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

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.

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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.

tags: 
Storage
iTunes
Troubleshooting
Syncing
Storage
iTunes
Troubleshooting
Syncing

Comments

jc (2012) replied on

Thanks, your advice helped me. Even though this was posted around a year ago, this advice is extremely valuable. I just copy/pasted your comment and saved for future reference. I needed a way to deduct what was taking up my IPhone's storage in the "Other" category. Thank you again for your interest in helping others resolve a somewhat "similar" issue.

rman replied on

I had the most at 29gb down to 3.4gb. I have a boat load of various other files, like video I've downloaded via protube, etc. So 3.4gb is acceptable

THANKS!!!

Omar replied on

Thanks a bundle it worked for me.The main thing is if u delete all music from iTunes_control using i file or any other software.The original music stays in your library and after rebooting device u see a big change.My other was 4.25 GB now its all gone.I dun even see other ( yellow bar )when i connect my phone to iTunes

Anonymous replied on

Mine almost had 25gb of other. restoring it now

Anonymous replied on

just clear safari history and cookies. I went from 17.5GB in other to 3.5GB. its not perfect but its a lot.

Darlene replied on

This worked perfectly. Thanks.

Lil Killer replied on

Well i have the record of over 18.2 GB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pg replied on

I discovered that most of my "Other" space was taken up by duplicate copies of my applications (!).

I found this by:
- installed Netatalk in Cydia (AppleTalk implementation)
- connect both iphone and my Mac to my WiFi network
- my iphone then shows up in the left column of a Mac Finder window as an available server
- connect to my iphone in the Finder window (using whatever you have the iphone's root password set to - default is "alpine")
- now navigate in the Finder to /var/mobile/Applications, list view
- in Finder, click View>Show View Options, and, click "Calculate All Sizes", and sort Applications window by Size
- this will show the size of all Application folders, but will take some time
- I noticed that there were always two folders with exactly the same size, one dated old, and one dated at the time I'd restored from backup after installing iOS 5
- with some experimentation, I determined that the newer-dated folders were the culprits
- then sorted the folder by date, and deleted the newer ones. (actually this delete was running so slowly, I canceled it, dragged the newer folders into a sub-folder, then logged in via ssh and deleted that subfolder using rm -rf : this was still slow, but much faster than the move to Trash in Finder)

This regained me about 8GB.

Note: once you have the iphone volume mounted using Netatalk, as above, you can also use a graphical disk space viewer such as GrandPerspective to view the space breakdown on your phone.

Anonymous replied on

i went into usage then storage then manage storage then delete backup from iCloud, this cleared up to 3gb and deleted none of my data or information!

Gina replied on

After upgrading to iOS5, I suddenly had 9.5 GB of Other and could no longer put any music on my iphone. Nothing else had changed besides upgrading the system. After trying a few things, this worked for me:

1. Hook iPhone up to the computer you sync with
2. Open iTunes and go to the music tab on your iPhone and uncheck "Sync Music." This will remove all music from your device. Apply changes and sync.
3. After the sync finishes go back to the music tab and recheck "Sync Music." Apply your changes and sync your music back to your iPhone/iPod.

samy replied on

Best solution

Step 1: Turn of sync music in iTunes

When you have synced your iPhone and noticed that “other files” have taken up a lot of storage space on the iPhone, un-tick the “sync music” alternative in iTunes before un-connecting your iPhone.

Step 2: Install DiskAid software on computer/mac (Instead of using DiskAid (paid), I used iPhone Explorer (which is free.))

DiskAid is a neat little software that allows you transfer files to your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, treating it as a USB drive. They offer a free trial of the software so no need to purchase it first time you have to use it at least.

Make sure your iPhone is connected with the USB when you open up DiskAid. When the program is running, at the bottom left corner it says “DiskAid folder”, click on the drop down list and choose “media folders”.

