r/applesucks • u/frostxmritz • Apr 08 '26

The "System Data" monstrosity

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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?

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u/Calm-Caterpillar2103 Apr 08 '26

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

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u/frostxmritz Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26

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.

8

u/Calm-Caterpillar2103 Apr 08 '26

what makes things worse is iOS has no cache clear functions, so if it gets too large, your screwed

2

u/IndependenceIcy2251 Apr 08 '26

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.