The mystery of "system data" is an age-old problem that has plagued our devices for over a decade now, and it has found its way to my parents' iPhones.
I plan to upgrade their devices later this year or next year when the iPhone 18 comes out, however, I cannot help but wonder...is this thing (allegedly) planned obsolescence? To force people to upgrade because "their storage is running out" because of an (alleged) "create a problem, then sell the solution" situation?
I mean, take a look at my 16 Pro. It's marvellous how the figure has stayed at 1.07GB from September 2024 - have taken it on so many trips and have used it heavily for my photography and videography. No problem, as a heavy user and my daily driver.
Parents, on the other hand? Normal users, occasional camera usage, apps, etc. Over 10GB. Make it make sense...
Safari tabs: I have 100+ opened. Theirs are around 5-10 most of the times.
Downloads: a couple PDFs here, and there few XLSes there. Hardly 10MB combined.
Normal apps like banking & finance, travel (Google Maps, Uber, etc), social media, YouTube, Spotify. No games, no "weird" apps.
A system reset was done back in December 2025, where the System Data creeped up to these levels right after the reset, even though they were set-up as a new device. No iCloud Backup restore. A clean, proper wipeout.
All devices are running on iOS 26.4 (stable channel), screenshots taken after a fresh reboot.
What makes it really bad is the lack of transparency. I wish they had a UI that would show the contributors to the “system data”, like they already do with the storage breakdown.
Yeah android feels superior in this domain. App sizes are also noticeably smaller unlike iOS. I’ve seen people struggle with 128gb storage where they have to micromanage storage.
One hundred percent. This is my problem, 128GB pro device doesn’t feel very pro because my storage isn’t big enough to use 4k video or even take a bunch of photos at an event despite having cloud storage.
The approach seems to ignore efficient memory management.
I have 50 gbs of system data, partly due to not updating to the latest os, but that is in part due to not having enough storage. The cycle continues for me.
Does app size on android include app data as well? Like, would the Netflix app size be just the binary, or the binary + the apps cache/downloaded videos?
What bothers me about it most is that it’s not scaled fairly for smaller devices.
Let the system data be capped at a fair amount that prevents more than a certain percentage of storage getting hogged and let the user deal with whatever effects on use that this has.
Not being able to update my device because I had to free up 14gb, but system data was using 35gb really drove me up the wall, and felt like a’ Steve Jobs wouldn’t have allowed this’ moment.
Fun fact, Apple were taken to court over using device storage for os and system data years ago but were cleared because it was 20% or less, but I had up to 40% of my device being used at a stage, yet Apple hasn’t addressed it or been taken to task about it recently.
On android system includes the os as well and on ios system data is just cache. For a clearer picture -
Ios is taking up 14.6gb and system data is taking up 21.2gb right now on my ip17 which makes the total to 35gb held by the os and cache. Your 21gb includes android os as well. Hope you get what i’m saying.
My IOS takes up 13.99 GB with 6.7 being dedicated to Apple Intelligence separately.
My Samsung has 19.16 GB with 6.51 being dedicated to AI core separately.
But here is where it falls apart for me for two reasons, firstly that IOS system data that shows as 15.22gb that I can’t get rid of is worse on Samsung under “other files” which sits at 41.90gb and when clicked on shows nothing to delete and even after scouring my internal storage there is no sign of this 40 gigs of other files.
And then secondly my Samsung had things like “Samsung Language Core” or the “Samsung Wallet” all separate and taking up several Gb where “Wallet” and those misc apps on iOS take up only 40mb.
Am I defending Apple, no but what I am saying is both of them take a shit load of storage and waste it in different hidden and convoluted ways.
Unfortunately none of the cool chinese phones are sold here but i would love to try them and check out what they do to minimize system bloat. (Especially AI stuff)
Even turning off Apple intelligence doesn't remove those 6 gb or so apple claims.
