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How to find and remove ‘Other’ files from iPhone and iPad

by | Mar 6, 2023 | News | 0 comments

Reduce the wasted storage space on your device

iPhone storage

The “Other” category on your iPhone and iPad is where all of your caches, settings preferences, saved messages, voice memos, and… well, other data is stored. For the most part, it doesn’t matter. If you have plenty of storage space on your iPhone or iPad, you don’t even have to worry about it. 

However, if you’re running low on space and wishing you’d upgraded to that high-capacity iPhone 14 Pro, you may be hoping to free up space by finding and removing “Other” files from your iPhone or iPad. Here are some tricks for purging that unneeded content.

Unfortunately, in iOS 16, there’s no simple way to identify and remove data in those pesky “Other” files. It does take some patience, but you can reduce the amount of space it takes up on your iPhone or iPad. Whether you have the best iPhone on the market, like an iPhone 14 Pro, or any other device, follow these steps to get rid of wasted space.

HOW TO CHECK YOUR IPHONE OR IPAD’S STORAGE SPACE

You can quickly see what apps are taking up space in the “Other” files on your iPhone or iPad by checking out the Usage folder in the Settings app.

How to check your iPhone or iPad’s storage space

  1. Open Settings
  2. Tap General
  3. Tap iPhone (or iPad) Storage
  4. Your device’s storage is mapped out on a grid, showing what is taking up space in your “Other” files. If you scroll down to your apps, you’ll see, listed by size, apps that are taking up the most space on your device.

HOW TO CHECK YOUR IPHONE AND IPAD’S STORAGE SPACE USING YOUR COMPUTER IN MACOS CATALINA OR LATER

You can also check your device storage space when your iPhone or iPad is connected to your computer. You’ll find this information on Macs running macOS Catalina or later in Finder. You’ll find it in iTunes on PCs and Macs running macOS Mojave and older.

In macOS Catalina or later, Apple has split up iTunes into three different apps, Podcasts, Music, and TV. That doesn’t mean you can’t connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac anymore, though. It just means it’s now in Finder.

  1. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac running macOS Catalina or later
  2. Open a Finder window
  3. Click on the device icon in the sidebar under Locations. If you don’t see your iPhone listed under Locations, try unplugging your iPhone and plugging it back in
  1. Click on the General tab in the Finder window
  2. Hover your mouse over the Other section at the bottom of the Finder window to see how much space the category is using

HOW TO CHECK YOUR IPHONE AND IPAD’S STORAGE SPACE USING YOUR COMPUTER IN MACOS CATALINA OR LATER

You can see a graph of your iPhone or iPad’s storage categories when connected to iTunes in the device Summary section. This is where you will see how much space the “Other” category uses.

  1. Connect your iPhone to your computer
  2. Open iTunes if it does not open automatically
  3. Click on the device icon in the upper left corner of the screen
  1. Click on Summary in the menu on the left side of the iTunes window
  1. Hover your mouse over the Other section at the bottom of the iTunes window to see how much space the category is using

TRY CLEARING SAFARI CACHES AND THE OFFLINE READING LIST

Some culprits that take up space in your “Other” files on your iPhone and iPad are history and website data in Safari. These are useful for accessing websites quickly but are not a necessity.

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Tap General
  3. Tap iPhone (or iPad) Storage
  1. Scroll down and tap Safari
  2. Tap Website Data
  3. Scroll down and tap Remove all Website Data
  1. Swipe to the left on Offline Reading List
  2. Tap Delete

When you go back to your storage list, you will note that Safari no longer shows any data.

TRY DELETING OLD IMESSAGES AND MAIL DATA

The Mail app automatically stores a cache of all the documents, pictures, and videos you have viewed on your iPhone or iPad. This makes reloading them faster the second time around. But do you really need to look at your sibling’s photo of their dinner from last Wednesday again? You can remove the caches and free up precious storage space in those “Other” files.

Just as with emails, all of the pictures and videos you receive through MMS are stored in the Other category in your storage. You can delete entire conversations, set messages to delete after a certain period of time, or delete individual images and attachments.

As of iOS 11, Apple has automatically made it very easy to clear out these caches. You can enable auto-delete for old iMessages, review large email attachments and remove them from your iPhone or iPad, offload unused apps, and delete music or movies that you’ve downloaded to your device but don’t actively access anymore.

We’ve got a detailed guide on how to free up storage space on your iPhone that should help you through this process.

TRY RESTORING YOUR IPHONE OR IPAD AND SETTING UP AS NEW

One of the biggest culprits taking up unusually large amounts of space in the “Other” files on your iPhone or iPad is a wonky bug in the system. The best way to track down and remove corrupted files is to burn it all down and start over.

Don’t worry, you can back up information like photos, contacts, and notes to iCloud before you delete everything. This means that you’ll have your key information when you start again and set your device up as new. Here’s how to erase your iPhone or iPad to start afresh. 

STILL NOT FIXED?

If you’re still getting an Out of Storage error on your iPhone and removing data in the Other category doesn’t seem to have done the trick, you can try offloading some additional content from your device.

I know this problem can be frustrating, but the steps above are usually enough to get it sorted out. If you are still having issues with “Other” flies clogging up your storage space, it may be time to reach out to Apple Support. Hopefully, these steps have you and your iPhone all cleaned up and ready for action.

Source : imore.com