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System Fragmentation

BR4DOKYBrazil

BR4DOKYBrazil

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 25, 2018
863
2,159
Londrina - PR / Brazil
Guus, I was already an Android user and I remember that when I downloaded games and apps and deleted them, exploring the system folders, there were still files of the games and applications deleted, that is, it was not totally deleted from the system, leaving junks behind. In iOS, since we do not have access to system folders, can you tell me if this happens too? I'm not much of downloading everything and deleting, but I'm afraid to try apps and games because of system fragmentation. Does it occur in iOS causing slowness?
 
I doubt it will cause any problems for you. My last device was an iPhone 6s which I ran for nearly three years without ever doing a clean install, and iOS ran fine.

The bits left behind from deleted apps will be very minimal and will not cause any issues.
 
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BR4DOKYBrazil said:
Guus, I was already an Android user and I remember that when I downloaded games and apps and deleted them, exploring the system folders, there were still files of the games and applications deleted, that is, it was not totally deleted from the system, leaving junks behind. In iOS, since we do not have access to system folders, can you tell me if this happens too? I'm not much of downloading everything and deleting, but I'm afraid to try apps and games because of system fragmentation. Does it occur in iOS causing slowness?
Click to expand...
Apps are completely self contained in iOS. When you delete the app, nothing gets left behind on the phone, with the exception of any data that may be stored in iCloud.
 
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chrfr said:
Apps are completely self contained in iOS. When you delete the app, nothing gets left behind on the phone, with the exception of any data that may be stored in iCloud.
Click to expand...

Slightly off topic to the OPs thread but recently I deleted a few apps (like Gmail) before handing the phone over to replace the battery. When I got back the phone, I reinstalled Gmail but didn't need to log in to any of my Google accounts- it was all right there. Not sure what I did/didn't do but this I think goes against what you said about everything being self contained.

FWIW- I don't sync Gmail to iCloud.
 
throwthedice said:
Slightly off topic to the OPs thread but recently I deleted a few apps (like Gmail) before handing the phone over to replace the battery. When I got back the phone, I reinstalled Gmail but didn't need to log in to any of my Google accounts- it was all right there. Not sure what I did/didn't do but this I think goes against what you said about everything being self contained.

FWIW- I don't sync Gmail to iCloud.
Click to expand...
Do you have any other apps made by Google?
 
throwthedice said:
Slightly off topic to the OPs thread but recently I deleted a few apps (like Gmail) before handing the phone over to replace the battery. When I got back the phone, I reinstalled Gmail but didn't need to log in to any of my Google accounts- it was all right there. Not sure what I did/didn't do but this I think goes against what you said about everything being self contained.

FWIW- I don't sync Gmail to iCloud.
Click to expand...
Google syncs all of your data from their applications onto their servers.
 
throwthedice said:
No, I had uninstalled everything - Gboard, maps etc etc.




I'm genuinely curious - How does this work? Google tags my Apple account that I use to download the app and then maps the Google account with it to keep track?
Click to expand...
Do you have keychains turned on? Probably saved your info through safari. If you cleared your safari cache and cookies, then you would have needed to resign in.
 
Deleting an app in iOS does not guarantee that all the data associated with it gets deleted.

I have deleted apps before- to clear their giant cache, and re-downloaded them, and all my settings still existed. The data from the previous install still remained. Not all of it. But some of it.
 
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Thought a feature of iOS 11 was that - if you set iCloud to backup prefs and such, hit can restore those, and is used for inactive apps that are removed from lack of use. But Google? I need to authorize it frequently on my Mac and iPhone.
 
It highly depends on how developers treats their app data. They can put them in a place that deleting app won’t remove those data. Then, fragmentation occurs. Heck, a failed iTunes sync attempt could create a lot of broken files that can only be removed with file system access.
So, my suggestion is to wary about what you are going to try. Ideally, try them on a secondary device so fragmentation won’t bother you too much.
 
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“Afraid to?” Really?

Filing storage until free space, number of cell pages gets low, even all the app and system patches are going to impact it. Today’s UFS 2 storage is less affected, much faster, has less affect.

Games can be large, as the game data. Android has a cache partition. Some apps have large caches. Media apps. Photo, movies, Fb, IG. And some need to be cleared at times.

One tip, Android and iOS - don’t use cache cleaners and such, they can junk up your system. Even the one Samsung builds in, Cheetah Mobile, notorious.
 
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