iPhone 14 Pro Max System Data - Storage Full - iPhone 14 Pro Max

[I had a black dog!]

My music etc is all saved to iCloud. I don’t have my old phone now as it’s been wiped & sold on. Currently chatting to apple but just getting the same responses, reset etc. all of which I’ve done & to no avail. Ridiculous really.

I feel your pain. I did the trade in process for my phone, but kept hold of it whilst trying to sort this out. I posted it to them yesterday but had an email saying it if wasn't returned in 14 days (from when the returns pack was delivered) then they couldn't guarantee the price...I think tomorrow is 14 days, but there's a postal strike today and tomorrow!

You shouldn't need your old phone. I had thought about un-syncing the media from my old phone and then backing that up and using that "new" backup...but would've lost messages received in between, so didnt do that.

If your music sync's from icloud then that probably isnt the issue. I suspect my music might have been an issue as I had manually synced it all onto the phone, not just download when played for 1st time.

What about tv shows/movies? Do you have any of those? A previous poster said they manually downloaded all videos etc (and then deleted those they didnt want on the phone) which cured it. You don't need to reset the phone to do that, but you'll need to be on wifi.

I think Apple support don't know what is going on, hence unable to give direct responses.

 

[SH81]

I feel your pain. I did the trade in process for my phone, but kept hold of it whilst trying to sort this out. I posted it to them yesterday but had an email saying it if wasn't returned in 14 days (from when the returns pack was delivered) then they couldn't guarantee the price...I think tomorrow is 14 days, but there's a postal strike today and tomorrow!

You shouldn't need your old phone. I had thought about un-syncing the media from my old phone and then backing that up and using that "new" backup...but would've lost messages received in between, so didnt do that.

If your music sync's from icloud then that probably isnt the issue. I suspect my music might have been an issue as I had manually synced it all onto the phone, not just download when played for 1st time.

What about tv shows/movies? Do you have any of those? A previous poster said they manually downloaded all videos etc (and then deleted those they didnt want on the phone) which cured it. You don't need to reset the phone to do that, but you'll need to be on wifi.

I think Apple support don't know what is going on, hence unable to give direct responses.

All media, shows, films etc are all saved to iCloud. I have very little saved to the actual phone. Never had any issues with this before. Apple asked me to reset all network settings which I’ve just done so I’ll see if that helps. In doing so it’s also disconnected our chat 🤣 what a coincidence. & it won’t deliver any more messages to them either 🙄

 

[I had a black dog!]

All media, shows, films etc are all saved to iCloud. I have very little saved to the actual phone. Never had any issues with this before. Apple asked me to reset all network settings which I’ve just done so I’ll see if that helps. In doing so it’s also disconnected our chat 🤣 what a coincidence. & it won’t deliver any more messages to them either 🙄

But when you watched any of those films etc, they would've been downloaded locally to the phone (I think), and perhaps that is where the new IOS is getting screwed up, hence the other person finding that manually forcing the download cured the problem for them. So although its stored in icloud, and available to download, the phone perhaps thinks it should already be on the phone, and is getting confused. Depending on how much media you have, it might be worth trying that....dont need to keep them on the phone, just download and delete from the phone.

I think Apple support are clutching at straws, getting you to do tests etc as a way of ruling stuff out, but resetting the network settings....dont see what that would do, and I certainly didnt do that.

You are correct, you didnt have these issues before (I never noticed it before), it is a new "bug" with IOS 16 and yes, Apple should fix it. Depends how much you are prepared to live with it till they fix it, or come up with a proper explanation of what's happening. I took the view that there were things I could still try, so I did, and they fixed it for me. If they hadnt fixed it, then all that time would've been wasted, but it did work. We shouldn't have to do this, I totally agree.

 

[SH81]

But when you watched any of those films etc, they would've been downloaded locally to the phone (I think), and perhaps that is where the new IOS is getting screwed up, hence the other person finding that manually forcing the download cured the problem for them. So although its stored in icloud, and available to download, the phone perhaps thinks it should already be on the phone, and is getting confused. Depending on how much media you have, it might be worth trying that....dont need to keep them on the phone, just download and delete from the phone.

I think Apple support are clutching at straws, getting you to do tests etc as a way of ruling stuff out, but resetting the network settings....dont see what that would do, and I certainly didnt do that.

You are correct, you didnt have these issues before (I never noticed it before), it is a new "bug" with IOS 16 and yes, Apple should fix it. Depends how much you are prepared to live with it till they fix it, or come up with a proper explanation of what's happening. I took the view that there were things I could still try, so I did, and they fixed it for me. If they hadnt fixed it, then all that time would've been wasted, but it did work. We shouldn't have to do this, I totally agree.

I will download them to device & delete them then & see if this helps. Thanks

 

[SH81]

I will download them to device & delete them then & see if this helps. Thanks

Should I restart the phone after or just delete them & that’s it??

 

[I had a black dog!]

Should I restart the phone after or just delete them & that’s it??

