The size of your System Data seems to become a recurring problem for those who have had their iPhone for a while. Apple is collecting a bunch of miscellaneous information and data that you might not even need, all whilst you’re trying to decide between deleting photos from your last holiday or uninstalling your banking app. If you’re sick of running out of space, here’s what you can do to claim some of that system data back.
What is System Data?
System Data is the phrase that Apple uses to categorise a load of different things; system caches, bookmarks and tabs, updates and a bunch of other data. For those using a version of iOS that is older than iOS 15, instead of System Data you should see the term ‘Other’, which is maddeningly unhelpful for those of us who just want our storage back.
This becomes a real problem when you’re streaming a lot of videos; if you’re constantly on TikTok or Spotify, you’re probably acquirely a lot of caches so that your music and video plays without stuttering. Great whilst you’re watching, terrible for your storage. This is also true for anyone who sends a lot of photos and videos over text; every one of these creates a little cache that eats away at your storage.
The longer that you use your device, the more data that Apple is accumulating, and the more storage that it uses up. However, whilst you can’t delete your System Data, there are some things that you can do to reduce it back down.
- Clear Website Data
One of the easiest ways to reclaim some of your System Data is by clearing your website data. However, be aware that this is going to clear all of your Safari tabs. Head to Settings, Safari and then Clear History and Website Data. We got 4GB of System Data back with this trick. - Turn off Automatic Time
This is a bit of a strange one, but we regained about 2.5GB of System Data back from this. It works by lying to your iOS, and telling it that some caches are older than they are. Go to General, Date and Time and then deselect Set Automatically. Choose a random day and time, leave your phone for a couple of minutes and then restart it. When it fires up again, turn Set Automatically back on. - Clear out your Messages
You know those automatic messages from your GP or offers from a website you used once? They’re clogging up your System Data. Head to Apps, then Messages, then scroll right down to Message History. Change this to 1 Year, or better still, 30 Days - just as long as they’re not kept forever. We reclaimed about 1GB from this trick. Just be aware that this will delete all your messages that are more than a year old. - Backup, erase and restore
For those who are completely out of options and have found their System Data continues to completely clog their device, it's time to backup, erase and restore. First, make sure that you have your login details for bank accounts, and anything important.
From there, back up your iPhone using iCloud, then Factory Reset your device. From there, follow the instructions until you can select Transfer Your Apps & Data, then select From iCloud Backup. This should reset your phone and drastically reduce your System Data.