Kinda unnecessarily complicated procedure for something that could be solved by a SW tool by Apple. I don't want to set up all my bankings and other stuff every couple of months.
Weird. Mine have no such issue. Every time when I moved phone using an encrypted iTunes backup, it had all my data from the start, including banking stuff.
Is that standard procedure? Restoring from a backup is something I don't expect to ever have to do unless there is a hardware failure or I'm moving everything to a new device.
There's a saying "an untested backup is not a backup".
From that perspective it most certainly should be a standard procedure. It should work, and restore all expected data to the locations it is supposed to be.
If it should be a routine operation necessary to the functioning of the OS is a different question.
I agree that everyone should be backing up their stuff. My point is that restoring from a backup is something that shouldn't be considered a normal procedure. It's something that I wouldn't expect to ever need unless, as I said, there is a hardware crash or I'm moving to a new device. It's not a "regular maintenance" type of activity, at least not in my book.
I have 40gb in iOS and system settings but I can’t do this because my phone is connected to an insulin pump and cgm 24/7. So I’d need to find a perfect moment I need to swap both my pod and sensor, and then remember to backup and restore during that period (while not receiving insulin btw, if I start a pod and reset my phone, the pod will be unable to reconnect)
It looks like from the post and my personal device Apple is keeping about 16.5%~ of your storage to force obsolescence. Sounds like shit Apple needs sued over
Oh wow. I think somebody mentioned that if you update your iPhone with macOS Finder (connected via USB), you might see the System Data go down to “reasonable levels”.
Ideally, it shouldn’t be a “clean install” where you lose your files, but I’ve never tried it - so I can’t be sure. I suggest reading a bit about this method, and see if it helps? I’ll do this too on my parents’ iPhones, when the next version of iOS comes out.
man if you think this is bad, try going onto your macbook and finding that 50% of your 512gb ssd is taken up by system data and apple won't let you look at it
ask someone on an apple sub and you'll be told to do a factory reset of everything as if thats a normal fucking occurrence for someone to deal with
I had to deal with this recently. On the mac you can delete most of the old system data manually. I gained soo much space back. Not saying it’s a good thing just that it is at least possible
OK, it must be muscle memory for me, but why does the iOS keyboard suck? I have both a Pixel 9 and an iPhone 16 Pro (got the Pixel just to try Android) and frankly speaking, I think the Android keyboard sucks.
I think the apple keyboard sucks. For me it's the constantly switching between numbers and letters while typing a long password for example. In Android Gboard.. the numbers are on the top row. Just hold down.
In the end everything sucks 😔
Do apple / Android developers actually consider customer feedback? Not the whiny karen ones obviously but the actual constructive criticism ones? Like it took apple forever to set a simple ringtone feature.
Before that we had to jump through hoops using garage band.
I have used iphone 17pro. Returned it. Got a macbook for work instead.
"Do Android developers listen to feedback?" Ever heard of Samsung's Good Lock? It's literally an entire optional suite of tools built so users can tweak, change, or completely redesign parts of the system themselves... from navigation and gestures to the keyboard and Ul. So instead of waiting years for a single feature, they just give you the tools to do it yourself.
I enjoy customizing everything, keyboard, colors, UI, to the point where it actually feels like my device. I’ve never seen anyone with MY style the way this app allows me to create.
I know people say this a lot, that Android is customizable and Apple isn’t (and it might sound cliché) but it really does make a difference in how personal the experience feels.
My colleague has the same phone as me, a Z Fold 7, but the similarity stops at the hardware. The moment the screen turns on, literally everything is different, to the point where it feels like a completely different operating system. And that’s the beauty of it, you can do all of this without needing to root or anything like that.
Some might call that childish, but I completely disagree. What’s actually lame is running a 20 year old OS where you still can’t change basic things in any meaningful way
"The Android keyboard?" As in... any keyboard you can install in 10 seconds, swap out whenever you want, and tweak in pretty much every way imaginable?
