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iPad system using 60% of storage

slscott99

slscott99

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 18, 2018
3
0
new jerset
Hi,

New here and sorry if there is already a thread on this -I could not find it. I have a 16GB iPad Air. And that storage was perfectly fine when I bought it because I don't store music or photos on it. However after a few years of IOS upgrades I now see that the System is using almost 11GB of my 16 available storage. I have to offload most of the apps I use and I am constantly getting out of space messages.

Is there anything to be done here ? Why do these Apple IOS updates continue to grow to large sizes like this.

T.I.A,

SLS
 
Do you delete data from your messages or WhatsApp or streaming apps. Check in the storage which app is taking the most storage. Go from there.

This is mine after constant usage of data being backed up and restored on new devices since the iPhone 5S.

e9e6a30c7ee2a20f0c32ec0d4c553108.jpg
 
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slscott99 said:
Hi,

New here and sorry if there is already a thread on this -I could not find it. I have a 16GB iPad Air. And that storage was perfectly fine when I bought it because I don't store music or photos on it. However after a few years of IOS upgrades I now see that the System is using almost 11GB of my 16 available storage. I have to offload most of the apps I use and I am constantly getting out of space messages.

Is there anything to be done here ? Why do these Apple IOS updates continue to grow to large sizes like this.

T.I.A,

SLS
Click to expand...

Updates do add features and take up more space.
 
akash.nu said:
Do you delete data from your messages or WhatsApp or streaming apps. Check in the storage which app is taking the most storage. Go from there.

This is mine after constant usage of data being backed up and restored on new devices since the iPhone 5S.

e9e6a30c7ee2a20f0c32ec0d4c553108.jpg
Click to expand...
akash.nu said:
Do you delete data from your messages or WhatsApp or streaming apps. Check in the storage which app is taking the most storage. Go from there.

This is mine after constant usage of data being backed up and restored on new devices since the iPhone 5S.

e9e6a30c7ee2a20f0c32ec0d4c553108.jpg
Click to expand...
Yes I did all that - I have 10.45 GB used by "System". I assume that is all IOS - but not sure if it contains backups prior to upgrades and if there is anything I can do about that !
 
Try downloading Hearthstone to force iOS to do some housekeeping. Alternately, backup and restore via iTunes.
 
slscott99 said:
Yes I did all that - I have 10.45 GB used by "System". I assume that is all IOS - but not sure if it contains backups prior to upgrades and if there is anything I can do about that !
Click to expand...

When you say 10.45 GB being used by “system”, what are you using to see this? - iTunes?!
 
slscott99 said:
Hearthstone looks like a game ?
Click to expand...
Yes, it's a 3GB game, iirc.

If you try to download large apps from the App Store and you don't have sufficient free space, iOS will be forced to do some housekeeping. On a 128GB iPad, it managed to free up around 8GB total (after deleting Hearthstone).
 
My iPad Air 16gb had the same issue. I found that doing a restore from a backup via iTunes freed up a lot of storage space. I believe fragmented, invalid, and unused data/space was cleaned up to help solve this.

As a note, my iPad 5 system size seems to be going down over time and varies frequently. It’s now only 1.3gb. It’s as if parts of it are being offloaded to the cloud. I’m on IOS 11.3. I can’t explain how or why it’s working this way.

5461BFA3-0080-4362-A5BA-DC806EE4F1C3.png
 
Last edited:
iPad mini 4 with 64GB, 26GB being used by system.

Never quite understood it. I’m sure a restore from backup would clear it.

21E8F103-5A30-4BA7-8731-AF4639DAEDCC.jpeg
 
profets said:
iPad mini 4 with 64GB, 26GB being used by system.

Never quite understood it. I’m sure a restore from backup would clear it.

View attachment 767528
Click to expand...

it does. a lot of times the excess 'system' storage is various cache files. some from 3rd party apps but also some from things like streaming video via the TV app and iTunes purchases/rentals and even Apple Music. those things are supposed to clear out after you are done with them but if something in the system gets corrupted they don't always clean up properly. and tricks like trying to download a big app or rent a movie might clear out space now but they don't fix the issue in the long run
 
I'm on a fully updated 256GB iPad Pro 12.9 gen 2 and mine said the "system" was using 80GB! I was working fine, as I still have 100 GB free. I just happened to check what my iPad was using after seeing this thread.

I then looked away for a second, and looked back at my iPad the the "system" section at the bottom of the list disappeared. It's only showing what each app is using. I can't get it to show "system" usage anymore. Has anyone seen this behavior of the "system" section showing and then disappearing.
 
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I am with 6th gen iPad and I just checked the System storage and it's around 10.4 GB so it's similar to what you have. The iPad is new. I just bought it last month so I doubt that it has a lot of backups being stored.
 
Over time, software gets more demanding. That’s just the nature of the beast, and why they don’t offer 16 gigs anymore on new iPads. Soon 64 gigs will be the new 16 gigs. Short of buying a new iPad, you’re just gonna have to delete some apps and move all your photos & video to iCloud if you haven’t already.
 
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Richard8655 said:
My iPad Air 16gb had the same issue. I found that doing a restore from a backup via iTunes freed up a lot of storage space. I believe fragmented, invalid, and unused data/space was cleaned up to help solve this.

As a note, my iPad 5 system size seems to be going down over time and varies frequently. It’s now only 1.3gb. It’s as if parts of it are being offloaded to the cloud. I’m on IOS 11.3. I can’t explain how or why it’s working this way.

View attachment 767227
Click to expand...
I think System include iCloud Drive storage downloaded in your device. Mine says almost 25 GB and it is because of PDF Expert iCloud files.
 
There is something I noticed the other day related to this. OI think there are some issues with how iOS is categorizing things. I checked my iPad storage shortly after I set everyting up and it looked as I would have expected. Since then I’ve been downloading a bunch of movies onto my iPad over the past few days and only the “Other” category has been growing (not the “media” category, as I would have expected). I currently have 350-400 GB labeled as “Other” on the graph...and I’m sure that’s not system files.
 
Out of curiosity I just checked my new iPad Pro after resorting from back up from my old 10.5 pro and system is using 94.83 GB
 
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