Issue with Apple Watch storage constantly filling up.

[aimforsilence]

Hello,

I'm having an issue with my wife's Apple Watch Series 1 and was hoping someone here may be able to help me as my 2 attempts at Apple support helping me and my own troubleshooting has not solved anything thus far. What happens is that the watch's internal storage get's completely full with who knows what. I've checked to see what is using up the space, but when I add everything up that's taking up space together I get less than 200MB used, and because the watch's storage is full it then starts not working properly (like not being able to erase messages, silence alarms, and constantly getting a warning that says the storage is full...etc). I've tried so many things to try and remedy this...including,

• Factory resetting the Apple Watch and then setting it up as a new device on her iPhone XS.
• Checking that her phone is not syncing over any photos, music, and other, and also making sure it only has the default Apple Watch apps installed on it.
• Resetting her iPhone, Resetting the watch, and then setting up both the iPhone and Apple Watch as new devices.
• Getting a brand new iPhone 12 Pro (don't worry she wanted to get one anyways, lol) and setting that up and then setting up the Apple Watch as a new device while also doing point 2 above.
• Checking her iCloud storage and wiping anything that we think would maybe upload to the watch (iMessage, reminders, etc).
• Signing out of iCloud on all her Apple devices, and then signing back into iCloud on all her devices.
• Restarting the Phone and Watch multiple times.
• Bring it into the Apple Store and have them run a diagnostics on it only for everything to be "fine".

I've even tried to sync her Apple Watch to my iPhone and magically this DID fix the issue. Attached to my iPhone it no longer syncs a bunch of random stuff and no longer gets full. So that rules it out being an issue with the Watch's hardware.

I've also tried syncing my Apple Watch on her iPhone and it WILL do the same completely filling up of the storage capacity. Lastly I've wiped her old iPhone XS (as she now has a brand new iPhone 12 Pro) and set that up as a new device, logged into it with MY apple id, synced the Apple Watch and it worked fine. No syncing weirdness filling up the watch.

This makes me think that the issue maybe has to do with her iCloud account. But like I've already stated...I've cleared most of it out except Phone backups, photos (which I don't sync to the watch), and her safari bookmarks and such. I'm not sure what else to try or what to do, was hoping someone here maybe could help me out. Maybe I missed trying something? Maybe you've had a similar issue and were able to resolve it. Please help, would really appreciate getting this darn watch working again.

Thanks. ?

 

[akash.nu]

Did you check within individual app, under the Watch app, if mirror the iPhone is set?! If that’s the case then things like podcast / music will automatically get copied to the watch.

 

[aimforsilence]

Did you check within individual app, under the Watch app, if mirror the iPhone is set?! If that’s the case then things like podcast / music will automatically get copied to the watch.

I have checked all the individual apps and the mirror my phone settings. I have some of them on, but only for notification settings to me mirrored. She does not have any 3rd party apps installed, and we she doesn't use Apple Music or Podcasts...we both use Spotify and that app isn't installed to her watch. Also, I have the photo settings set to currently not upload anything at all.

 

[mneuschatz]

I too am experiencing major storage full issues with my series 4 Apple Watch.
And like Aimforsilence, I have tried most everything too. Repeatedly.
In addition I've deleted a bunch of apps and still zero.
The odd part is that my usage indicator shows 0 Available and 11.6 GB used.
Yet the list below showing usage adds up to less than 1 GB.
I'm about to replace the whole watch all together but not convinced this will fix the problem.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[sixtydashone]

I assume this is the same issue the series 3 owners have been complaining about.

 

[mneuschatz]

I assume so. Yes

I assume this is the same issue the series 3 owners have been complaining about.

i assume so. Yes

 

[sixtydashone]

Unfortunately there is no solution other than try to unpair/re-pair and set up as new. This is a years-old problem at this point and I wouldn’t hold my breath for a proper fix.

 

[mneuschatz]

Unfortunately there is no solution other than try to unpair/re-pair and set up as new. This is a years-old problem at this point and I wouldn’t hold my breath for a proper fix.

Appreciate the response. I've gone thru the setup as new a couple times. When complete, it starts off great with plenty of space (was even able to fit in an OS upgrade), but the storage quickly fills up and leaves me with 0 space.

Looks like a new watch is my next thing to try.

 

[aimforsilence]

UPDATE

So after many hours of trying to fix this issue on my wife's watch I eventually did. What finally did the trick was wiping everything from her iCloud storage. This included all phone backups, photo backups, iMessage, ect. We wiped everything we were able to. After wiping all that data, there was still something taking up 6.2GB labelled as "Other". To get rid of the "other" I tried downgrading her extra iCloud storage tier back to the free tier. After doing that we had to wait for the paid tier to expire, once that happened the 6.2GB of "Other" data showed up as 6.2GB of reminders (which btw is next to impossible but okay sure apple). We then deleted the 6.2GB of "reminders" so that her iCloud was now only using 50MB of the 5GB total (so pretty much nothing. Then we factory reset the watch and set it up as a new device again. After the watch was setup the issues were gone.

