iPad mini iPad mini 5 storage full issue

[ian87w]

Asking this for a friend since I'm stumped.

A friend has an iPad mini 5, iPadOS16.1. Recently, her iPad has been randomly rebooting for no reason. I checked it out. She has 64GB storage. Her actual used storage is just half of that, about 38GB. But System Data is pretty much use up the remaining storage space so the iPad is about 62GB full. This creates issues as it cannot even finish its own backup to iCloud, and it errors out when trying to update to 16.1.1. If I reboot the iPad, the storage returns to normal with almost half emptied out. But not long after that, it's filled up again. I even tried deleting some "large" enough apps like games, but system data immediately consumers the freed up space.

Anybody have any idea? Other than that, the iPad operates quite normally, until it spits out storage full warning and that random reboots. Right now, it cannot even finish its own backup because it says it doesn't have enough storage space.

 

[happy orchard]

Maybe backup, erase, and restore?

Or erase and start as new?

I would probably just start with making an appointment with an Apple Store.

 

[ian87w]

Maybe backup, erase, and restore?

Or erase and start as new?

I would probably just start with making an appointment with an Apple Store.

First problem, it cannot even finish its own backup to icloud because it keeps saying it doesn't have enough space.

Fully reset the iPad might be last resort. It's not mine so I prefer not to tell her to "just reset it."

And alas, no Apple store here. Only authorized repair centers, and I bet all they would do is reset the iPad. But before doing that, it would be useful to have a backup, which loops us back to the first problem.

 

[BB1970]

Try Settings > Safari > Clear History & Website Data
that takes up a surprising amount.
Also, some apps can leave data even if cleared. iMovie comes to mind. Delete the app and redownload from App Store. Kinda depends which apps she’s been using.

 

[ian87w]

Try Settings > Safari > Clear History & Website Data
that takes up a surprising amount.
Also, some apps can leave data even if cleared. iMovie comes to mind. Delete the app and redownload from App Store. Kinda depends which apps she’s been using.

Tried clearing Safari. It didn't reduce much, and System Data immediately took up any free space regained from clearing that, or even deleting apps.

Been searching Google and seems like it's an issue with iOS in general, with many users (iPhone or iPad) having similar issues on various versions of the OS. What's highly annoying is that the iPad cannot even complete its own backup to iCloud. With iPadOS16.1.1 requiring 4GB+ of storage space, I cannot update it either.

Will updating the iPad via iTunes sidestep that storage requirement?

 

[BB1970]

Tried clearing Safari. It didn't reduce much, and System Data immediately took up any free space regained from clearing that, or even deleting apps.

Been searching Google and seems like it's an issue with iOS in general, with many users (iPhone or iPad) having similar issues on various versions of the OS. What's highly annoying is that the iPad cannot even complete its own backup to iCloud. With iPadOS16.1.1 requiring 4GB+ of storage space, I cannot update it either.

Will updating the iPad via iTunes sidestep that storage requirement?

I don’t know. I haven’t updated to iTunes since I had a traditional computer. I’ve been iOS for years. When my storage filled, i noticed there were these particular offending apps. As mentioned, iMovie, also turned off then back on iCloud Drive (I don’t mean signing out of iCloud), and deleting the Files app and redownloading. I would do this on a regular basis. No info was lost, but it seemed to clear up. I’ve now upgraded to 512 from my previous 256 so I wouldn’t have to do this often again.

 

[ian87w]

I don’t know. I haven’t updated to iTunes since I had a traditional computer. I’ve been iOS for years. When my storage filled, i noticed there were these particular offending apps. As mentioned, iMovie, also turned off then back on iCloud Drive (I don’t mean signing out of iCloud), and deleting the Files app and redownloading. I would do this on a regular basis. No info was lost, but it seemed to clear up. I’ve now upgraded to 512 from my previous 256 so I wouldn’t have to do this often again.

She actually didn't even have iMovie installed, so that's not an issue.
Her actual usage is only about 38GB, so storage shouldn't be a problem. After every reboot, the iPad briefly shows that there are plenty of free space. Then in a few minutes, System Data filled it up. It just doesn't make sense, and I have a feeling it doesn't matter if you have 512GB. I have read other people having similar issues with their 256GB iPhone filled up by system data.

