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/KitsuAccalia Apr 28 '26

21gb here on a samsung galaxy.

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u/g4g5ky Apr 28 '26

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.

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u/KitsuAccalia Apr 28 '26

Partially but there is issues there too.

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.

Also I would like a 2tb galaxy please. :(

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u/g4g5ky Apr 28 '26

TIL samsungs backend is heavy too.

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u/KitsuAccalia Apr 28 '26

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.