It looks like this 6.2GB of "Other" and then "Reminders" was the issue. If the data was being tagged as reminders (whether it actually was or not) it would make sense why the watches storage would always get completely full. Reminders are auto syncing to Apple Watches, so that explains why setting up the watch multiple times resulted in maxed out storage so many times. Once that data was finally wiped, the issue was gone.

I've reported this issue to Apple and they say they will look into it to potentially fix it. Hopefully this helps anyone else having this or similar issues.

Here are the steps I followed to finally fix the issue,

- Opened the Settings app on iPhone.
- Opened my Apple ID > then iCloud > Then Manage Storage.
- Removed anything that was taking up space on iCloud (for example iMessage, Backups, Photos...ect) PLEASE NOTE: You may need to do this step multiple times.
- Downgraded my upgraded iCloud storage tier to the 5GB FREE tier.
- Wait however many days it takes for the paid iCloud storage tier to expire thus reverting back to the free 5GB tier.
- Opened the Settings app on iPhone.
- Opened my Apple ID > then iCloud > Then Manage Storage.
- Removed anything that was taking up space on iCloud (for example iMessage, Backups, Photos...ect)
At this point you should have pretty much nothing on iCloud. In my case I was only using 50MB of the 5GB available with the free tier.
- Factory reset Apple Watch
- Setup Apple Watch as a new device
And that's it!

 

[mneuschatz]

UPDATE

So after many hours of trying to fix this issue on my wife's watch I eventually did. What finally did the trick was wiping everything from her iCloud storage. This included all phone backups, photo backups, iMessage, ect. We wiped everything we were able to. After wiping all that data, there was still something taking up 6.2GB labelled as "Other". To get rid of the "other" I tried downgrading her extra iCloud storage tier back to the free tier. After doing that we had to wait for the paid tier to expire, once that happened the 6.2GB of "Other" data showed up as 6.2GB of reminders (which btw is next to impossible but okay sure apple). We then deleted the 6.2GB of "reminders" so that her iCloud was now only using 50MB of the 5GB total (so pretty much nothing. Then we factory reset the watch and set it up as a new device again. After the watch was setup the issues were gone.

It looks like this 6.2GB of "Other" and then "Reminders" was the issue. If the data was being tagged as reminders (whether it actually was or not) it would make sense why the watches storage would always get completely full. Reminders are auto syncing to Apple Watches, so that explains why setting up the watch multiple times resulted in maxed out storage so many times. Once that data was finally wiped, the issue was gone.

I've reported this issue to Apple and they say they will look into it to potentially fix it. Hopefully this helps anyone else having this or similar issues.

Here are the steps I followed to finally fix the issue,

- Opened the Settings app on iPhone.
- Opened my Apple ID > then iCloud > Then Manage Storage.
- Removed anything that was taking up space on iCloud (for example iMessage, Backups, Photos...ect) PLEASE NOTE: You may need to do this step multiple times.
- Downgraded my upgraded iCloud storage tier to the 5GB FREE tier.
- Wait however many days it takes for the paid iCloud storage tier to expire thus reverting back to the free 5GB tier.
- Opened the Settings app on iPhone.
- Opened my Apple ID > then iCloud > Then Manage Storage.
- Removed anything that was taking up space on iCloud (for example iMessage, Backups, Photos...ect)
At this point you should have pretty much nothing on iCloud. In my case I was only using 50MB of the 5GB available with the free tier.
- Factory reset Apple Watch
- Setup Apple Watch as a new device
And that's it!

So finally! This is the first time I've seen the source of the problem and a solution to fix the Apple Watch storage issues. Great job!

So here's what I did.
-I deleted all my reminders from icloud and my devices. This was the only icloud data I deleted.
-Then I factory reset the watch and setup as a new device.
And...It worked!
So as of now I'm in good shape. I'm now only using 2GB with 9 free.
Again, thanks for your efforts and passing it on.

Note: Deleting all my reminders and lists was something I should have taking more seriously. In my zeal to fix the problem, I lost some data that I did not properly record elsewhere. Live and learn.

 

[aimforsilence]

So finally! This is the first time I've seen the source of the problem and a solution to fix the Apple Watch storage issues. Great job!

So here's what I did.
-I deleted all my reminders from icloud and my devices. This was the only icloud data I deleted.
-Then I factory reset the watch and setup as a new device.
And...It worked!
So as of now I'm in good shape. I'm now only using 2GB with 9 free.
Again, thanks for your efforts and passing it on.

