iOS 10 not freeing up space

[Kyze]

Most of the time since I installed iOS 10, I have exactly 0 KB of free space on my iPhone (16 GB). Therefore, I can't even take photos with it. With iOS 9, I had more apps and some albums downloaded and I still had at least 1 or 2 GB free most of the time. Since I installed iOS 10, however, I've been forced to remove apps and most of my downloaded content in order to be able to use the iPhone (some apps, like WhatsApp, refuse to be opened with no free space available). No more music or podcasts stored on the device. I also have to restart the phone frequently in order to regain about 100 MB that only last for a few minutes.

When I updated to the new beta yesterday, I regained about 1 GB, but it's now gone even though I have not downloaded a thing (in fact, I've barely used the phone). iOS is supposed to manage the storage, making space when needed, but it's not doing so for me.

Manage Store tells me that I have 11.76 GB in use with 0 KB free. I manually added up the storage taken by each app (including photos, etc.) and it's about 5.15 GB right now, after deleting, as I said, all of my music, podcasts, some apps, etc. Therefore, it seems like iOS is taking 6.61 GB. iTunes says that there are 4.44 GB of "Other". This doesn't seem like normal behavior.

I know it's the 16 GB iPhone, but I have little content on it and it has never been a problem on previous versions of iOS. And yes, it's a beta, but I haven't seen anyone with this problem, so maybe it's just me. I already sent feedback to Apple, by the way. Anybody else experiencing this?

 

[Mlrollin91]

This is entirely normal for a beta. Betas are creating diagnostic logs in the background that can be very large depending on if you are experiencing a lot of crashes and resprings. Also, there is a lot of system caching/indexing going on. When the final version comes out, you will get space back, assuming you delete the beta profile as well. All-in-all, iOS 10 is about 600MB larger on my 6s and Air 2.

 

[Kyze]

This is entirely normal for a beta. Betas are creating diagnostic logs in the background that can be very large depending on if you are experiencing a lot of crashes and resprings. Also, there is a lot of system caching/indexing going on. When the final version comes out, you will get space back, assuming you delete the beta profile as well. All-in-all, iOS 10 is about 600MB larger on my 6s and Air 2.

Ooh, alright, I suspected this but I didn't remember that happening on previous betas. I feel relieved now, thanks!

 

[Mlrollin91]

Ooh, alright, I suspected this but I didn't remember that happening on previous betas. I feel relieved now, thanks!

Because its a major iOS update, a X.0 vs 9.X.x, I'm sure there are more diagnostics being ran. You can try PhoneCleaner to clear these logs. Sync with iTunes after running PhoneCleaner on your computer.

 

[Defender2010]

1. iTunes always gives an inaccurate reading for other. Ignite that.
2. Diagnostics will not take up GB of space. This is inaccurate. Never have I seen a beta since iOS 2 take up loads of extra space. It takes up the size it is, that's all.
3. A restore in iTunes will free up all the space currently missing. Then restore from backup. You will gain back the space you were told the beta is taking up.

 

[Mlrollin91]

1. iTunes always gives an inaccurate reading for other. Ignite that.
2. Diagnostics will not take up GB of space. This is inaccurate. Never have I seen a beta since iOS 2 take up loads of extra space. It takes up the size it is, that's all.
3. A restore in iTunes will free up all the space currently missing. Then restore from backup. You will gain back the space you were told the beta is taking up.

I ran PhoneCleaner last week after running every single beta from 9.0->9.3.3 without restoring once. Had 2.7GB of diagnostic files that was being reported as "other".

 

[Defender2010]

I ran PhoneCleaner last week after running every single beta from 9.0->9.3.3 without restoring once. Had 2.7GB of diagnostic files that was being reported as "other".

An isolated case perhaps.

 

[Kyze]

I've just run the app that Mlrollin91 mentioned (after backing up the iPhone) and I've recovered about 1.6 GB of crash logs. There are more GB missing on my phone, but I guess this will be enough until the official release. Then, I'll probably restore. Thanks!

 

[dcp10]

Can someone provide a link to phonecleaner please?

 

[Mlrollin91]

Can someone provide a link to phonecleaner please?

https://www.imobie.com/phoneclean/

 

[dcp10]

https://www.imobie.com/phoneclean/

Thanks. Will give a try

 

[vertsix]

I do NOT recommend PhoneClean.

I used that tool to "clean" my phone and it deleted some critical data from the Photos app, which in turn corrupted almost half of my photos.

Just a personal experience. At least be careful on what you check to clean when you use it.

 

[Mlrollin91]

I do NOT recommend PhoneCleaner.

I used that tool to "clean" my phone and it deleted some critical data from the Photos app, which in turn corrupted almost half of my photos.

Just a personal experience. At least be careful on what you check to clean when you use it.

Is that the one I provided a link to?

I've been using it for a couple of years now and haven't had a single problem with losing data or data corruption.

 

[vertsix]

Is that the one I provided a link to?

I've been using it for a couple of years now and haven't had a single problem with losing data or data corruption.

Yes.

Well, it happened to me and I had to restore, the Photos app was nearly unusable.

 

[zorinlynx]

I've been closely watching free space and it doesn't seem to be going down faster than it should.

I wonder what your use cases are that's causing this problem.