I'm facing a significant storage issue on my iPhone where the system data is taking up an alarming 100GB of my total 128GB storage. I've already tried deleting my Safari cache, offloading and redownloading apps, and removing large attachments, but nothing seems to help. I'm considering a factory reset, but I'm not sure what that would erase and how to back up my data properly. Any advice on how to tackle this issue would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
You might want to check your hidden files first! On a Mac, go to the Library in Finder, and use CMD+i to calculate folder sizes. This might help you identify what's taking up all that space. Also, make sure your MacOS is updated; it can improve disk usage.
You have a couple of options. First, consider updating to iOS 26 if you’re on iOS 18—sometimes updates can help clear up storage issues. Another way is to use a cleaning app, like Express Cleaner Kit. It helped me by removing duplicate photos and compressing large files, freeing up about 15-16GB of space. Just make sure to update your iOS after clearing some storage!
That seems like a lot of work! Did you notice any actual improvements after using the cleaner?