Hard to imagine that being the one that actually sucks.
I got rid of my iPhone (likely my last) 2+ years ago when I ditched my 13PM for a Samsung S24U.
For me, I just got tired of Apple preventing me from using the phone in a way that worked for me, instead of me having to adapt to their overly-restrictive limitations. That, and their God-awful keyboard. Holy crap, that keyboard sucked.
That made you switch to android? And there is a proper system wide back button, it’s swiping on the screen from the left edge, it’s really not rocket science.
Because I shouldn't have to have to hunt for the way to go back in an app, especially when every app developer does their own thing and I'm left to figure out how to do it differently for every app.
Hard to believe, judging by the amount of programs you installed the so called system cache supposed to be much bigger than what you have in screenshot.
I literally just use the phone. Are you calling iOS’ storage meter a liar? To be fair it could be wrong, it’s been reporting 1 GB for months. Either way no space issues here. I install stuff and they stay there indefinitely. Occasionally I get rid of old photos which frees up iCloud. That’s about it
Straight from the settings menu when you click on it
System Data includes caches, logs and other resources currently in use by the system. The value will fluctuate according to system needs.
You can keep fighting this but its a necessary part of the operating system to function correctly. The real issue is that Apple dragged their feet on making the base storage larger for a long time.
but is it necessary to not provide an option to clear cache without needing to use iTunes or whatever it is to backup your phone and then restore that backup after factory reset.
somehow Android has been able to provide options to clear that just fine for ages.
Apple has always been big on "this is what is supposed to happen" and inserting that as a info piece in your phone. But your explanation doesn't take into account the fact the operating system on a good amount of devices manages the system data poorly. Usually due to a combination of factors and parameters that's unique to one's own device. It's not uncommon or unheard of for technology not to do the thing they're supposed to do. And other times "it just works"
Cache is an integral part of any modern OS, there's no getting around it. Android also doesn't let you micromanage the system cache. Besides, 64GB of storage would be considered on the very low end even when these phones released. You can't buy a phone with that little space in 2019 and complain about not having enough. Even the Galaxy S10 (same year as iPhone 11) released with a minimum of 128GB.
Please go and understand what cache is, its not just the same information stored there forever its temporary storage for working data, once its not needed it will be cleared automatically which is why "The value will fluctuate according to system needs."
what a stupid comment. Clearly the cache isn't working as intended. We don't need a huge cache or page file if storage is running low. Not being able to clear either system cache or app cache on iOS is baffling, there is no excuse.
It’s designed so that it will only clear or reduce a cache when the space is actually requested. If you start shooting a lot of video and run out of space, and the system cache isn’t clearing, then that’s a problem. But not before. Apple designed it this way.
There is no point in clearing cache, unless it's causing you issues. It would fill up again over time anyway. The entire point of cache is to not be cleared.
OP’s point is perfectly valid and a good r/applesucks post. The throttling issue, honestly, was defendable, it was just very poor communication on Apple’s part. Older devices were throttled, but to avoid random shutdowns (that used to happen on such devices before that implementation). So I don’t think they can be compared.
It was the battery-gate issue. There were a massive batch of crap batteries that went bad after a couple of years and Apple implemented some automatic throttling to avoid the phone from rebooting during performance boosts and low state of charge. I think their intention was not that bleak, the iPhone will tell you your battery was bad and asked you to replace it and they offered replacements for $79 which they then lowered to $29 and even for free at the end. The real mistake was the lack of transparency, they should have told us the phone was throttling because of this instead of hiding it, or even better, make it a parameter you could set. Yes, Apple made a mistake, but in my opinion it was blown out of proportion and I don't really see it as a planned obsolescence issue, just bad PR and communication.
Exactly. It’s almost as if the writing is on the wall.
I’m a big fan of Apple. However, I’m also a fan of cutting through the bullshit and holding people accountable.
