How to Reduce System Storage Size on iPhone or iPad

How to Reduce System Storage Size on iPhone or iPad

How to Reduce System Storage Size on iPhone or iPad

How to Reduce System Storage Size on iPhone or iPad

If you have ever visited the iOS Storage section of Settings app on an iPhone or iPad, you may have noticed that the System storage section is occasionally quite large and can take up a significant amount of storage capacity.

For extra large storage capacity devices this may not be a big deal, but if you have System taking up 16GB of storage on a 32GB device then that is obviously a storage burden that is impinging on total device capacity, potentially preventing other uses of the device due to being unable to download apps, games, media, or other stuff to the device.

Therefore, reducing a large System storage section of iOS devices could be desirable. This tip will cover a somewhat quirky way to reduce the total size of System storage as found on the Storage settings of an iPad or iPhone. Before going further, you might want to get an idea of how large your current System storage is before trying to reduce the capacity, this will give you a reference point to work with.

You can check System storage size by doing the following: System can be wildly different sizes, sometimes its 7 GB or so, but it can also easily be 10GB, 15GB, or even a whopping 25 GB or larger too, often even on the same device type.

How to Reduce System Storage Size on iPhone or iPad

That seemingly random but significant storage usage makes System a bit like the which has long frustrated some users by consuming device storage in iOS. Now that you know how large your System storage is from the start, lets review the process that may help to reduce that storage size.

To use this trick to shrink the System capacity size of your iPhone Storage or iPad Storage, you will need the iOS device, a computer with iTunes, and a USB cable to connect the device to the computer. If you have all of that, the rest is remarkably simple.

Why this works isn't entirely clear, but presumably when you connect an iPhone or iPad to a computer and open iTunes, it performs some sort of maintenance or cleanup behavior that dumps caches and temp files from the iOS System section, perhaps in preparation for a backup to iTunes, and when finished it can free up a notable amount of storage capacity on the device. In the screenshots shown here, I was able to free up over 5 GB of storage on an iPhone simply by plugging it into a computer with iTunes, and letting it sit for two minutes while unlocked.

On an iPad, I was able to free up 2 GB doing the same action. This method is not guaranteed to work however, and on an iPhone X with a whopping 25.6 GB system size, it only freed up less than 1 GB. Some users may report more dramatic changes in the size of System but there does not seem to be much rhyme or reason involved, if you have any hunches share them in the comments further below. The System section of the iPhone or iPad Storage is likely quite literal, its the system software.

How to Reduce System Storage Size on iPhone or iPad

That includes iOS itself, which is the core operating system running on the iPhone or iPad, including all system functions, system apps, and presumably other system components like caches, temp files, and other underpinnings of the iOS operating system. The often randomly and widely varying storage consumption size of the System section of iOS Storage is sort of like the , which is still listed in the Storage section of the Settings app, but it appears that System is now contained within the Other section.

Another option which consistently shrinks down iOS System storage is much more dramatic; erase the device, then reinstall iOS and restore from your backup. Obviously thats a significant undertaking however, so that shouldn't be a first resort for anyone. Similarly, restoring iOS will typically reduce the Other capacity as well on an iPhone or iPad.

One of the biggest complaints iPhone and iPad users often have relates to inadequate storage space on their devices (along with iCloud, but thats another topic) particularly on smaller storage size models with 16GB and 32GB capacities, but even with 64 GB, 128GB and 256 GB devices too, depending on how much stuff is on there.

If youre trying to free up System storage space to reduce general storage usage on the iPhone or iPad, you may also be interested in , along with . Other helpful tips for freeing up storage capacity on iOS devices include that are unused, , , and focusing on particularly with apps .

Did this trick work for you to reduce your System storage space on an iPhone or iPad? Do you have any other helpful tricks to reduce curiously large System or Other storage capacities on iOS devices? Share your experiences in the comments below!

How to Reduce System Storage Size on iPhone or iPad