How to clear system data on iPhone

I don’t know

How can I clear iOS and system data on my iPhone 6s

I want to clear my storage

My storage is full

Hi Lacee!

i just ran into the exact same problem myself and from what I can tell the main problem is due to app cache. As far as I am aware the only way to get rid of app cache on iPhones are to delete the app or some apps(not all only like 3 of mine had this) have a built in delete cache button in the app. It won’t completely remove all system data but it should take a large chunk. Just delete apps and reinstall them. Because app cache is included in the “System Data” category. After doing this my system data went from 25ish gbs to 17 gbs.

however I’m gonna be honest with you I think the main issue is definitely your photo storage. Check through your settings because their should be an option like low quality saving or something along the lines of that. Dw it won’t make them like 240p they still look almost identical to the originals but take up a fraction of the storage. I have over like 10k photos but only 1 gbs worth of storage. There’s also an option somewhere where is stores your photos in the iCloud and they still appear in your phone but after a while they get deleted…it’s kinda weird but like their still there just next time you wanna use them your phone would download them from iCloud. Idk if this’ll work for you since well what’s done is done and idk if you can revert your photos. I hope this helped.

The main cause for system storage taking up all your space is like I said in my other post here which is app cache. The only solution I’ve found to this is to delete and reinstall apps. Apps such as Spotify,YouTube, and discord were the main culprits on my phone (Spotify having 3gbs worth YouTube 5gbs and discord having 7 gbs worth). This could also be happening with other messaging or video based apps.

I discovered that ios 17.1.1 aparently has a bug in the memory manager not returning cache. I ended up having to deep sleep/suspending all of my apps. This is where it removes the app, deletes cache, but keeps stored data. That gave me enough room to immediately update to 17.1.2.

I tried just clearing all cache and the suspending some apps. In both cases, I could start the update, but cache would grow to take up available memory and the update would fail.

I don't know for sure if cache was growing or not after suspending all apps, but I had enough time to complete the update. After that, I restored apps as I needed them, which was a lot at first. I think there are some infrequently used apps that I have not yet restored, but I'm pretty close to where I was and I able to do everything I need to.

I still see over 127 Gb of usage, but everything works fine. If possible, skip 17.1.1. I was able to update my iPad from 16.x to 17.1.2. Also, I don't know if this bug effected ipados or not.

There may be other issues that cause this problem too. The other solutions here either didn't work or didn't apply. Maybe this will help some others with this problem.

Best of luck!

Notes: Make sure you follow Step 3. Also, it's actually not recommended you do this consistently, as caches increase the performance of apps and iOS in general. This should only be done when it spirals out of control. Also only do this if you see System Data above 25GB for best results.

I also recommend deleting and reinstalling Instagram and Discord, if you use them, as they seem to be the mostly sneaky apps camouflaging cache into System Data.

1. Check your current System Data use on iPhone Storage settings.
2. Close all your apps.
3. Critical: Set your iMessages to stay around forever on iMessage settings on iPhone to avoid having your iMessages deleted! Go to Settings > iMessage > Message History > Select 'Forever'. This is important.
4. Set your iPhone in Airplane Mode and turn Bluetooth and Wi-Fi off (this is to avoid anomalies with iCloud, Apple Watch and other apps).
5. Change the date to 1 year into the future from the real date. Make sure you followed Step 3 before this step.
6. Wait 60 seconds. Keep your phone awake.
7. Check System Data use again. It should be much lower. If you don't see a change, close Settings, relaunch and keep checking.
8. Change the date to 3 months in the future from the real date (this is essentially 9 months in the past from the last setting).
9. Wait 60 seconds. Keep your phone awake.
10. Check System Data use again. It should be around the same or lower.
11. Change date back to Automatic.
12. Turn off Airplane Mode.
13. You're golden!

It's absolutely ridiculous this process is even necessary, Apple should get on board to fix the System Data woes. They have been an issue for many years now.

Yesterday I was trying to backup my Whatsapp chat but I couldn't as it said that I hadn't enough storage on the iPhone (weird enough, as I have 512GB plus 2TB on iCloud). I went to the settings and found out data system was 330GB. I also had un update which I couldn't install because of the storage issue.

I contacted Apple support and I've been told to update the iPhone (to iOS 17.5.1 to be specific) in order to fix the data system issue.

In order to do that I had to update the iPhone from my Macbook through iTunes.

Managed to get it updated and magic, it worked! (When I've been told it was just a matter of updating the phone I was quite sceptic to be honest, so I was really impressed.)

I'll attach screenshot below :)

Jimmykarter Said:

"How do I reduce System Data that takes up all the iPhone storage?"

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Clearing "System Data" (formerly called "Other").

See my User Tip: How to Clear "Other" in your iPhone's Storage - Use Backup - Apple Community

Essentially, you'd backup your iPhone, and then restore your iPhone from the backup you've just created. All System Data will delete.

delete history from google and safari clear cache delete all time history it will save you a lot of space system space