So after purchasing my new ipad a couple weeks ago, I decided it was a good time to clean up my iPhone 5 storage and iCloud storage as I was pushing 5 gb. I deleted everything I could. Emptied camera roll. Deleted all messages, app data, voicemail, safari files, etc. Realized that the next iCloud backup size was still calculating at nearly 4 gb. The app data set to back up was nowhere near that amount. Connected my phone to itunes and found over 3 gb of "other" data. After deleting everything I could think to delete, I decided that it must be a couple years worth of corrupted data from previous backups. So, I restored my phone as new. I redownloaded all my apps, set up email accounts and adjusted settings. Go into iCloud, and next back up size now read 35 mb. So that worked, but...
I've been monitoring the back up size for a few days and watching it grow for seemingly no reason when in fact it should be shrinking. For example, I'll go in and refresh the next backup size, then immediately delete some text message threads and then go back and the back up size will grow by a couple MB.
Deleted some contacts and went back, grew by another 500 kb. Deleted safari history and cookies and again back up size increased. Even turning the phone off and on and doing absolutely nothing else between checking the next backup size leads to a 1 MB increase in size. I even tested this on my ipad air and the same thing occurs. This makes absolutely no sense to me, there is nothing to attribute this increased data to. And while 3 mb of growth per day for no reason doesn't seem like a lot, in a years time, that's over a gb. Can someone with more iCloud knowledge than me explain what's happening here? Am I going to be forced to restore my devices as new every couple of years to recover this space? Sorry for the long post.
I've been monitoring the back up size for a few days and watching it grow for seemingly no reason when in fact it should be shrinking. For example, I'll go in and refresh the next backup size, then immediately delete some text message threads and then go back and the back up size will grow by a couple MB.
Deleted some contacts and went back, grew by another 500 kb. Deleted safari history and cookies and again back up size increased. Even turning the phone off and on and doing absolutely nothing else between checking the next backup size leads to a 1 MB increase in size. I even tested this on my ipad air and the same thing occurs. This makes absolutely no sense to me, there is nothing to attribute this increased data to. And while 3 mb of growth per day for no reason doesn't seem like a lot, in a years time, that's over a gb. Can someone with more iCloud knowledge than me explain what's happening here? Am I going to be forced to restore my devices as new every couple of years to recover this space? Sorry for the long post.