Icloud backup storage space not releasing

[dmt43]

I am helping my friend with her iPhone. She does not have any technical knowledge. Her backup was over 50gb. She upgraded to 50gb iCloud storage, but when she surpassed that, she complained that she did not want to keep going up in storage. Granted, she has over 10,000 photos and needs to delete some!!! But she was not backing up photos to Icloud so her backup had her photos. I deleted the backup, but Icloud still shows 50gb backup taking up storage space. It would not release. I could not backup or sync photos to iCloud until I upgraded storage to 200gb, which I did. I figured, spend $2.99, get it corrected and drop back to 50gb. I set her photos to sync with iCloud, which they did.
BUT
Icloud backup still shows 50gb!! I deleted the backup (and re-ran) again. The backup now says it is 12gb, but next backup should be 500mb. Yet when I go to Icloud storage, it is still 50gb!!!

Obvs there is something wrong! It seems Icloud is not releasing the storage space and I can’t make that happen, can I? If so, how? If not, do I need to call Apple support to have them look at it (we called support last Monday and the rep was completely clueless, very frustrating. She had NO IDEA what I was talking about so we gave up). Hope you all can help with a solution or suggested course of action ; ) thank you! Donna

 

[Bigwaff]

On what device are you reviewing the used iCloud storage?

 

[dmt43]

On her Iphone in settings and her Icloud account logged on from her phone. It does not let me do anything on icloud, it directs the user back to their device. I also checked her icloud account on my Mac, but same message - click here to manage storage on your device. I thought I could right click or something to delete the backup, but I didn’t see any options or functions that in the Icloud account.

 

[Bigwaff]

If the used backup storage is still reporting high, log out of iCloud on her iPhone, wait 5 min, restart her iPhone, and sign back into iCloud.

 

[dmt43]

If the used backup storage is still reporting high, log out of iCloud on her iPhone, wait 5 min, restart her iPhone, and sign back into iCloud.

Ok thanks. I thought about doing that, but I also thought it may cause new problems!! I am reluctant to log out of Icloud, appleid, MS account, etc. Sometimes, it messes things up and I try to avoid it, but it is also sometimes necessary.

I searched online and the only thing I saw for logging of Icloud was to keep your data. Is there anything else I should do/pay attention prior to logging out to ensure it doesn’t create new issues? I have userid/password. thanks.

 

[now i see it]

Wait a few days- it’ll sort itself out.

 

[dmt43]

Wait a few days- it’ll sort itself out.

Well, I agree with your suggestion due to the fact that something was updated/deleted. Many things do sort themselves out, if you’re patient ; ) However, it’s been over a week and when I checked storage this morning, it’s still over 50gb. So it doesn’t seem to be sorting……… I did not log out of Icloud, but I will try that next time I am with my friend.

 

[MallardRider]

I'm a lurker here on MacRumors and I am having the same problem with my iCloud storage. I have a 31.5 GB storage that won't delete itself out. I already deleted my iOS device backups off iCloud.

 

[dmt43]

I'm a lurker here on MacRumors and I am having the same problem with my iCloud storage. I have a 31.5 GB storage that won't delete itself out. I already deleted my iOS device backups off iCloud.

I haven’t logged my friend out of icloud yet. Been a little busy, but I am going to try that tomorrow. If that doesn’t work, we will call Apple support to see if they can release the icloud storage space. I cannot think of anything else I can do myself.

 

[dmt43]

Updating here with what happened since last post. It’s fixed! But it took a long time, several calls & frustration! I did log my friend’s phone out of iCloud. That did not fix the issue. The first time I called support, the rep had NO IDEA, 0, ZIPPO what I was talking about - she should not have been answering calls. We gave up on that.

The next rep we spoke to was much better. She said she had to ‘reset the system’, which she did several times. The storage space did not release. She said she would refer the call to engineering. A few days later, Apple rep called but it wasn’t engineering. We worked with her for a while and she was not able to fix it. She said she was ’taking ownership of the problem’ gave us her contact info and said we could email or message her, but she never responded when we tried that. The first time, she called my friend’s number. Thereafter, she kept calling back on my friend’s husband’s number, so we did not receive her phone calls. We told her she was calling the wrong number - she claimed his number was in the record, but he is the backup.

She finally referred the call to engineering and we had an appointment for a callback, but like I said, they were calling the wrong number and we could not contact them, so we didn’t connect. A couple days later, I was able to check my friends’s phone and it was fixed, so engineering did something. But I never got to follow up with the support rep. to find out what they did. Trying to get them to call the correct number or respond was impossible. BUT it’s fixed, and it was on their side - for whatever reason, iCloud was not releasing the storage space, even after the backup was deleted and at 0GB. But, we’re done with all that for now and I’m moving on ; )

Wanted to post this in case it helps anyone in the future. I suppose you could 1st try to log out of iCloud and back in, but I think the fix has to be done by Apple tech support - either at the 1st or 2nd level. For us, it did not work with 1st level and had to go to engineering.

 

[joeblack007]

Just to shed some light on your issue and give you some understanding when contacting Apple Support. Senior Advisors have access to advanced tools to help you but there are times (as in your case) when those tools don’t work due to something on the backend. At that point, the advisor can send a request to Apple Engineering to get involved. The engineer who gets the request can take up to 5 business days to respond to the advisor but it’s usually sooner. Once they have resolved the issue, they email the advisor who then contacts the customer to confirm everything is working. Apple Engineering does not interact with customers and they are only able to communicate with a Senior Advisor via email. These interactions can literally go back and forth for days and sometimes weeks. The advisor will attempt to call you using the number and information that is stored in the system (which it pulls from your account and from previous calls) to Apple. The advisor literally has no way to update or change that information because Apple doesn’t allow advisors to do this. When I was a Senior Advisor, I always confirmed the caller’s contact information especially when you need to call them back. That advisor should not only have called but emailed you as well. You can also call back with your case number and another Senior Advisor can find out who escalated your issue and find out what is happening. There are various reasons why an advisor may not be responding but you shouldn’t let the time frame lapse more than 5 business days before calling back. Just remember to always get the case number before ending the call. So many people contact Apple and it’s on their own number, a family member’s number or a friend’s number and that is the reason why the contact information is not correct. The case number will always locate your correct information. 👍