Have to check the iCloud part once I see her again. Other than this, her iPad functions normally, aside from the random reboots. It doesn't slow down or anything. Simply weird.

 

[Richard8655]

I'd go to Settings > General > iPad Storage, and see which apps use the most storage. Then maybe delete the data of those apps you can afford to lose to then enable taking a backup.

 

[antiprotest]

I have had this issue with an old iPad. Forget deleting things, because whatever you delete, the system will quickly take up the storage you free up, so that you can't even restore what you just deleted. Like, if you delete an app to see if you can free up space for an update, the system will take over that free space quickly, and then you can't reinstall that app you just deleted. I have tried everything. Wiping the iPad does not work. The system will just take over all the storage again. I think once this issue begins on an iPad, there is no fix for it. I "fixed" it by trading in the old iPad and buying a new one with several times the storage.

 

[ian87w]

I have had this issue with an old iPad. Forget deleting things, because whatever you delete, the system will quickly take up the storage you free up, so that you can't even restore what you just deleted. Like, if you delete an app to see if you can free up space for an update, the system will take over that free space quickly, and then you can't reinstall that app you just deleted. I have tried everything. Wiping the iPad does not work. The system will just take over all the storage again. I think once this issue begins on an iPad, there is no fix for it. I "fixed" it by trading in the old iPad and buying a new one with several times the storage.

Yeah, I tried deleting some games and System Data almost immediately took up the freed space.

So apparently it’s a pre-existing bug. It’s sad Apple doesn’t seem to do anything about it.

 

[sracer]

Tried clearing Safari. It didn't reduce much, and System Data immediately took up any free space regained from clearing that, or even deleting apps.

Been searching Google and seems like it's an issue with iOS in general, with many users (iPhone or iPad) having similar issues on various versions of the OS. What's highly annoying is that the iPad cannot even complete its own backup to iCloud. With iPadOS16.1.1 requiring 4GB+ of storage space, I cannot update it either.

Will updating the iPad via iTunes sidestep that storage requirement?

In my experiences, the answer is yes. Up until 2 weeks ago I have been using iTunes to update my iPads and iPhones, but since upgrading my iMac to Catalina, obviously that's no longer an option.

 

[ian87w]

In my experiences, the answer is yes. Up until 2 weeks ago I have been using iTunes to update my iPads and iPhones, but since upgrading my iMac to Catalina, obviously that's no longer an option.

Okay, at least that’s one plan we could try.
The game plan is to at least backup the iPad and update it to 16.1.1 to see if something got fixed.

 

[GMShadow]

In my experiences, the answer is yes. Up until 2 weeks ago I have been using iTunes to update my iPads and iPhones, but since upgrading my iMac to Catalina, obviously that's no longer an option.

You can still do the update, it's just through the Finder.


OP, I'd try updating it through the computer. You can also do a local backup there to bypass the iCloud limit.

 

[ian87w]

OP, I'd try updating it through the computer. You can also do a local backup there to bypass the iCloud limit.

The iCloud wasn’t actually the limit. She has the 200GB plan with plenty of cloud space.

Apparently to do iCloud backup, the OS requires certain amount of free local storage (it won’t tell you exactly how many GB needed though). Basically it’s iPadOS throwing out the error message that the iCloud backup couldn’t be completed because there’s not enough local storage. Weird, but it is what it is.

Yeah, iTunes is our next game plan. So much for the post PC era.

 

[sracer]

You can still do the update, it's just through the Finder.

Thanks for the tip! I've been using iTunes for so long I didn't know there was a new way with Catalina. 😂

 

[Richard8655]

You can still do the update, it's just through the Finder.


OP, I'd try updating it through the computer. You can also do a local backup there to bypass the iCloud limit.

Exactly right. Take the backup on your computer (Mac in my case), and make sure the setting is to backup to your computer rather than iCloud.

 

[GMShadow]

Thanks for the tip! I've been using iTunes for so long I didn't know there was a new way with Catalina. 😂

Yeah, it's a bit clunky. You still manage playlists through Music.app, but the Finder handles syncing. It's still iTunes under the hood there - which is why with enough dongles you can still sync a first-gen iPod even over FireWire.

