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

Hey I am a bit confused on how to get the wINSCP, My Phone is a 8gb 3g unlocked iphone version 3.1.2. This same problem happened to me as well.

Do I download it to CPU? Or do I download it straight to my Phone?
When I download it how do I get it over to my Iphone. Please help?

easiest way: use a utility such as phoneview (for mac) and look in the video/audio for what you don't want there. Often is caused by itunes rentals that don't delete properly!

Warning: PLEASE READ BEFORE PERFORMING A RESTORE!

BEFORE you do any kind of restore, make sure to back up all your personal data! Do not trust iTunes to do it for you because it won't! Things like contacts and app specific data like finance reports and logs need to be backed up if you ever want to see them again. I made this mistake and lost months of work, my fault, but you don't have to make the same mistake.

I didn't even know it was possible to do such a thing. I never used WinSCP before, but here is the walk through of how to login to your phone using it. http://winscp.net/eng/docs/faq_iphone
Thanks so much, I didn't want to restore my phone

After delete all files from the /private/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Music,
I cant play my musics and videos ... !! any solutions?

yes im stuck with same problem
please help

OMG!!!! it worked... i love you bro....

awesome. thank a million!!!!

F**k YES!!! dude U R AWESOME, the ssh worked great!!!!!!

Hey there. I don't get it! i'm so new to my iphone and I just got a friend to jailbreak it for me. but my other space is like 2 gb. where do i find

/private/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Music folder

?
If you could email me at cheese153@hotmail.com
that would be great. Thanks so much

<3

You just download ifile from cydia go on settings (bottom left corner) and click on filemanager there would be Hidden means(Hidden Folder) same as the computer's one after that locate media and library check through those file and delete most of the useless ite files you need and application form VAR/APPLICATIONS is where all you files are and Documents is where installous is (A app downloaded from cydia need to update the sources forgot haha but thats where you can find their apps you downloaded i just download from safari and put it to that folder install it and delete it hhaahaha xD CYA DUDES

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I have been trying to resolve the problem of "other" for awhile now. 2 GB of space and I have been searching for apps to free up disk space and there is nothing. My phone is jailbroken and so I tried your solution, ran ITUNES and I now have 3.33 GB of freespace.

YOU ROCK!

Don't forget to check the /podcasts folder.
I also have the same problem but mine isn't music. Mine is videos and podcasts

when i delete these files, "Delete all files from the /private/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Music folder using WinSCP."
they come back after i restart, i have tried using iFile as well, but no much success

Sir - I owe you a beer.

I have been trying all day to solve this issue. 99% of all threads suggest that a restore is the only solution. You however nailed it. Thank you so very, very much.

/Stig

OMFG. Totally worked. Thank you so very very much *mwah*

oh man! thanks you thank you! do you have a bank account i send money to? lolz...dude you rock!

This solved my problem, but my "other" space was in /private/var/mobile/Media/ApplicationArchives.
Thanks!

Million thanks Sorin!!!!

/private/var/mobile/Media/ApplicationArchives - was my problem. It came from Installous zip and partial download files I believe!

where do i find "/private/var/mobile/Media/ApplicationArchives"?

where do i find this: "/private/var/mobile/Media/ApplicationArchives"?

if your phone is jailbroken this is proly the answer i tried everything else, nothing worked but this.

fattyz

I don't know how i got this comment here.

IF YOUR PHONE IS JAILBROKEN IT PARTIALLY DOWNLOADED FILES FROM INSTALLOUS. READ DOWN AND FIND MY OTHER COMMENT AND THE DIRECTORY STRUCTURE FROM THE GUY WHO FIGURED IT OUT HE'S A FRIKKIN' GENIUS. I ONLY HAVE 6 GIGS TOOK OTHER FROM 2 GIGS TO .86 THANK YOU AGAIN

YEAHH!
Your God, no I have 1 more GB :D

I done the above with iFile - I also had to delete the TRASH folder. Problem solved!

My iPhone with OS 3.1 had more than 2 GB categorized as "Others". I delete the Mail accounts in "Preferences->Mail, Contacts, Calendars" from all my accounts I only kept Google's. Once I Sync the iPhone the space was available.

I think I win... I have 27.34 GB taken up by "other" and I have no idea why.... Help!! :o(

What I tried was this, I went into the iPhones settings>Saffari and then erased cache cookies and history. Just by doing that I got all of my 21 GB back! =)

I was syncing photos to my iPhone when I got almost 7 GB of "OTHER". What happened was that I checked the 'include videos' option with my photos. Apparently, iTunes was too retarded to figure out that it didn't have enough space on the iPhone for these videos. Funny coz otherwise OS X is usually good at estimating these and telling you "it ain't so" before even making the attempt.

So iTunes ended up shooting itself in the foot -- showing a sync error and giving me 6GB of "others".

Solution? Was what I could think of first -- UNsync my photos (by deselecting the sync photos option in iTunes and allowing iTunes to delete the photos from the iPhone) and then resync them.

It worked.

Free'd up all that space. Damn. 7GBs. Wouldjabelieveit.

I am hoping someone can help me. Today I had the same problem where the Other category seems to represent my Music, which is now gone from my iPhone. I am on Vista, so I do not know which folder to delete so that this problem is fixed. Can anyone help me?

I have tried unchecking everything but my apps and synching, and that huge Other category is still there!!

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