Step 3: Go into iTunes Control folder and then the Music folder

In DiskAid you will see an overview of all the folders and files on your iPhone. Go to the iTunes Control Folder and then the subfolder called Music. Under the Music folder you will likely see a lot of subfolders starting with “f”.

Step 4: Delete/remove all subfolders in Music

Delete all the subfolders under the Music folder. They include the files that are hogging your iPhone memory under “other files”.

Step 5: Open iTunes and sync your iPhone

With “music sync” still turned off in iTunes, sync your iPhone. This will remove all music files from your iPhone, but keep all other content. Don’t worry about this though, as in the next steps you will sync the music back onto your iPhone.

Step 6: Unplug iPhone and reboot it

Once the iPhone has finished syncing, unplug it and perform a reboot. The reboot is done by holding down the “power down” button at the top right at the same times as holding down the control button. Hold both of them until the iPhone has switched off and the Apple logo appears on the screen before releasing both buttons. This action will reboot your iPhone.

Step 7: Reconnect your iPhone to iTunes and recheck “sync music”

This will put your music back onto the iPhone, and you should not see any of the “other files” taking up any of the iPhone memory. Once the sync is complete your iPhone should be all sorted again.

Anonymous replied on

hey thank you so much! you are a genius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Veronica replied on

I had 1,40GB of "other" on my iphone.. I followed your steps using DiskAid. Thank you very much, it worked for me, although I decided not to open iTunes nor untick the sync music option. All I did was using DiskAid to delete all the subfolders starting with F that The folder music had.. And my free space went to 10GB from 3.6GB... which is incredible, nothing happened to my music :)
i'm just loving you right now

MBT replied on

When I followed these steps the yellow "other" bar never went away. Then after re-syncing the files in the Music folder that being with "F" came back!!! I've literally spent days trying to solve this mystery with my iphone. SO annoying.

Iphone 4 user replied on

Worked like a charm...downloaded Iphone explorer from here.....

http://iphone-explorer.en.softonic.com/

john replied on

Tired to update my i phone as it iasked for it before i could,download another ringtone.Lost all my phone numbers,music,apps,bloody everything,really peeved off,thiught this phone was suppossed to be the bees knees i tihnk not.

What can i do to restore all my music ,well everything where possible.
I have the i Phone 4 and i had to synch and update.
Everything gone.

iAmAPhone replied on

This is how I fixed my problem.
I had >12GB of Other.
I went into iTunes onto my iPhone Device and selected the Music tab.
I unchecked "Sync Music" and then re-synced my phone. This got rid of all the music but also deleted all but .68GB, virtually free-ing it all up.
I then re-checked the "Sync Music" and re-synced my phone.
There was more than enough space to do this now.

Anonymous replied on

every time i delete something there comes more 'other'. I already deleted everything on safari, but it didn't work. I deleted some music while it was plugged in on itunes and it went from 1.5 to 1.6, which is a lot on my 8 gb. Help!

Anonymous replied on

I am having the same problem after upgrading to OS 5. There was 6.7 gigs of Other blocking my phone, essentially turning my 16 gig phone to an 8 gig phone. I called Apple support but this was new to them.

I tried removing the cache, cookies and history from Safari without any luck. Then I unchecked everything, synched and tried to resynch. There was still 6.8 gigs of Other blocking my phone, slightly more than before.

So Other could have the space, it dumped all my music off my iPhone4. I went through, meticulously, and deleted enough apps, etc., so there was around .5 gigs of free space but it still wouldn't synch correctly.

I am not geeky and don't want to (and probably couldn't) jailbreak the phone. I've spent hours trying to resolve this today. Any other suggestions that are easily done by a middle-aged, non-techy person, without risking anll my info?

Anonymous replied on

Ahhh thank you so much! The "other" on my iphone was taking up 10GB and deleting history and cookies took that "other" part down to 0.53GB!!! No need to restore!! Brilliant, thanks again!

help help help plz replied on

i connected my iphone to the itunes and it show me that i have 8.7 migabytes on the others file
wats other means
'and plz help help help help help help help help help

Anonymous replied on

Deleting safari history and cache does work if you havent cleared it in a while, but also if you have facebook on your iphone/ipod the data on facebook may be taking up a lot of memory, to check this just go into Settings/general/usage and see how much memory facebook is taking up. There is probably an easier way to clear the data that i have not found but i just delete and re install the app if the data usage has become to large.

