iPad iPad Cache relating to games

[Carl098]

Hi guys!



I know this topic has been discussed at length but I'm struggling to find an answer to my specific question. I have an iPad Mini 4 running ios 9 dedicated for videos, digital comics, iBooks and games (like telltale games, Gameloft, GTA etc) I don't use it for work or internet.



I usually replay the games after finishing them, I don't delete them. I've noticed my available space going down slightly every now and then (two nights ago my available space was 28GB and last night it dropped to 27.9GB) and I have read that it is probably the cache/temporary files which are being created by the games.



I've also read that the only way to delete this cache is by removing the app/game.



So here's my question: I really don't want to remove the game/app, so if I keep replaying the games, will the cache keep on accumulating until eventually the system runs out of space? Or does the cache overwrite itself if it's a game which has already been played through and is being replayed?



I've also read posts which state that the iPad automatically clears cache when the system reaches 1GB of space. Any truth in this?



I'm sorry if it's a dumb question but as I said, I really can't find an answer to this which specifically relates to games.



I appreciate any insight. Would be great to better understand how the cache works on an iPad

Thanks so much!

 

[Precursor]

My dad's iPad had the same problem exactly and ran out of space completely! A hard shut down & restart solved the problem.

 

[Carl098]

My dad's iPad had the same problem exactly and ran out of space completely! A hard shut down & restart solved the problem.

Thanks for the reply! Does a hard shut down literally mean turning the ipad off using the shut down slider?

 

[Precursor]

Thanks for the reply! Does a hard shut down literally mean turning the ipad off using the shut down slider?

Yes, press the power button for a couple seconds, use the slider to shut down, then reboot after a couple seconds.

 

[FeliApple]

I saw my iPod Touch 5G say 'cleaning' on iOS 6 once after I ran out of space. It was a 50MB app that had produced cache up to 1.2GB. No content was lost but all the cache was cleared. My iPad now has 80GB left and the only way to clear app cache is to delete and reinstall AFAIK.

 

[Carl098]

I saw my iPod Touch 5G say 'cleaning' on iOS 6 once after I ran out of space. It was a 50MB app that had produced cache up to 1.2GB. No content was lost but all the cache was cleared. My iPad now has 80GB left and the only way to clear app cache is to delete and reinstall AFAIK.

Do you know if game apps have a limit on how much cache they produce? In other words, if you keep replaying a game, will it reach its cache limit and then start overwriting older cache or does it keep producing new cache, meaning that space becomes less and less each time the game is replayed?

 

[Carl098]

Okay, here's a perfect example of what my question is...

Last night I was playing amazing Spider-man 2 (gameloft) on my ipad mini 4. I was not connected to the internet (the game runs offline). This is the third time I'm playing it and when I turned my ipad on last night, the game's documents and data size was 229 mb. I played for about two hours then checked the documents and data again: it had jumped to 248 mb.

But this is the third time I'm playing the game so it is clearly adding to the documents and data each time I play. I would have thought it would produce the cache/data files on the first playthrough and then just keep referencing those, but no it seems to keep adding new files. I turn my ipad off every night (power button and turn off slider) and switch it back on again the next night. But the data folder stays the same size if I do this.

I guess this means that the device will (eventually) run out of space just from replaying games, which is weird. Granted, I have 27 GB available so it will probably take a looong time to fill that up just from app data but it's still weird that an ipad can get filled up by using the same apps which are already installed, even if no other new apps get added.

 

[FeliApple]

Do you know if game apps have a limit on how much cache they produce? In other words, if you keep replaying a game, will it reach its cache limit and then start overwriting older cache or does it keep producing new cache, meaning that space becomes less and less each time the game is replayed?

The space, as far as I know, is limited by the OS's available space. If you have 250 GB, I think that if the game wants to use 100GB then it will use them.