How to Clear “System Data” Storage on Your iPhone or iPad
Have you ever wondered why there is so much clutter in the “System Data” Storage of your iPhone? Well, it’s an accumulation of multiple data altogether. And even It might seem like a tedious process to clear it up, you have to do it to make room for new apps, photos, and other important documents. Even if you’re not completely out of storage space on your iPhone, clearing other storage can give you back some extra room without deleting or moving anything important — here’s how you can clear this “Other” Storage on your iPhone!
What is the section “System Data” in iPhone storage?
Before we start with decluttering our iPhone, let’s first start with a brief explanation of what exactly is this “System Data” section in our iPhone (or iPad) storage. Essentially, this category is where the phone caches are stored. These phone caches are any other files not in a specific category. And since they are too small to have a specific place, your iPhone categorizes them as “Other”.
We’re talking here about “System Data” because we’re using the latest iOS version. If you’re using an older iOS version, “System Data” might be called “Other”. Apple changed the name of this section to make it less confusing and more descriptive.
Where to find and view your iPhone Storage
Now we know what this “System Data” section is and what it’s meant for, let’s open it in our iPhone (or iPad if you’re following this guide with an iPad).
In order to see how much storage all your apps and data are taking up on your iPhone, go to Settings > then tap on General, then scroll down and tap iPhone Storage. This page will show you a lot of useful information, including total storage space and how much is being used by each category (apps, music, photos, etc.). Just scroll down until you see “Other” under Storage.
Now that you know where to find it, clearing your other storage is simple. Let’s start with our guide on how to clear this “System Data” Storage.
The steps to clear the Section “System Data” in iPhone or iPad
Clearing System Data on your iPhone or iPad can be done by deleting the stuff you don’t want. In the following, you’ll find 5 places where this data is accumulated and stored in your iPhone without you realizing it.
1. Delete Data from Streaming Apps
If you’re streaming a lot of music and video on your iPhone, there’s a good chance your device is eating up a lot of space. That is not the same as downloading, by the way.
If you want to free up some space on your iPhone or iPad, don’t stream while you’re not going to use it, or use it sparingly if you must. You can hold off on streaming in the meantime and instead just download your content.
One option you can take is to clear app caches from your iPhone storage. Focus especially on media-streaming apps like Netflix, YouTube, Apple Music, and Spotify. If this persists, erase the data for those apps in your storage settings.
2. Clear Cache of Safari or Chrome
Safari or Chrome caches can make “System Data” storage (or “Other” in older iOS versions) on your device spiral out of control. Safari and Chrome save browser history and website data so that you can easily go back to websites you visited in the past.
That said, Safari’s caches are not needed and if they are present on your iPhone storage, you will need to clear them in order to free up space for more important things.
Here is how you can clear your Safari browser cache:
- On your iOS device, head to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
- Down below, in the list of apps, find Safari and tap it.
- Tap on Website Data
- Then, scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Clear Browser Data.
3. Delete Apps you don’t use
It might surprise you how many Apps are stored on your iPhone without you realizing it. For example, if a program such as the Podcasts app is using up more than a couple of gigabytes of space, it’s likely full of cached data. It’s a bigger waste if you don’t even use any of these apps.
Deleting these apps could clear some of the “System Data” storage on your iPhone or iPad. To delete an app, simply tap and hold the app until it starts wiggling and tap the “X” icon that appears on the right corner of the app.
4. Get rid of Old WhatsApp, Message, and Mail Data
If you often send and receive messages through WhatsApp and the Messages app, you may be having a tough time keeping your phone’s storage from getting clogged up. Changing your Messages settings to keep older messages from staying on your phone is after all not a bad idea.
WhatsApp, the Messages app, and even Apple Mail default to keeping messages/emails forever by default. You can, however, change this to 1 Year or even 30 Days to minimize the amount of Messages data that are stored.
In order to accomplish this, open Settings and then tap on the Messages app. Once in the Message History section, tap on Keep Messages. Now, choose a desired message storage duration of 30 days or one year.
5. Back up and reset your iPhone/iPad
The simplest way to clean up your device is to perform a factory reset. It’s faster than locating and deleting caches, and you’ll also be able to eradicate strange bugs and a slow-running iPhone. But be careful, before you uninstall anything, make sure to back up your iPhone or iPad.
Before you uninstall anything, make sure to back up your iPhone or iPad.
To erase your iPhone or iPad’s data, navigate to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset and then tap Erase All Content and Settings.
iOS will automatically let you know if you have an iCloud backup and give you the opportunity to upgrade before losing any unsaved data.
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