Anonymous replied on

You are a genius...I didnt know that menu. Never care to wait the 30 seconds it takes to populates the list. I tried everything but this is what cleared it all...

I had one gig on BUMP, one gig on Twitter worth of data...

Thank you

Anonymous replied on

I just got through restoring my iphone after i saw it had 8.4 gb of "other" storage. After about 2 hours of waiting, i found out that the only thing that it was take away more memory and still keep that 8.4 gb of "other" memory. i also tried deleting the cookies (etc). What is the "other" memory coming from and how do i fully get rid of it???

hamyojo replied on

I had 1.5 gigs of "other" data.
In DiskAid I went to FileSystem/Media/ApplicationArchives and found a half downloaded Infinity Blade 2 and a almost finished download of Real Racing 2. Deleted those weird Archives. Now my "other" is down to .49 GB.
Hope this helps someone!

KD replied on

Thanks!

Anonymous replied on

iCloud is the culprit! Because I was TRICKED into making an iCloud account when I got the update, I unknowingly signed onto about 11 GB of "Other." When I deleted my iCloud account, it dropped back down to less than 1 GB.

Anonymous replied on

Check out my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oIGMOR1KlQ
Fully working on iPhone 3G iPod Touch 4G (goes from 3GB to 0,6 - the system size)

Anonymous replied on

Nothing is working.. Got the 3Gs 8G NOT knowing that the memory it had WAS IT.... I can't delete photos or OTHER!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!! I've read here and tried, but to no luck... How do I delete things and get space? All seems to mess up my MAC laptop too! Dozens of repeated pictures and everything! What do I do with that? IS THERE A WAY FOR ALL DUPLICATIONS TO JUST BE DELETED? I'M RATHER IGNORANT ABOUT THIS AND WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE ANY HELP!? THAN YOU ^_^

william replied on

EVERYONE READ THIS THIS, IMPORTANT, IT MIGHT GIVE YOU MUCH SPACE BACK! THIS IS THE "MAIN" SOLUTION.

i felt that i had to write it, beause this is in 90% cases the reason why other is taking up space. i do not think it will work if you have like 15 gb but i dont know you really should try this. follow my instructions to the letter because this is what i did and the "sync and not sync music" method isnt working for many people so plz give this a shot cuz i just want to help you guys. and btw, this not you know a method where you delete a log from a specific app or anything...

the main reason why other is taking space is because if you interrupt a transfer-sync or sync it stores your unsynced/interrupted/corrupted app as a zip folder in /var/mobile/media/applicationarchives.

1.download iphone explorer,ifile or diskaid. whatever, the main thing is that you can edit inside the root of your iphone/ipod. im using ifile, then you wont need a computer.

2.go to /var/mobile/media/applicationarchives. And delete everything in applicationarchives you have there. if you're using ifile it will ask you to move it to the trash, "tap move to trash" if you do not have any zip-stored apps there this wont work for you. but you should have it there...

3.actually thats it. reboot, sync and there you go! (hold power and home button until idevice BUT! BUT! BUT! if you're using IFILE, SKIP THIS AND CONTINUE ON STEP 4.

4.(only for people using ifile). go to: /var/mobile/library/iFile/trash. you should see the deleted files! just tap "edit" in top right corner, mark everything in trash and delete, it will ask you if you want to "empty trash"-yes. empty it.

5.(only for people using ifile) reboot your iphone/ipod, go into itunes and sync, and BAM!!!!! other should'nt show over 1GB (mine showed 0.80), if it does, keep searching, if nothing seems to work, well you have to restore :(

i hoped it helped anyone out there, pls give me a reply if it did. sry for bad english btw.

William

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