How do I reclaim iPhone storage space taken up by 'Other'?

We've been getting numerous reports of users, who have attempted to sync their iPhones after the latest iTunes updates (7.4.x), finding that iTunes shows space on their iPhone occupied by something specified only as 'Other'. Often, this space may be only small amounts (a few megabytes), but we have received reports of 'Other' taking up as much as 4 gigabytes.

Unfortunately, scouring available information sources and speaking with Apple hasn't led to any type of easy resolution.

If you're experiencing this issue under any version of iTunes, you'll need to restore your iPhone to reclaim the space occupied by Other. That is the only known solution at this time.

If you've found another solution to the 'Other' issue, please let us know.

Presumably this issue will be rectified by the next iTunes update.

Newest iPhone FAQs

UPDATE: User Andrew S. said he deleted "a substantial number of text threads containing pictures and videos" to clean out half of the "Other" storage on his phone. Andrew claims he went from having zero free space to 1.88GB by using this technique.

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Anonymous replied on April 8, 2010 - 1:47pmPermalink

Hey I am a bit confused on how to get the wINSCP, My Phone is a 8gb 3g unlocked iphone version 3.1.2. This same problem happened to me as well.

Do I download it to CPU? Or do I download it straight to my Phone?
When I download it how do I get it over to my Iphone. Please help?

joe gallant replied on April 12, 2010 - 10:23pmPermalink

easiest way: use a utility such as phoneview (for mac) and look in the video/audio for what you don't want there. Often is caused by itunes rentals that don't delete properly!

Anonymous replied on April 28, 2010 - 4:44pmPermalink

Warning: PLEASE READ BEFORE PERFORMING A RESTORE!

BEFORE you do any kind of restore, make sure to back up all your personal data! Do not trust iTunes to do it for you because it won't! Things like contacts and app specific data like finance reports and logs need to be backed up if you ever want to see them again. I made this mistake and lost months of work, my fault, but you don't have to make the same mistake.

Anthony replied on May 1, 2010 - 2:38pmPermalink

I didn't even know it was possible to do such a thing. I never used WinSCP before, but here is the walk through of how to login to your phone using it. http://winscp.net/eng/docs/faq_iphone
Thanks so much, I didn't want to restore my phone

Anonymous replied on June 7, 2010 - 3:49amPermalink

After delete all files from the /private/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Music,
I cant play my musics and videos ... !! any solutions?

Anonymous replied on April 13, 2012 - 1:17pmPermalink

yes im stuck with same problem
please help

mickyboy replied on June 22, 2010 - 11:57amPermalink

OMG!!!! it worked... i love you bro....

Anonymous replied on July 19, 2010 - 3:17pmPermalink

awesome. thank a million!!!!

Anonymous replied on August 9, 2010 - 1:18amPermalink

F**k YES!!! dude U R AWESOME, the ssh worked great!!!!!!

Samb replied on August 15, 2010 - 7:04pmPermalink

Hey there. I don't get it! i'm so new to my iphone and I just got a friend to jailbreak it for me. but my other space is like 2 gb. where do i find

/private/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Music folder

?
If you could email me at cheese153@hotmail.com
that would be great. Thanks so much

Anonymous replied on December 1, 2012 - 2:10amPermalink

You just download ifile from cydia go on settings (bottom left corner) and click on filemanager there would be Hidden means(Hidden Folder) same as the computer's one after that locate media and library check through those file and delete most of the useless ite files you need and application form VAR/APPLICATIONS is where all you files are and Documents is where installous is (A app downloaded from cydia need to update the sources forgot haha but thats where you can find their apps you downloaded i just download from safari and put it to that folder install it and delete it hhaahaha xD CYA DUDES

Aaron Zolen replied on September 30, 2010 - 1:34amPermalink

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I have been trying to resolve the problem of "other" for awhile now. 2 GB of space and I have been searching for apps to free up disk space and there is nothing. My phone is jailbroken and so I tried your solution, ran ITUNES and I now have 3.33 GB of freespace.

YOU ROCK!