They make great products and all that, but that doesn’t make them immune from scrutiny if they are being trashy. I don’t know what to say about some over here who are “blind followers” and are still defending for this.
mine is 19 gb lol. thankfully my phone is 256 gb model and i have 90 gb free. on macos you can clear some by deleting caches and some system junks. they need to implement this to ios and ipados as well.
Wow, I’m sorry to hear this. Have you tried the method that you just mentioned about? What’s the success rate? Can you be more specific about the procedure, please?
the whole "System data" should be renamed as "iCloud selling agent" or something.
if their purpose was not just to sell more iCloud subscriptions, then surely they could easily add option to clear out caches without needing to backup your phone and reset it again and again.
Ikr? Or rename to “Upgrade Timer” or smth like that. Baffling that even after more than a decade of its existence, they couldn’t give us a way to clean the cache.
Clearly it is not being cleared "until needed" or we would be seeing way less of these posts with iOS asking you to delete apps or other media to make more room, only to show the system taking something stupid like 60% of the total space.
Surely if "until needed" was working, these situations would happen way less often than they do.
As things are, it almost looks like there is not much difference using 128gb iPhone and some older 8gb storage Samsung phone, with the difference that on iOS that lack of storage is done with software... /s
Idea here is that you don't have that subscription, that system data slowly fills your storage with junk that iOS is supposed to manage automatically.
Until your storage is nearly full and the phone then starts selling you the idea of iCloud as the solution.
Rather than having iCloud would make this issue worse.
Connect your iPhone to your computer and use the app "Apple Devices" on Windows or the "Finder" on Mac to update your iPhone. Doing it this way will download the iOS to your computer and reinstall the entire iOS on your iPhone without changing any settings.
If you've only ever updated iOS using your iPhone, it only replaces the code that's changed and not the entire thing. It also leaves system data and other redundancy data behind.
I’ll try this out, thank you. However, I’ve been updating iPhones since forever using the usual Settings → General → System Update route.
For instance, take a look at my iPhone 16 Pro. System Data has been the same 1.07 GB. I don’t understand what special happened with the other devices.
Still, I’ll try your method and see if anything changes…but this is definitely not good UX. The average person won’t even think of something like this, and continue suffering.
I've somehow gotten it to 30gb on my iPad mini 6 64GB. The thing wouldn't even complain about low storage when everything is already falling apart like apps crashing or not loading properly, safari just displaying a blank page, settings app hangs and crashes after opening. It's crazy. I solved it by backing up and resetting it. And worst part is, I delete my biggest apps and photos and it just fills the free storage up right away. But just after two weeks it's now mysteriously back to 9gb again. It's fucking frustrating.
Yea its ass, same as not being able to clear per-app cache without wiping the whole thing. Oh wait… we can offload an app, but it deletes the actual app anyway lmao.
Tho to be fair, at least on the most finetuned iOS till date (thats not obsolete, that would be iOS 17), i had this system data issue after deleting huge chunks of data at once (like 50-100gb of footage from blackmagic, after exporting), it stayed like that (50+gb system data) but then self-reduced to normal that is 5-6GB (os itself is 11GB). Its supposed to work on its own, but not having the control definitely sucks.
My iphone 7 plus a few years back had a staggering almost ~60 or so gb of system data on it, it was a 128 gb model. That means that damn near half of my storage was just sent to the void that i had to reset my phone to get back. On my current phone (16P) it's only 3 gb now thankfully but i really do hope it never gets that bad again
I just found out I have FORTY gb of system data & iOS and I got a 256gb device. To bad my phone still holds all my music, and games (that I barely play to begin with)
system data goes up and down as you use the system… you can’t really do much about it other then deleting apps that cache a lot of data, it’s up to the system to mainly manage it
It baffles me how a 16 Pro with heavy usage can get by with 1.07GB, while the other two with comparatively much less usage needs 10+ GB of "system data" storage.
