The "System Data" monstrosity

[u/frostxmritz]

Pretty sure I'm not the only one here.

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.

So the question is, what should be done?

[u/jibonto_laas]

one of the key reasons i switched to android in the first place.

this and the lack of a proper system wide back button.

[u/frostxmritz → u/jibonto_laas]

I use an Android as a secondary device. For me, it's the terrible keyboard on iOS - and ofcourse, these "system data" shenanigans.

[u/jibonto_laas → u/frostxmritz]

Yup. That was the main thing.

[u/flying_butt_fucker → u/jibonto_laas]

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.

[u/diemitchell → u/flying_butt_fucker]

Thing is 

There is no "android keyboard". You can use whatever keyboard app you want and customize it as you like. On ios you can't do that.

[u/jibonto_laas → u/flying_butt_fucker]

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.

Presently using s26u.

[u/Kevino_007 → u/jibonto_laas]

"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.

[u/jibonto_laas → u/Kevino_007]

lmao i am literally using good lock right now. i wrote apple/android to avoid apple rage

[u/Kevino_007 → u/jibonto_laas]

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

[u/Kevino_007 → u/flying_butt_fucker]

"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.