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.

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.

Comments

The "other" on my iPhone represents my calendar information synced from Outlook.

Same for me. However, for those folks that have several gigs taken up by it clearly don't have gigs of calendar data :)

this is the simple reason why: when you sync an app and it don't complete or was interrupted the device store the app you trying to sync or install via itunes , in a folder located in Var/Media/ApplicationArchives. so all you need to do using ifile or SSH is delete the file(s) in the folder and you get back the memory. it happen to me while installing FIFA 12

@kaze

thank you for telling me about application archives, gun club was taking 1.13 gb and other took 1.80 gb so I had 866 mb left on my 8gb Ipod now I have near 2 gb of storage and other is only taking 078 gb.

what was the step by step for you to be able to do that?

i am trying to figure your instructions out but i cant find the files

can you please help!? i dont know how to get to the folder located "var/media/applicationarchives"

i was not able to find that particular file, but using diskaid (http://www.downloadspring.com/diskaid/indexarca.htm) i was able to play around on my phone and found many many old audio, video, and image files that could be delted. Between that and deleting my safari cookies and history I got 2 gig of memory back from "other". Hope that helps.

i need some help..what do i do when the itune on my iphone takes up all of the space?literally..'m really desperate now..

goto settings/ safari and clear history, cookies and cache and you will recover your space. I recovered from 7.5gb to .45gb.

Thank you very much for the solution. Very simple and works perfectly.

Thank you, thank you. Was bugging me as to what 'OTHER' was. Now sorted, but you must restart iphone for it to show up.

Wow!! Thank you so much!! I almost restored my ipod!! Luckily I read your comment before it!!

What did u do? Coz I'm stuck here with a high amount of other space

i deleted the syslog found in /var/log/ and it saved 3gb!! i used ifile. trust me. it took me 2 hours to find the troublesome file. horrrraaayy!!!

where is the var/log? i deleted the cookies and cache and other is still at 3.4, no change!

how do you delete the cookies and cache

Two year later after this post/comment, this still works perfectly. Went from 4.6 GB of memory to 10.8 Gb of memory after. Final stumbled upon and this and wow, Thanks and keep up the good work.

I don't suppose you could clarify HOW those files are accessed?

goto settings/ safari and clear history, cookies and cache and you will recover your space. I recovered from 7.5gb to .45gb.

This worked for me. Do a complete shutdown and bring the phone back up.. than plug it in to Itunes and it will show the space free. Thanks everyone. This worked for me.

Thank you. That was a real pest but a simple solution.

I have Windows 8 and am still having the same problem with Other taking up so much space on my itunes/iphone I am new to Windows 8, can you tell me where to go step by step and what needs to be done from start to finish?

FUUUUUUUUUU--- i alr restored my iPhone. -.- FML for not reading comments x.x

My 16GB 3GS was showing 1.9 GB of yellow. Clearing the cache, cookies, and history reduced it by .2 or so. However, clearing out many photos and videos (but not all) from the "camera roll" cut the number in half to .89 GB.

In earlier versions of the iPhone software, I recall that the iPhone limited the number of photos that could be in the "camera roll." Now, the number appears to be much higher. By including a large number of photos in the "camera roll," it caused the yellow/"other" bar to be large.

NOTE: the reason that I keep italicizing "camera roll" is because have nearly a thousant pictures and videos in files located in the Photos app.

It works!! Million of thanks to you.

Thanks!

I tried deleting old text messages and that took care of some of it.

goto settings/ safari and clear history, cookies and cache and you will recover your space. I recovered from 7.5gb to .45gb.
Thanks that fixed it I recovered 8GB of space that's half my 16GB Ouch!

I have 3 GB of other on my iPod touch. I tried this and restarted it but it didn't make a difference. I use Safari often, too! My iPod's really stunk lately!! No matter how much stuff I delete, it says my memory's full and I can't take pictures and such. I don't want to have to restore it, but I just need help! Thanks!

What are these steps for a Mac????

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