 

[happy orchard]

First problem, it cannot even finish its own backup to icloud because it keeps saying it doesn't have enough space.

Fully reset the iPad might be last resort. It's not mine so I prefer not to tell her to "just reset it."

And alas, no Apple store here. Only authorized repair centers, and I bet all they would do is reset the iPad. But before doing that, it would be useful to have a backup, which loops us back to the first problem.

Well that’s all frustrating. Good that she has a friend like you who can help her investigate. Can she backup to a computer?

 

[trhoffmann]

Does she have “Offload Unused Apps” enabled? On my mini 6 I can free up over 8GB by enabling it, although I don’t have any storage constraints.

 

[alanvitek]

I had a similar issue: turns out System Files can harbor lots of data from other apps. For example, downloaded podcast episodes are stored in System Files and not in Apps. Turns out I had GBs of data of Apple TV episodes and Podcasts downloaded that I didn’t need.

 

[ian87w]

I had a similar issue: turns out System Files can harbor lots of data from other apps. For example, downloaded podcast episodes are stored in System Files and not in Apps. Turns out I had GBs of data of Apple TV episodes and Podcasts downloaded that I didn’t need.

Alright, another hint. I'll check the podcast app next time.

 

[ian87w]

Does she have “Offload Unused Apps” enabled? On my mini 6 I can free up over 8GB by enabling it, although I don’t have any storage constraints.

I guess that's another option to try. Didn't think of that as it seems System Data would just take up any freed space almost right away.

 

[ian87w]

Well that’s all frustrating. Good that she has a friend like you who can help her investigate. Can she backup to a computer?

Well, she didn't even realize about it until she noticed the random reboots and asked me about it. The iPad itself was performing fine, no slowdowns at all.

 

[ian87w]

Update and a whole lot of weekend drama. Hopefully this can be useful for others who have similar issues, although there's actually no concrete explanations.

Second round with the device, I managed to delete more apps so it has around 4GB of free space. It then finally could backup itself to iCloud. Ok, first objective done. Then the system data magically shrunk itself. I quickly initiated iPadOS update to 16.1.1 while the space is available. Long story short, the iPad finally got updated to 16.1.1. Thought we were done.

Then the system data enlarged itself again to its original state, taking up around 39GB of data. And it became a frustration for her as she would want to download some TV shows on Netflix for offline viewing. I finally suggested her to try resetting the whole iPad as we already have a backup. As a 2nd backup, we backup the iPad to her Macbook Air. The iPad backup itself is really small, less than 2GB. This shows that user data is not the issue.

Confident since we now had 2 backups, we tried resetting the iPad. And... it halted the reset process, claiming that her iMessage account is different from her iCloud account. Huh? There's only one iCloud account ever entered into the iPad. And the whole reset process froze. *sigh. Last resort, DFU mode. I told her we are going to reset the iPad anyway, so we would just do it with her Mac. Her mac runs the latest Monterey (she hasn't upgraded to Ventura yet). We connected it, Finder downloaded the latest iPadOS. So far so good. When it was time to prepare the iPad, the iPad glitched out. It kept boot looping to the DFU mode screen for a flash continuously. Finder on her Mac said unknown error. Yeah, very useful Apple. It kept doing that whenever we re-tried the whole process on her mac.

All seemed lost, but good thing I had my HP laptop. Yup, Windows to the rescue! I downloaded iTunes, connect the iPad, iTunes downloaded iPadOS, and... the restore was a success! Using Windows, and iTunes! Yeah Tim, where's your hardware-software integration?

But the drama has not ended. When the iPad rebooted and going to its first time setup screen, it showed that it was activation locked to her iCloud account. Sure, made sense. But it allowed us to just go through the setup process without entering any iCloud password! Wow, I though to myself, this is not a good thing. Despite that activation lock warning, we literally managed to just breeze through the first time setup process setting it as a new iPad!

Once we got to the home screen, we reset the iPad again by itself. No more activation lock warning. Then we restore the backup from her mac. It's working fine now, and system data is showing to be just less than 4GB. We just hope it won't happen again in the future, although based on a comment here, it might.

