iPhone storage is segmented into different categories, one of which is ‘other’ storage. Clearing this is one of the easiest ways to get more storage space on your iOS device.
Different types of storage are not clearly labelled or colour-coded, so it can be difficult to determine what ‘other storage’ entails. Therefore, it can be hard to clear or reduce other storage.
What is other storage on iPhones?
iPhone storage is separated into several categories, some of which include apps, photos, messages, media, mail, books, system data, and other. These are all colour-coded, so you can see how much storage each category takes up.
Not all categories are labelled, so you may not have a category labelled ‘other’. The other storage is still there.
Other storage pertains to miscellaneous data, such as app cache, saved messages, settings preferences, and voice memos.
Basically, other storage refers to system data that doesn’t fall under the rest of the categories.
How to clear other storage on iPhone
Before going into the details of how you can clear or reduce other storage, we’ll explain what other storage is.
If you are to clear other storage on your iPhone, you must first know what other storage consists of. The category is not as clearly labelled as the others, which are self-explanatory.
Clear Data
There are a few ways in which you can clear or reduce other storage. In fact, your apps will actually sometimes reduce their temporary storage themselves.
This is a process we call iPhone cleaning, and it’s a great idea to free up more storage space on your device. We’ll go through some of the basic methods you can use.
One way in which you can clear other storage, is by clearing or deleting app data. This can only be done for certain apps, such as Safari and iMessage. Some apps may not have an option, or way, for clearing data.
For Safari
For some apps, you can clear data from within the storage settings.
Safari is an example of such an app. You can clear Safari’s app cache, by deleting its website data in the storage settings.
Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
Scroll down until you find Safari. Press Safari to open the app’s settings.
Press ‘website data’ to view Safari’s website data.
Scroll all the way down to find the ‘remove all website data’ option. Press it to remove all of Safari’s website data.
Alternatively, you can delete individual pieces of Safari’s website data, and choose to keep some data. You can do this by pressing ‘edit’ in the top right corner.
This will cause delete icons to appear for each piece of website data. Press the delete icons to remove individual website data.
Clear History
You can also clear some app data in Safari, by clearing your web history in the app.
Open Safari, and press the book icon. This will open your Safari history.
Press ‘clear’ in the bottom right corner.
Press ‘all time’ to delete all of your web history.
For iMessage:
For some apps, you can clear some of their data by deleting certain things from within the app itself.
iMessage is an example of such an app. You can clear some app data by deleting messages in the iMessage app.
You can also enable auto-delete for old iMessage conversations in the storage settings, or do so in the iMessage app settings.
Delete Messages
Open the iMessage app to view your message threads.
Press ‘edit’ in the top left corner, and then press ‘select messages’.
Select the message threads you wish to delete, and press ‘delete’ in the bottom right corner. This will delete the selected message threads.
Enable Auto-Delete
Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
Press ‘enable’ next to ‘auto delete old conversations’.
Delete Attachments
You can also use the storage settings to view large media attachments in iMessage, and delete them.
Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
Press ‘show all’ next to ‘recommendations’. This will cause the ‘review large attachments’ option to appear. Press it to view your largest iMessage attachments.
Press ‘edit’ in the top right corner.
Select the attachments you wish to delete, and press the bin icon in the top right. This will delete the selected attachments.
Using iMessage settings
Go to Settings > Messages. Scroll down until you find the ‘keep messages’ option. Press ‘keep messages’.
Choose how long you wish to keep iMessage messages for. After that amount of time, the messages will be deleted.
Delete Apps
Another method for clearing other storage is by uninstalling apps, which will get rid of unused apps and their cache data.
Since some apps do not provide an option or method for clearing their data, you can clear their app data be removing the apps from your device. You can do this by uninstalling the apps.
Some apps can then be reinstalled, with all their previous data lost. Be careful when uninstalling apps with the purpose of deleting app data. You can lose your progress or work in the apps when doing so.
Uninstall Apps
Press and hold an app icon to make some options appear. Press ‘remove app’ to start the uninstallation process.
Another set of options will then appear. Press ‘delete app’ to continue the process.
A third set of options will appear. Press ‘delete’ to finalise the uninstallation.
Afterwards, open the iOS app store, and search for the app you wish to reinstall. Find the app, and press on the cloud icon next to it to reinstall the app.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are a few ways in which you can clear other storage in iPhone. You can delete app data for certain apps in the storage settings, or clear app data by deleting things from within the apps.
You can also delete app data by uninstalling certain apps, especially for those that don’t provide a method for deleting app data.
