Is your life feeling a bit cluttered and you just feel the need to clean out or organize stuff in your life? One place you can start that won’t be too hard to part with is your iPhone or iPad system storage.
What is System Storage?
Before you clear out something that you may assume contains important documents, pictures, etc., it’s important to understand what system storage is. System storage contains two types of files: one being necessary files that operate the device’s core system and the other being temporary files such as system settings, backups, logs, and more. It’s also known as the “Other” storage when you see the overall memory statistics on your device.
More specifically, “Other” storage is system settings, caches, and files that focus on speeding up your device’s performance that Apple tends to lump into one vague category: “Other.” Some other iOS storage that is lumped into this category are Siri voices, device data, and files that are created when you stream any sort of media like music and videos.
Why Does System Storage Keep Increasing?
The amount of GB in system settings changes automatically. It has nothing to do with the iPhone or iPad user. When the software grows older and slower or just happens to malfunction, the “Other” storage can grow significantly, which can take up the rest of your iPhone memory for pictures, notes, songs, etc. The “Other” storage can also increase after you’ve spent a few hours binge watching YouTube videos, for example.
How to Empty App Caches
This may take a bit of personal research, but one way to reduce system storage is to see if some of your apps have the option to clear excess caches.
One way to figure out if your apps include this setting is to go to Settings and then go to your frequently used apps to see which ones have this setting. Go to each app within Settings and search for a Reset Cache or Clean Cache setting. You may get lucky.
How to Check Your Device’s System Storage
To check how free or not free your iPhone’s system storage may be, go to Settings, General, iPhone Storage, and then scroll to them bottom until you see System with a specific number of GB.
The amount of system storage you may have varies depending on how many apps, songs, and videos you may have streamed that day, among other things. If your iPhone has a large amount of memory and the majority of it is still free, then there’s no need to worry about your system storage number.
How to Reduce System Storage on Your iPhone
- Try restarting your iPhone. Usually when this is done, the system storage number goes down.
- Steps to reduce system storage with iTunes:
- Open iTunes on any computer and connect your iPhone or iPad
- Follow the various requirements from iTunes, such as signing in and clicking yes when you see a notification that says “Trust This Computer”
- Select your specific device in iTunes
- Then leave everything alone and just wait.
- After a few minutes, come back and see if your system storage has gone down
- Disconnect your iPhone
- Following the Recommended Section in your Apple Device:
- Go to Settings, then General, then iPhone/iPad storage
- Look for the Recommendations section
- Follow any recommendations your heart desires to see if they reduce your system storage
- Reduce system storage by restoring your device from a backup:
- You can back up your device with either iCloud or iTunes. Choose whichever you’re more familiar or comfortable with. In this article, we’ll give you backup instructions for iCloud
- On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings, tap your name, and then go to iCloud
- Go to iCloud backup and then choose Back Up Now
- Wait for backup to finish
- Wipe your phone clean of all data. Restore it to factory settings.
- Now go to Settings, then General, then Reset and Erase All Content and Settings
- Follow the onscreen instructions
- When you see a Hello screen, follow more steps in setting up your iPhone or iPad
- When you see Restore from iCloud Backup, choose it and continue following the onscreen instructions