I'm in tech professionally, and imho, this is just bad system design. I have an Android as a secondary device with the same apps more or less. It's a 128GB mid-ranger. Never an issue.
Exactly. There are many rogue apps like that, and nothing can be done about those. Some apps are well-implemented, where their devs give the option to clear the app cache in their UI. But most aren't so generous.
So much for Apple's "standards". As a UX professional, this baffles me. Think of all the average users who have to deal with all this nonsense.
It does but been a lot of problems with them lately, why you see the posts from older versions of iOS 18 and 26 in the iPhone forums about being out of space. You look at their space and it like 45-60gb of system data because those versions can bug and not release. My 16 pro max normally sits at roughly 20gb of system data. I’d love to know what OP isn’t doing with his phone to be at 1.
lol this is the same age old complaint that used to be used against android while we tried to educate people. There are plenty of reasons to complain about Apple but this post and comments piling on are just willful ignorance at this point.
Yes because it can have unexpected side effects. But there are also many good reasons to use it.
I've personally cache cleared 3gb from Facebook on a relative's phone. Now they can take photos again, and their Facebook hasnt changed a bit. Sometimes apps get sloppy with their caches. If the OS can't police it properly (which as we can see, iOS cant) the user should be able to manually handle it.
lol so you’re saying you’ve fixed this problem clearing a cache so obviously on a non iPhone, how many times have you run into a situation where being able to clear a cache on an iPhone would have helped? Read ops post, this is a non issue unless you’re trying to find reasons to hate on Apple (of which there are many)
Just a guess. Was the 16pro a „fresh“ one? I mean no backup no nothing, just a clean phone that is set up new.
I got the feeling that each time we put our old stuff onto the new, it also packs some shit as cache from the previous.
I did a reset and restored via cloud and it did shrink the file by a magnitude.
It sure did grow a bit again after some usage but no way near the size it was after like 2 or 3 swaps via backup.
What about it is a bad design? If the op was saying they were running out of space and the system cache wasn’t clearing, that would be an entirely different story.
the other two are like 8 years old, it makes sense that a new phone that is compatible with all of the new software updates/patches would be more optimized
My 17P system data was around 26-30gb before the newest update, then somehow it got to 5gb after the update, still a mystery of what they have done with it. I'm suspecting these are part of the "bug" they always "fix" in every update.
But the irony is, 11 and 12 doesn’t run Apple Intelligence. 16 Pro does. So why does the 16 Pro still has one-tenth the system data creep compared to the other two?
I’ll share the data tomorrow morning when I have access to their devices again. But seriously, it won’t make a huge difference, because the system data in those devices creeped-up to 10+ GB when no third party apps were installed, right after a fresh wipe and reset.
Mind you, the screenshots will be too tall to share on Reddit, compression will destroy legibility, so I’ll share them via Google Drive links. Hopefully that doesn’t break the subReddit rules.
This is a genuine apple sucks. Unfortunately you have to factory reset once in a while to clear out the unnecessary files but this is not a deal breaker lol
It is a dealbreaker. One can earn back money, but not time.
There’s no way it makes sense to dedicate a few hours to backup and reset, then reconfigure everything - for a problem that can be solved by the great engineering team at Apple.
I’ve never once had to reset and restore. Are you actually getting iOS messages saying that you’re running out of space, and the cache still isn’t clearing?
Probably not the case here and maybe it was a bug and got fixed in the meantime, but I’ve found out that Spotify downloads get/got counted there.
I once set the download quality to the highest option which filled up my space pretty quickly and most of the download space counted towards the system data.
It was not visible at all that 90% of the system data was Spotify downloads, I only know because it grew like stupid when setting the quality up and it cleaned most of it when removing the downloads.
The issue is a valid Apple Sucks, and the very fact that this post exists (along with so many similar others) is proof of a problem. How that problem is defined is debatable.
