"Other" taking up 50% of capacity

[cosmichobo]

Hi,

My son has just deleted a bunch of games from his iPad, but instead of gaining space, it's now all listed as "System Other" - 16GB out of the total 32GB. (It's an older iPad... I think probably 2017 model)

What's more - after I tried freeing up a bit more space (cleared Safari's caches, Minecraft maps, etc), then restarted... the free space that I'd made disappeared - the Other "grew" to again only leave a tiny amount of free space.

What the - ???

I've been looking online, and no one (ie MacWorld, and other Mac sites) seem to have any real idea how to resolve this. They suggest clearing the caches etc - but there are no "big" ticket apps that have anything clear-able...

My only thought was - when my son deleted the apps - has the iPad kept their data?

Other than wiping the iPad and re-installing the apps, what can I try to clear this "other"?

cheers

cosmic

 

[bsamcash]

“Other” can also refer to data in the Files app such as downloads or miscellaneous stuff from apps.

 

[cosmichobo]

It just seems odd that he cleared off a heap of games... and instead of clearing space, the space turned into "other", and didn't give any free room at all.

And now when I do free up more space, the space gets absorbed by the "other" too.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Did he really delete the apps or accidentally put them in the app drawer?

 

[cosmichobo]

Did he really delete the apps or accidentally put them in the app drawer?

Ok - I've googled "app drawer" because the term meant nothing to me... and it still doesn't...?

I know he's removed a fair few apps as the list when you go into "iPad Storage" is much smaller than previous. The "bar" that shows what the iPad's storage is made up of shows around 7gb of Apps, I think a similar size for System, and the 16gb of "Other". (Plus just a small amount of media / pics)

 

[Slartibart]

Check the app list in Preferences->General-> iPad Storage to see wether the apps where really deleted, then restart the iPad.

 

[cosmichobo]

@Slartibart (you're missing the fast - though, it's unimportant)
Thanks - have been in that screen already, clearing out caches and things. Then when I restart - the "Other" simply gets bigger, taking up all of the new empty space I have created...

 

[Slartibart]

@Slartibart (you're missing the fast - though, it's unimportant)
Thanks - have been in that screen already, clearing out caches and things. Then when I restart - the "Other" simply gets bigger, taking up all of the new empty space I have created...

which version of iPadOS?

 

[Saladin12]

Hi @cosmichobo I had something similar with my wife's iPad. The only way I was able to minimise that 'other' storage was by backing up to iCloud and then completely resetting to factory. It cleared up so much storage space! And iCloud made setting the iPad back up a breeze

 

[cosmichobo]

It's a 5th Gen iPad running 14.4.2.

 

[cosmichobo]

Hi @cosmichobo I had something similar with my wife's iPad. The only way I was able to minimise that 'other' storage was by backing up to iCloud and then completely resetting to factory. It cleared up so much storage space! And iCloud made setting the iPad back up a breeze

Thanks for the reply, @Saladin12

I am thinking I'm going to have to back up and re-install... wont be using iCloud though (only have the 5gb free version; not paying Apple for storage)

 

[Saladin12]

Thanks for the reply, @Saladin12

I am thinking I'm going to have to back up and re-install... wont be using iCloud though (only have the 5gb free version; not paying Apple for storage)

Hopefully it works, let us know how you get on!

 

[jdb8167]

The only solution I’ve found is to backup your iPad and then erase it completely. Then restore from backup. It takes a while so do it when you have time when not using the iPad but the restore is just one step and then a long wait.

I had this problem after I deleted a bunch of movies. The delete just turned it all into other instead of actually deleting.

Edit: I should try it again on iPadOS 15 to see if Apple fixed it.

 

[cosmichobo]

Apple's website says if you are running iOS 13 and this happens - update to iOS 14. That is their magic solution. Aren't they fantastic!

@jdb8167 - thanks for the heads up. Looks like it's what I'll have to do...

 

[jdb8167]

Apple's website says if you are running iOS 13 and this happens - update to iOS 14. That is their magic solution. Aren't they fantastic!

@jdb8167 - thanks for the heads up. Looks like it's what I'll have to do...

I should add that I did something similar to what your son did. Since there was no easy way to delete dozens of movies, I deleted the TV app assuming it would delete the videos. It just moved them to other instead. After reinstalling the TV app, the videos didn’t reappear but other still was using 100’s of GB.

 

[cosmichobo]

Just 5 minutes alone with Tim Cook... 5 minutes is all I ask...

I backed up the iPad to my MBA, and then ran "Erase all content and settings". Reconnected to the MBA to restore the backup... and the "Other" is not only still there - it's grown again to fill all empty space.

5 minutes, Tim...

-

Meh ok - I did "Restore Backup"... thinking I should do "Restore iPad" instead. But, to do that, I need to update the iOS to 14.4.6. God that is infuriating! The force to update or render a device useless.

 

[cosmichobo]

Finally got it sorted, and have a happy 5yo.
(Yes, probably shouldn't have entrusted deleting apps to a 5yo, but - well - err, learning experience...)

That's just crap that Apple can't set the "Other" up like other apps to show what it contains, and allow you to delete parts of it.

What's stranger though - every time I made free space, and restarted - the "Other" increased to fill the space. There was "something" going on there...