I don't know, but wont hurt to restart.

When the space is being used incorrectly, restarting the phone clears it for a bit, until it grows again. I guess there is a chance it will continue to (incorrectly) grow through all of this process, so I'd download a few and delete them, then check storage and keep repeating while you can, unless storage gets incorrectly full again, then restart phone and continue. When you've done, and deleted the last one, then restart phone, just to be sure.

 

[SH81]

I don't know, but wont hurt to restart.

When the space is being used incorrectly, restarting the phone clears it for a bit, until it grows again. I guess there is a chance it will continue to (incorrectly) grow through all of this process, so I'd download a few and delete them, then check storage and keep repeating while you can, unless storage gets incorrectly full again, then restart phone and continue. When you've done, and deleted the last one, then restart phone, just to be sure.

So I downloaded the 7 films I had stored on iCloud. 2 of them wouldn’t download, just said processing for ages so I just played them direct from iCloud then that unstuck them & they both downloaded straight away.

I then deleted all 7 from the iphone, restarted my iphone all on Wi-Fi & it seems it could have fixed the issue🤞🏻 it’s been 20 mins now & storage has stayed steady on 7gb even though I’m connected to Wi-Fi!

I will keep my eye on this over the course of the day but it seems promising so far!!

 

[Beertrix]

What else did you do? Just turned it off overnight (completely off, or just in standby) and then turned it back on this morning? Is it still in that 5GB range?

My phone was completely off for over 12hrs. I’ve checked it every 30mins or so today and it’s hovering around 5GB. the other thing that has happened is that on going out of range of Wi-Fi all my monthly data allowance was being gobbled up in minutes with Mobile Data ON. This is no longer the case, everything is back to normal. Not sure if this is because of my actions or those of Apple? Good luck 😻👌

 

[I had a black dog!]

So I downloaded the 7 films I had stored on iCloud. 2 of them wouldn’t download, just said processing for ages so I just played them direct from iCloud then that unstuck them & they both downloaded straight away.

I then deleted all 7 from the iphone, restarted my iphone all on Wi-Fi & it seems it could have fixed the issue🤞🏻 it’s been 20 mins now & storage has stayed steady on 7gb even though I’m connected to Wi-Fi!

I will keep my eye on this over the course of the day but it seems promising so far!!

Cool, that sounds really promising. I wonder if those 2 films that wouldn't download had something to do with it perhaps.

Keep us updated, hopefully its fixed for you.

 

[I had a black dog!]

My phone was completely off for over 12hrs. I’ve checked it every 30mins or so today and it’s hovering around 5GB. the other thing that has happened is that on going out of range of Wi-Fi all my monthly data allowance was being gobbled up in minutes with Mobile Data ON. This is no longer the case, everything is back to normal. Not sure if this is because of my actions or those of Apple? Good luck 😻👌

This sounds good as well, although makes no sense to me why leaving it off seems to have fixed it (I know turning off and on clears it for a short time).

Also, mine didn't do it on cellular, and neither did other people's so I wonder what the difference is. I have mobile data on, but to be honest, my mobile data seems very patchy....sometimes I can have a full 4G signal (no 5G where I live) but still have awful download speeds, but that might be my network or local congestion (but I live in a rural area, not a city). This isn't new to this phone or IOS 16.

Will be promising if yours is also fixed, might give people 2 options to try (although I cant see anyone of the Facebook generation being willing to turn the phone off for 12hrs 🤣)

 

[SH81]

Cool, that sounds really promising. I wonder if those 2 films that wouldn't download had something to do with it perhaps.

Keep us updated, hopefully its fixed for you.

Quite possibly yes. This is the longest it’s stayed steady on 7gb since I had the phone. Even battery seems to have stabilised now too instead of running down quick!

 

[ffogboy]

Ok. So I deleted the Apple TV app. System data dropped to just under 7gb. Stayed stable for a few hours. So I’ve now downloaded it from the App Store. So far it’s not creeping back up.

 

[SH81]

Ok. So I deleted the Apple TV app. System data dropped to just under 7gb. Stayed stable for a few hours. So I’ve now downloaded it from the App Store. So far it’s not creeping back up.

Brilliant. Paws crossed then. Mine has been around 8gb since yesterday now

 

[rgc08]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been following along with this thread as I’ve been suffering the same issues since I picked up my iPhone 14 Pro. I think I’ve managed to fix it, nothing was working for me until I deleted the Apple Music app. I’ve since reinstalled it and downloaded all of my music again and it’s working fine with system data peaking at about 8gb (previously 120gb+). I also suspect it applies to the Apple TV app as well. There was no need to do a restore or anything, just simply deleting the app and reinstalling fixed it for me. Hopefully this will be of help to someone.