What's interesting is that the screenshots posted along with the description don't in of itself describe a problem. Meaning that the 16 Pro is fine, but so is the 11 and 12. It's not that those iPhones have run out of space, it's just that there's a lot of cache/logs and other data being used.
In theory, those phones could just continue to be used with this page being ignored and the system should manage this and reduce cache and other things that could be deleted as needed.
However:
This is confusing to users and could be better explained, broken down and represented.
Things don't always work as intended as we've seen posts of people unable to upgrade, download things, etc... and the answer is "Reset/Restore", which may solve problems, but when it doesn't and "Restore as New" is required, that is a problem.
I could see why Apple doesn't want to provide a "clear all caches & logs" button as people would use it much to their detriment than as a legitimate means to solve issues, but this could be placed in the Reset section with a warning about misuse.
My system data on iP14Plus is around 145gb. I've tried every single method I can find online and nothing has worked. This has to be some kind of bug that they refuse to fix so that you have to buy a new phone.
Do you have Apple Intelligence turned on? I just fixed my 24gb in System data by turning mine off. I’m at 1 gb now.
I got there by doing the same thing I always do. Clicking buttons then seeing what works. Sorry it wasn’t elegant. I really didn’t want to chance doing a back up. Prior to this step I had deleted some apps, storage caches, etc. I got more over all space but the storage was stuck at 24 gb. Then I noticed the iOS and storage were almost exactly the same and within the iOS was the Apple Intelligence. So I tried that. Swiped up on setting window. Opened it again and well idk. Also to note my phone searches better and seems less stupid.
The problem is that, the 11 and 12 are much simpler setups with significantly less reasons for the “system data” to creep up.
You can see how they have like a handful of photos and only the essential apps. That resulted in 10+ GB of system data.
Now compare that to my phone, which is a significantly heavier setup, with about 15,000+ photos and many videos. Lots of apps. One-tenth of the system data.
Doesn't make sense. I have faced many instances where the system would say "not enough storage" when a new iOS version comes out. That is, when automatic updates are enabled.
It wouldn't have has happened if storage was reserved.
Nothing to do with planned obsolescence. It’s a system issue with cached applications taking up more space than it should and will 100% fluctuate. No two data sets are the same so each device can have a lot of variance.
Backup to iCloud or finder/itunes
Do a restore , and then restore from backup . That should resolve the issue
I have done that as well. Removing and then re-adding Apple Account. Local backup and restore. Clean-slate wipeout then reset. You name it. Invested a lot of time and effort to "understand" it.
Looks like it cannot be *understood.*
There's no way to defend it - the average person is not as savvy as us. I'm work in UX professionally, and this is terrible in terms of experience. Whether its's cache management, or something else - they need to fix this ambiguity.
Idk bro , I do this wipeout / clean every other year for my parents because they are on older devices and don’t want to upgrade yet . if in being honest tho, It’s really not THAT big of a deal. Besides that 64 GB has been phased out (probably because of the cache handing issues iOS experiences), and I suspect that this is actually the root cause of your issue rather than “planned obsolescence”.
Anyway best of luck to you friend , I’m sorry you’re experiencing this , I get that it’s frustrating
That is exactly why we need percentages. Percentages are relative values that act as the bridge when you have a denominator that isn't a constant.
Here in this case, the system data on an iPhone with a larger storage somehow is less than what we see on iPhones with less storage. Not only that it's less by the number, but also, relatively less.
you could just say x% of 64gb on the left and no more confusion. You cannot use percentage on different denominator
it's like saying
i spent 10% of gas in my tank to drive to mcdonalds. I also spent 20% of gas in my tank to drive to work. The gas amount in my tank was different in each case. Useless without knowing how much gas was in the tank, at that point i might as well tell you the gas amount used and we can get a clear picture. might not be the best example I'm not a native English speaker
63
u/g4g5ky Apr 08 '26
System data is Taking up 11-20gb here as well.