Note: Deleting all my reminders and lists was something I should have taking more seriously. In my zeal to fix the problem, I lost some data that I did not properly record elsewhere. Live and learn.

Thanks!

Glad I was able to figure this out and help everyone else fix their watches. It seems like there is a bug with reminders on iCloud. I've let the Apple folks know everything about what I've been through to fix this and they are apparently looking into it..so fingers crossed it gets fixed for good sooner than later!

 

[ERIKREY]

Thanks!

Glad I was able to figure this out and help everyone else fix their watches. It seems like there is a bug with reminders on iCloud. I've let the Apple folks know everything about what I've been through to fix this and they are apparently looking into it..so fingers crossed it gets fixed for good sooner than later!

.
I lost many hours in trying to resolve it. I saw that the memory was getting "full" after a new install but I didn't think of a daily reminder after 5 month become 6 giga backup.
So I deleted the reminder and the backup was 6 giga smaller.

Reinstall the watch as "new" and everything went well. And yes, after installing the memory was free for 3.6 giga.
Was the problem gone? I thought yes, but next morning the memory was again 0 bytes free !!!!

Damned....

Now, I'm gonna delete the watch in the I cloud, so I hope that the backup will disappear and reinstall the watch as new.

 

[aimforsilence]

.
I lost many hours in trying to resolve it. I saw that the memory was getting "full" after a new install but I didn't think of a daily reminder after 5 month become 6 giga backup.
So I deleted the reminder and the backup was 6 giga smaller.

Reinstall the watch as "new" and everything went well. And yes, after installing the memory was free for 3.6 giga.
Was the problem gone? I thought yes, but next morning the memory was again 0 bytes free !!!!

Damned....

Now, I'm gonna delete the watch in the I cloud, so I hope that the backup will disappear and reinstall the watch as new.

Damn, sorry to hear that. I think you're on the right track though. Deleting your reminders from the cloud is a good next step.

 

[Blowback]

Might be nothing but I had a similar issue on my phone and tracked it down to Podcasts! What it was that some of the podcasts I was subscribed to were Video! And since I was subscribed they would auto download episodes I had missed. Related: if you download the AppleFitness ‘Walk With…’ podcasts to your watch they take up a lot of space.

 

[MusicMaverick]

having the same issue with my watch… theres def some hidden junk taking up storage somewhere… I’ve stripped the watch down to the bones but keeps saying storpage full, but not accounting for it in usage… the reminders bug is interesting, but I never use reminders, and I checked and it’s empty. I’ve also never used podcasts so I’m at a loss as to what is causing this parasitic storage usage.

the fact that this is such a wide spread issue and the experts at apple haven’t addressed it yet is absolutely pathetic btw

 

[robnbill]

Having the same issue. Two iPhones - both gave 'storage full' (31.7GB of 32) after installing 8.0.

One phone - unpaired, repaired, restored from backup. Started with around 4 GB and filled to 17.2G over the course of a couple of hours. Staying at that level.

Second phone - same initially (31.7) - deleted most of the 'closed' reminders - went down to 27.4GB.

Phones are on the same account. Reminders on iPhones is large - about 9GB.

Phone 1 - Reminders shows data & Docs around 5MB - this is the one that started with about 10GB for reminders - this is post re-pair.

Phone 2 - This still has large storage for reminders.

So - it seems reminders is an issue on the Watch. I recall Apple released iOS 13.1 to fix "Other Storage" specifically on the iPhone - I don't recall if they issued a corresponding Watch update.

Getting IPhone 13's - it'll be interesting to see what happens. I'll post after they get updated and paied to the watches/

 

[LoveMyPens]

Anyone else still have in this issue? I currently am and I’m working on trying to get a resolution. For whatever it’s worth, I have a 13 Pro and series 6 Apple Watch. My reminders app on my iPhone says most 10GB and the reminders app on the watch says 23GB.

 

[Apleeseed84]

Anyone else still have in this issue? I currently am and I’m working on trying to get a resolution. For whatever it’s worth, I have a 13 Pro and series 6 Apple Watch. My reminders app on my iPhone says most 10GB and the reminders app on the watch says 23GB.

Doesn’t matter what you do, apple watches internal memory are allocated and cap, like media is only limited to 5gb.
Apple’s logic on this that they want you to stream your music on it or piggyback it from your iphone via Bluetooth. Makes no sense believe me but I tried also, this is the answer an Apple Engineer gave me after escalating this issue on multiple apple watches and sessions With them.

 

[LoveMyPens]

Doesn’t matter what you do, apple watches internal memory are allocated and cap, like media is only limited to 5gb.
Apple’s logic on this that they want you to stream your music on it or piggyback it from your iphone via Bluetooth. Makes no sense believe me but I tried also, this is the answer an Apple Engineer gave me after escalating this issue on multiple apple watches and sessions With them.

Well that sucks.