for using about 10-20 a day, some I just long into long enough to collect the bonus items, like crosseyroads. I also have a large family with almost everyone using at least one app on it a day.


Anyways, the point is that a 32GB ATV can get filled, and if someone is paying full retail pricing, then I think the extra $20 would be well worth the hassle of having to delete a bunch of apps, which I am going through it now.

Also, I am unable to use the iCloud Home screen feature without deleting many apps from my 64GB ATV.

Haha fantastic. Well, i've been using the iPhone with its apps since the early days and do you know what? I'm finding that every year, i'm keeping less and less apps on my iPhone. Again with my X, I probably only have 10 apps on it now. In 2011-12 days, I had loads but never got used that often. Now I just think that there's no point in having ones on it that I don't use every day
Mind you, over the weekend I downloaded the BBC iPlayer Radio app so that I can listen to Gary Davies Sounds of the 80s as he's a true legend and I've got to say that, it's the best designed, most user friendly app that i've ever had the pleasure of using in my life.
The team that have designed it are pure genius - it's very clear that the BBC regard the iPhone & iPad as the future for broadcasting. Being able in download shows with a choice of audio quality, on demand & segments of shows is spot on along with a very nice rewind/fastforward dial. An absolute marvel in iOS App design!!!

 

[Juicy Box]

I think he means:

Settings>General>Manage Storage

This shows a list of apps installed, beginning with the largest one first.

Oh, I knew about that, the only thing that list is good for is if you need to delete stuff you can see what is taking up the most space. As for informative data, it doesn't give helpful info like total data used, or free data.

I have a storage app, but that is not helpful as it doesn't separate cached data.

If it helps, I spent a minute counting, and I have almost 120 apps that are over 100MB, the top ten biggest apps range from 542.7 MB to 1.31 GB.

The largest app is currently the game "Inside".

 

[Michelasso]

Hello all,

On a few threads in the past there were people asking if it was worth paying the extra amount for the 64GB ATV4 or ATV4k, with many posts stating that it would be impossible or almost impossible to fill the storage on the 32GB ATV, so there really is not any point in getting the 64GB version.

Well.. The general answer has always been "it will not fill up unless one installs many games". I was forced to buy the 32 GB model myself (I couldn't find for months the 64GB version here in Italy) so I had checked about it extensively.

Still, the title of your thread scared the hell out of me!! I thought you filled it just with caches (like the screensavers) and it didn't allow you to install anything else. Having only 5GB left with few apps I have got a cold vibe, until I read the thread.

 

[throAU]

While this might not ever happen to the average user, I just wanted people to know it can fill up, and that fact alone might make the relatively low extra cost of a 64GB ATV worth it.

I wanted to buy a 64 GB version, but they were not available in stock anywhere so i got 32 GB.

Of course you CAN run out of storage....

 

[Juicy Box]

I thought you filled it just with caches (like the screensavers) and it didn't allow you to install anything else.

Something weird was happening yesterday, I am not sure if it was because of the cached data or not.

The DirectTV Now app on the 32GB ATV4K would not retain the login and stay logged in after leaving the app. I thought maybe it was do to a glitch with the app, so I deleted and attempted to re-download it. I could not re-download the app do to not enough space.

I started deleting apps, but it wouldn't download. I started deleting a crap load of apps, restart the ATV, and I almost did a reset, but after about 50 apps deleted, including most of the larger ones, it finally let me down load the app.

I don't know if it was due to cached data or not, but by the time it finally downloaded, the Storage app I have said there was over 10GBs free data.

Unless I get a killer deal in the future, I refuse to get another 32GB ATV.

Well.. The general answer has always been "it will not fill up unless one installs many games".

I would agree with this too.

But, like I said, there were many, many posts stating that it was impossible to fill a 32GB ATV.

Of course you CAN run out of storage....

Many people would not agree.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Many people would not agree.

I haven't seen anyone argue or assert that it is impossible to run out of space. Rather it is merely highly unlikely, especially compared to Macs or iDevices. There is no camera taking pictures filling space, there are no apps used to make new content. The only way to run out of space, as you did, is to intentionally try to do it by downloading large-file-size apps such as games.

By your own admission, you use less than 5% of the apps you have on a regular basis. That is highly unusual. Think of it in physical terms - if you had a closet packed full of clothing, but you wore less than 5% of it on a regular basis, is the right thing to (a) move to a house with a bigger closet, or (b) get rid of the clothes you don't wear?

 

[Juicy Box]

I haven't seen anyone argue or assert that it is impossible to run out of space.

I have, which was one of the reasons for me trying to see if I could fill a 64GB one.

By your own admission, you use less than 5% of the apps you have on a regular basis.

I wouldn't even say 5%, probably less, but maybe you have the wrong idea about my app usage.

Going with the 5% figure, that is on a daily basis, and probably a weekly basis. While the daily 5% figure is probably consistent, the apps that make up that 5% change.

For example, I love the tvOS game RISK. I have many, many hours playing that game, but I haven't played it in two months. I might not play it for another two months. But, I might play it on a daily basis for a month after that, and then take another break. There are many other apps that are just like this example.

Should I delete Risk, and all its data because I take a break from it? Maybe.... But if I have a 64GB ATV, I don't need to worry about it, and with the 32GB, this becomes an issue.