After all that, my takeaways:
1. iOS/iPadOS needs to have its own recovery mode. This is long overdue. We are supposedly in a post-PC era, and I still need Windows(!) to fix an Apple device. WTF Apple? When Windows and your old iTunes software can troubleshoot your own devices better than your own fancy new-ish OS, what does that tell you?
2. iPadOS16/iOS16 is a mess. My guess is there's something wrong with her iPadOS 16 OTA update process. Also, this made me afraid to do OTA updates. Do we have to go back updating our iDevices with iTunes/Finder for full OS update again to have reliable update? WTF with Apple's software team? Craig, stop being a salesman and do your effing job.
3. And what's up with that failed iCloud activation lock? That's not a good sign for security. This what led me to believe that iPadOS16 is the culprit.

Anyway, there's no guarantee this issue won't come back, and it seems that this is a long-standing issue on iOS for many years. The next time Tim Cook said anything about hardware and software integration, I'm going to laugh, remembering how we had to use Windows to fix the iPad.

 

[happy orchard]

Update and a whole lot of weekend drama. Hopefully this can be useful for others who have similar issues, although there's actually no concrete explanations.

Second round with the device, I managed to delete more apps so it has around 4GB of free space. It then finally could backup itself to iCloud. Ok, first objective done. Then the system data magically shrunk itself. I quickly initiated iPadOS update to 16.1.1 while the space is available. Long story short, the iPad finally got updated to 16.1.1. Thought we were done.

Then the system data enlarged itself again to its original state, taking up around 39GB of data. And it became a frustration for her as she would want to download some TV shows on Netflix for offline viewing. I finally suggested her to try resetting the whole iPad as we already have a backup. As a 2nd backup, we backup the iPad to her Macbook Air. The iPad backup itself is really small, less than 2GB. This shows that user data is not the issue.

Confident since we now had 2 backups, we tried resetting the iPad. And... it halted the reset process, claiming that her iMessage account is different from her iCloud account. Huh? There's only one iCloud account ever entered into the iPad. And the whole reset process froze. *sigh. Last resort, DFU mode. I told her we are going to reset the iPad anyway, so we would just do it with her Mac. Her mac runs the latest Monterey (she hasn't upgraded to Ventura yet). We connected it, Finder downloaded the latest iPadOS. So far so good. When it was time to prepare the iPad, the iPad glitched out. It kept boot looping to the DFU mode screen for a flash continuously. Finder on her Mac said unknown error. Yeah, very useful Apple. It kept doing that whenever we re-tried the whole process on her mac.

All seemed lost, but good thing I had my HP laptop. Yup, Windows to the rescue! I downloaded iTunes, connect the iPad, iTunes downloaded iPadOS, and... the restore was a success! Using Windows, and iTunes! Yeah Tim, where's your hardware-software integration?

But the drama has not ended. When the iPad rebooted and going to its first time setup screen, it showed that it was activation locked to her iCloud account. Sure, made sense. But it allowed us to just go through the setup process without entering any iCloud password! Wow, I though to myself, this is not a good thing. Despite that activation lock warning, we literally managed to just breeze through the first time setup process setting it as a new iPad!

Once we got to the home screen, we reset the iPad again by itself. No more activation lock warning. Then we restore the backup from her mac. It's working fine now, and system data is showing to be just less than 4GB. We just hope it won't happen again in the future, although based on a comment here, it might.

After all that, my takeaways:
1. iOS/iPadOS needs to have its own recovery mode. This is long overdue. We are supposedly in a post-PC era, and I still need Windows(!) to fix an Apple device. WTF Apple? When Windows and your old iTunes software can troubleshoot your own devices better than your own fancy new-ish OS, what does that tell you?
2. iPadOS16/iOS16 is a mess. My guess is there's something wrong with her iPadOS 16 OTA update process. Also, this made me afraid to do OTA updates. Do we have to go back updating our iDevices with iTunes/Finder for full OS update again to have reliable update? WTF with Apple's software team? Craig, stop being a salesman and do your effing job.
3. And what's up with that failed iCloud activation lock? That's not a good sign for security. This what led me to believe that iPadOS16 is the culprit.

Anyway, there's no guarantee this issue won't come back, and it seems that this is a long-standing issue on iOS for many years. The next time Tim Cook said anything about hardware and software integration, I'm going to laugh, remembering how we had to use Windows to fix the iPad.

Wow. Just wow. That was a lot you went through.