BR,

rgc08

 

[Farrgazer]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been following along with this thread as I’ve been suffering the same issues since I picked up my iPhone 14 Pro. I think I’ve managed to fix it, nothing was working for me until I deleted the Apple Music app. I’ve since reinstalled it and downloaded all of my music again and it’s working fine with system data peaking at about 8gb (previously 120gb+). I also suspect it applies to the Apple TV app as well. There was no need to do a restore or anything, just simply deleting the app and reinstalling fixed it for me. Hopefully this will be of help to someone.

BR,

rgc08

I feel like this can also apply to the iTunes Store app. A few people here mentioned something about redownloading movies or shows.

 

[Jbarrand]

After sending system logs and screen shots to Apple TWICE they said I need to do it again. Apple isn’t helping but this forum helped me.

As others tried, I was able to resolve my system storage issue by doing the following with music.

Settings
Music
Turn off SYNC MUSIC
Delete all download music in the Music app including music videos
Restart iPhone
Turn on SYNC MUSIC

That worked. It’s been keeping a minimals System Data for three days now.

Let me know how I can help anyone else.

 

[vpvasquez11]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been following along with this thread as I’ve been suffering the same issues since I picked up my iPhone 14 Pro. I think I’ve managed to fix it, nothing was working for me until I deleted the Apple Music app. I’ve since reinstalled it and downloaded all of my music again and it’s working fine with system data peaking at about 8gb (previously 120gb+). I also suspect it applies to the Apple TV app as well. There was no need to do a restore or anything, just simply deleting the app and reinstalling fixed it for me. Hopefully this will be of help to someone.

BR,

rgc08

This appears to be working for me so far too after dealing with this issue since the very beginning…

 

[deliveranz]

I permanently resolved this frustrating issue by deleting and reinstalling Music and Apple TV app. Hope this works for others.

 

[Marty86]

Been having this problem since receiving my 256GB 14 Pro Max on launch day.

Just decided to do this too and noticed the problem was still present. Interestingly though, I went in to the Music app after reinstalling it, and whilst it was syncing my library, I noticed the following in the downloads tab.

I know folks have said previously that re-downloading the films they had on their old device fixed the issue. This wasn't possible for me because I no longer had access to the old device (and I couldn't remember what I had downloaded).

After downloading those 3 films, I'm now sitting at a stable 6.7GB in System Data usage.

Thought this might be useful for anybody trying to identify what it is their phone keeps trying to download.

 

[metsjetsfan]

Just to give an update on my iPhone 14 Pro Max. I received it yesterday and memory became fully immediately. I removed all of my music updated to 16.0.2. It’s now been 12 hours and my phone is fine. I did reload all of my music after my phone updated. I know others have tried this and it didn’t work but for me so far it’s holding steady.

How do you delete your music, even deleting the app there is still a lot of data in documents and data for me. Is there a diff way? Thanks!

 

[HerveN]

More than 24h without system data raising again.

I tested several things: from VPN removal to AOD turned off.

The deletion and reinstallation of all media-related Apple applications (TV, Music, and Podcast) for which I have an active subscription seem to have made it!

Thank you everyone for reporting. I felt less alone.

 

[upandown]

I can’t believe I’m saying this but mine also was resolved.

My issue was from Messages. I had about 50gbs of messages that were lumped into system data for some reason.

 

[metsjetsfan]

I can’t believe I’m saying this but mine also was resolved.

My issue was from Messages. I had about 50gbs of messages that were lumped into system data for some reason.

How were you able to resolve it

 

[upandown]

Delete the messages.

Settings > Apple ID at the top > iCloud > messages > manage storage > top conversations. Slide to delete.

I think you can just slide to delete from within messages. It should accomplish the same thing.

How I figured it out..
I noticed when I added my ‘storage data’ value with the ‘documents and data of messages’ within iPhone storage; it equaled the backup size of messages within iCloud.
It appears that messages uses storage data to cache older messages.

I believe they do this so everything is accessible locally from the device if you wanted to access it. However, the downside is it takes up more space on the device. And why not just lump it all in with documents and data of messages within iPhone storage. Instead of this ruse and splitting up the true size of messages throughout the OS.

It also defeats the purpose of using iCloud to store older messages to save space on the device.

Based on this logic, I’m not entirely sure if it’s a bug or not.

Also, the size of my iCloud backup for messages hasn’t changed at all after deleting the messages on the device. It synced across my devices so I would think they should be deleted from iCloud but we’ll see. It might take 30 days to delete from iCloud.

I hope this helps others.

 

[AndyD1]

Hello all. I’m new here but so glad I found this page.
I upgraded from a 12 PM 256gb on Monday to a 14 PM 256gb. By 3am Tuesday morning I got the dreaded system storage full. Did a forced shutdown which appeared to fix the issue. Woke up this morning (Wednesday) and System storage full again.

Luckily I backed up my iPhone 12 to iTunes on Monday so did a reset to factory settings on my iPhone 14 today and restored from my iPhone 12 backup through iTunes.

Currently my system storage is sitting at 18.42gb.

If this doesn’t fix the issue I’ll start going through what you’ve all been doing on here.