That is pretty much the point of the thread.

 

[Rigby]

Over 400 on the 64GB ATV4. 10-20 apps used daily.

So how many did you have on the 32GB ATV when you got the error message?

To me this just proves that the 32GB version is more than enough. I will never install anywhere near the number of apps on my ATV that you have on yours.

 

[Juicy Box]

So how many did you have on the 32GB ATV when you got the error message?

To me this just proves that the 32GB version is more than enough. I will never install anywhere near the number of apps on my ATV that you have on yours.

I am not sure how many I deleted before it would let me install apps again. It was a lot. At first, I was very picky with what I delete, but after many apps deleted without being able to download, I just started going down the list, starting with the largest ones. I will get a count soon.

I feel like it was more than just a large number of apps, I think it was also cached data that would not clear itself to make room for more apps. The reason why I say this is because I was trying to download just one app, but I deleted many GBs of data and I was still unable to download it. Eventually it worked, but I deleted a crap load of apps, and not ones with small footprints.

To me this just proves that the 32GB version is more than enough.

Maybe for you, but obviously, it was not for me.

If one was paying retail prices for a new ATV, I would recommend spending the relatively low cost for double the storage.

As one post puts it:

you can never have too much storage

 

[oneMadRssn]

I wouldn't even say 5%, probably less, but maybe you have the wrong idea about my app usage.

Going with the 5% figure, that is on a daily basis, and probably a weekly basis. While the daily 5% figure is probably consistent, the apps that make up that 5% change.

For example, I love the tvOS game RISK. I have many, many hours playing that game, but I haven't played it in two months. I might not play it for another two months. But, I might play it on a daily basis for a month after that, and then take another break. There are many other apps that are just like this example.

Should I delete Risk, and all its data because I take a break from it? Maybe.... But if I have a 64GB ATV, I don't need to worry about it, and with the 32GB, this becomes an issue.

That is pretty much the point of the thread.

But do you eventually go back to all 400 or so apps you downloaded? That's a lot of apps... I don't think I have 400 apps and games across all my devices (iPhone, Mac, Windows, Xbox, AppleTV), let alone just one.

Look, clearly you found yourself a nice corner case where having a 64GB AppleTV makes sense. I say good for you, and I don't mean it sarcastically. But as the guy above said, I think your situation proves how extreme and unusual it is to run out of space, and thus the 32GB version is more than enough for 99% of people.

This is coming from someone who "upgraded" their first-gen AppleTV to have 500GB hard drive, so I understanding wanting more storage where the device is powerful enough to use it.

Also, I think "recommending" the 64GB model to people new to the AppleTV or the Apple ecosystem on this forum and other forums is a bad message (not saying you do this, but as you can see above, some people are certainly taking your experiment to do this). The AppleTV is already more expensive than nearly all comparable devices, the 64GB one might be too much to swallow when so many people think the the built-in smartTV apps are "good enough." I'd rather see more people using it for basic streaming apps, where 32GB is plenty, so the OS and ecosystem grows.

 

[Juicy Box]

But do you eventually go back to all 400 or so apps you downloaded? That's a lot of apps... I don't think I have 400 apps and games across all my devices (iPhone, Mac, Windows, Xbox, AppleTV), let alone just one.

Look, clearly you found yourself a nice corner case where having a 64GB AppleTV makes sense. I say good for you, and I don't mean it sarcastically. But as the guy above said, I think your situation proves how extreme and unusual it is to run out of space, and thus the 32GB version is more than enough for 99% of people.

This is coming from someone who "upgraded" their first-gen AppleTV to have 500GB hard drive, so I understanding wanting more storage where the device is powerful enough to use it.

Also, I think "recommending" the 64GB model to people new to the AppleTV or the Apple ecosystem on this forum and other forums is a bad message (not saying you do this, but as you can see above, some people are certainly taking your experiment to do this). The AppleTV is already more expensive than nearly all comparable devices, the 64GB one might be too much to swallow when so many people think the the built-in smartTV apps are "good enough." I'd rather see more people using it for basic streaming apps, where 32GB is plenty, so the OS and ecosystem grows.

Fair enough, but if someone is just using it as a streaming box for basic apps (Netflix, HBO, Hulu, I would probably recommend a much cheaper, and in some ways better ATV3.

One of the best things about having tvOS is the huge app library available. One of the biggest downsides of tvOS (imo) when compared to the ATV3 is the version of apps.

 

[Rigby]

Fair enough, but if someone is just using it as a streaming box for basic apps (Netflix, HBO, Hulu, I would probably recommend a much cheaper, and in some ways better ATV3.

One of the best things about having tvOS is the huge app library available. One of the biggest downsides of tvOS (imo) when compared to the ATV3 is the version of apps.

Yes, but this is more about selection than installing and using a huge number of apps at the same time. Because of the very limited selection of channels I would no longer recommend an ATV3 to anyone today.

For me the price difference was much more than $20, since I bought my ATV4s and my 4K with significant discounts which I have never seen for the 64GB version. It just seems like a waste of money to me since I have never had a single issue with the amount of memory. I have about 30 third-party apps on my ATVs and that already seems cluttered to me.