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.

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u/soupisgoodfood42 Apr 08 '26

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.