Anonymous replied on October 21, 2010 - 8:45amPermalink

Don't forget to check the /podcasts folder.
I also have the same problem but mine isn't music. Mine is videos and podcasts

Anonymous replied on October 23, 2010 - 8:38amPermalink

when i delete these files, "Delete all files from the /private/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Music folder using WinSCP."
they come back after i restart, i have tried using iFile as well, but no much success

Stig replied on February 19, 2011 - 11:12amPermalink

Sir - I owe you a beer.

I have been trying all day to solve this issue. 99% of all threads suggest that a restore is the only solution. You however nailed it. Thank you so very, very much.

/Stig

Dani_S replied on March 5, 2011 - 7:02pmPermalink

OMFG. Totally worked. Thank you so very very much *mwah*

Anonymous replied on April 23, 2011 - 9:05pmPermalink

oh man! thanks you thank you! do you have a bank account i send money to? lolz...dude you rock!

sorin replied on October 23, 2011 - 5:18pmPermalink

This solved my problem, but my "other" space was in /private/var/mobile/Media/ApplicationArchives.
Thanks!

Qiosaga replied on November 7, 2011 - 5:00pmPermalink

Million thanks Sorin!!!!

/private/var/mobile/Media/ApplicationArchives - was my problem. It came from Installous zip and partial download files I believe!

ral714 replied on December 22, 2011 - 4:49pmPermalink

where do i find "/private/var/mobile/Media/ApplicationArchives"?

ral714 replied on December 22, 2011 - 4:52pmPermalink

where do i find this: "/private/var/mobile/Media/ApplicationArchives"?

fattyz replied on January 29, 2012 - 9:58amPermalink

if your phone is jailbroken this is proly the answer i tried everything else, nothing worked but this.

fattyz

fattyz replied on January 29, 2012 - 10:18amPermalink

I don't know how i got this comment here.

IF YOUR PHONE IS JAILBROKEN IT PARTIALLY DOWNLOADED FILES FROM INSTALLOUS. READ DOWN AND FIND MY OTHER COMMENT AND THE DIRECTORY STRUCTURE FROM THE GUY WHO FIGURED IT OUT HE'S A FRIKKIN' GENIUS. I ONLY HAVE 6 GIGS TOOK OTHER FROM 2 GIGS TO .86 THANK YOU AGAIN

Steve replied on January 21, 2012 - 5:18pmPermalink

YEAHH!
Your God, no I have 1 more GB :D

Anonymous replied on August 15, 2012 - 10:57amPermalink

I done the above with iFile - I also had to delete the TRASH folder. Problem solved!

Jose Luis Torres replied on December 21, 2009 - 6:20pmPermalink

My iPhone with OS 3.1 had more than 2 GB categorized as "Others". I delete the Mail accounts in "Preferences->Mail, Contacts, Calendars" from all my accounts I only kept Google's. Once I Sync the iPhone the space was available.

Anonymous replied on January 22, 2010 - 1:41amPermalink

I think I win... I have 27.34 GB taken up by "other" and I have no idea why.... Help!! :o(

Had the same problem replied on March 16, 2010 - 6:17amPermalink

What I tried was this, I went into the iPhones settings>Saffari and then erased cache cookies and history. Just by doing that I got all of my 21 GB back! =)

The Animaster replied on January 22, 2010 - 11:53amPermalink

I was syncing photos to my iPhone when I got almost 7 GB of "OTHER". What happened was that I checked the 'include videos' option with my photos. Apparently, iTunes was too retarded to figure out that it didn't have enough space on the iPhone for these videos. Funny coz otherwise OS X is usually good at estimating these and telling you "it ain't so" before even making the attempt.

So iTunes ended up shooting itself in the foot -- showing a sync error and giving me 6GB of "others".

Solution? Was what I could think of first -- UNsync my photos (by deselecting the sync photos option in iTunes and allowing iTunes to delete the photos from the iPhone) and then resync them.

It worked.

Free'd up all that space. Damn. 7GBs. Wouldjabelieveit.

Anonymous replied on January 25, 2010 - 9:02pmPermalink

I am hoping someone can help me. Today I had the same problem where the Other category seems to represent my Music, which is now gone from my iPhone. I am on Vista, so I do not know which folder to delete so that this problem is fixed. Can anyone help me?

I have tried unchecking everything but my apps and synching, and that huge Other category is still there!!

How do I reclaim iPhone storage space taken up by 'Other'?

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