iPhone says it is full

[jest2dogs]

I can't take any pictures because it says it's full.

I deleted about 900 photos and it still says it is full with 12GB used total. I checked the "usage" page and there's plenty of room. A couple of GB for Photos and less than 2GB for email. All else adds up to less the 2-3 GB

I cycled the phone off/on and it still says it's full.

Full of what?

[Stephen Hart]

What does iTunes show in the usage graph at the bottom of the window?

Sometimes the mysterious category "Other" seems to suddenly take up lots of space. Some web sites imply that this is a result of "cruft" and just expands over time. I think that's wrong, and that it's a miscalculation of some sort.

Restoring the iPhone is the bluntest instrument to fix this. That requires that you have a full download of the latest iOS version on your Mac.

You may just be able to force iTunes to recalculate the space:
http://osxdaily.com/2011/10/18/itunes-o ... space-fix/

You might try a reset as follows: hold down the home button and the sleep/wake button until the iPhone shuts down. Wait a minute or two and then restart it with the sleep/wake button. (As the iPhone is shutting down, there's a barely visible progress wheel on screen.)



There's no definitive percent of storage that's recommended to keep free, but I see 5% to 10% cited.

You can organize your photos like this:
1. Offload all photos to iPhoto, Aperture or Photos (confirm that you can see them all).
2. Create an album for photos to be kept on the iPhone.
3. In iTunes, choose your iPhone and then the Photos category. Choose to sync that folder to the iPhone.

You could delete apps that you never use. Don't do this only on the iPhone because iTunes will probably just add them back. (You can always download them again from the iTunes Store.)

iCloud Music is designed specifically to give you access to most or all of your music while storing little on the iPhone itself.


The screenshot shows a normal amount of "Other" on my 32 GB iPad.

[jest2dogs]

Thanks Stephen,

I will see if I can execute your suggestions. I'll let you know my success.

[jest2dogs]

I cleared up the issue. All deleted photos were saved in a deleted photos album which was out of sight "below the fold" on the iPhone. Deleted that and space was freed up.

Occam's razor!

-Jesse

[Stephen Hart]

I should have remembered that. Like OS X's trash can, deleting photos in iOS only puts them in a Deleted folder. (Also true of voice mails, though those don't take up space on your iPhone.)

If you want access to tons of photos on your iPhone, iCloud can do that. For access to a smaller subset, you can make a folder (album) in iPhoto, Aperture or Photos and sync just that folder, or that folder and recents, etc.

You're right. Sometimes the simplest solution is the right one.