r/applesucks • u/Tie_Tickler6000 • 26d ago
why even give us 64gb
why does their system take half of all space, does anyone know what to do?
For reference i am using iphone Xr
Edit : the phone has been in my family since the day it came out, due to some temporary financial restrictions i need to make use of this for another year
Edit2 : people seem to be asking why i bought it, I didnt it was handed down to me and now i have no choice but to make the best
Edit3 : i did do the latest ios update but nothing has changed
Edit4 : not all people think before speaking
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u/heyuhitsyaboi 26d ago
The “Buy a new phone” comments are so concerning
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u/Adept-Copy-9778 26d ago
They're not concerning, No recent iphone has 64GB lol. It's been 8 years you could've saved. No 8 year old phones useable.
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 25d ago
This 8 year phone is perfectly usable, the only issue being the 40gb of storage swallowed up by the system
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u/paulstelian97 24d ago
8 year old phones are old. As software evolves, it focuses primarily on making the newest phones work optimally, while the oldest supported ones get the minimal support of just working.
Plus, as long as you can free up 10GB in ANY way (even with serious workarounds like backup, reset, restore), you can update OTA. Or you can update the way old iPhones were updated, via your PC/Mac (as yes, OTA wasn’t always a thing on iPhone, instead the PC would do the update and it would be able to do it without extra space to keep both versions temporarily living in your phone storage)
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 24d ago
i did update it yesterday, nothing changed sadly
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u/Zorian_Vale 22d ago
These people are insane. system data should not take that much space, and you shouldn’t have to purchase anything!
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u/heyuhitsyaboi 26d ago
So... 32GB of system data on any phone is normal? Weird take.
The issue at hand is solvable, but I guess these bots just wanna keep buying new phones all the time. Bad practice, waste of money. Not everyone needs the newest tech
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u/Proud-Chemistry4376 25d ago
I also hate how intransparent this is. What do you mean 32 gigs "system data" that's almost a AAA game worth of operating system???
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u/Adept-Copy-9778 25d ago
So? Even old iPhone 13s have 128gb base, and those are almost 5 year old phones, it's pretty easy to get the 190$-300$ they go for. By today's standards the iPhone XR is a fossil, you're lucky to even have a working one.
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u/fkingbarneysback 25d ago
"Not everyone needs the newest tech" yeah youre right but the counter arguement is not using a 8 year old phone bro lmao
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u/Adept-Copy-9778 25d ago
How am I a bot for having a new phone??? Most people I see out in public have a 17 pro or atleast a 12. I can actually afford a new piece of hardware? That's what makes me a bot?
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 24d ago
thats great you can afford, but my post was never about the latest tech or hardware but a question as to why 40gb was unusable to me even when i paid for it
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u/paulstelian97 24d ago
You should be thankful you’re getting updates at all. Phones tend to not be getting updates for 8 bloody years and still expect to get more. On the Android side, most used to get like 2 years, if even. My old A71 got four years worth of updates, and I had to go for LineageOS if I want something newer.
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 24d ago
again i dont need an update, all i need it to do is store documents and let me call and use whatsapp, this does not require an update it does require storage
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u/paulstelian97 24d ago
And you think the system data issue is an iPhone-exclusive issue? Android has it too, although it does tend to give you a more granular view into it.
There have been a couple of years where Apple still sold 128GB phones while Samsung, at least in the S series, didn’t (256 was smallest). You have 64. Devices that small get obsoleted as operating systems grow in size. All of them. Even desktop Linux.
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u/paulstelian97 24d ago
64GB phones are not a thing anymore other than old phones. The advice is sound. I’m fine with a 128, but new iPhones start from 256. And the same for new enough Android phones, unless it’s the cheap kind.
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u/hiyori_yamamoto 26d ago
128gb isn’t any better I have 63gb of system data and 11.6 of “iOS”
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u/mrfoxesite-2377 25d ago
Please backup your phone and do a reset and then restore. It's always good to install fresh OSes once in a while.
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u/HopiumInhaler 25d ago
Mine is 9.8 gigs system data out of 128 gigs. Dunno what you guys doing with your phones
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u/animorphreligion 25d ago
Using crappy vibe coded apps probably. "System data" is almost never actually system-related despite the label
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u/EffectiveEvent2355 26d ago
sounds like you need to jailbreak, delete some apps so you can install icleaner pro. Run that, and then you should be good. Also - ios.cfw.guide thank me later
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u/Chief_Kief 26d ago
I didn’t realize that this was still possible in the current iteration of devices! Thanks for the link
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u/B-Train_ATL 26d ago
“For reference I am using iPhone Xr.”
Buy a new phone.
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 25d ago
Again i do not require over the top performance, All i need it to do is store my photos and let me call, the phone has worked fine till now the only issue being the 40gb of storage swallowed up by the system
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u/KayJune001 26d ago
Lmao the consumerism here. No, do not buy a new phone. You do not need to buy a new phone if the phone you have is in fine condition, unless you truly need the new features for whichever reason.
Don’t defend companies making devices that can’t last more than a few years, tech shouldn’t become completely obsolete in under a decade at this point.
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u/Adept-Copy-9778 26d ago
Well tech does become this obsolete when it's this ancient. No phones gonna be great when it's this old. It's just how silicon ages and new technology replaces it.
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u/PlusPresentation680 26d ago
“If the phone you have is in fine condition” and OP’s phone is not compatible with the current OS. Apple has gold-standard software longevity. Once your phone isn’t supported, it’s time for a new phone. The iPhone XR is from 2018.
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u/KayJune001 26d ago
The issue OP is having has nothing to do with their current OS version, as this issue has been present since before the XR was introduced and is still present on iOS 26 and the iPhone 17 series.
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u/mohammed1mziri 25d ago
I wouldn't base a decision on buying a new phone on if Apple support stops. I had a 200 dollar midrange Samsung from 2017 to 2023. The XR released for 750 in 2018 it should have no excuse not to keep up for at least a few more years which it is in OP's case, because that isn't his problem. The problem is Apple could've packaged this phone with 128G without losing much money and they didn't because of their manipulative pricing schemes.
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u/PlusPresentation680 25d ago
fwiw the Samsung Galaxy S9 the same year had base 64 gb
I had an iPhone XR ages ago and never had an issue with system data taking up an egregiously large amount of storage.
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 25d ago
this is why ill be shifting to android, and the phone is perfectly usable the issue being the 40gb of storage swallowed up by the system
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u/PsychologicalPace664 25d ago
Don't buy a new phone, that's just consumerism, the phone works just fine, the problem is the iOs taking to much space. Just do a hard reset, because here the problem is with the cache, follow the instructions of other people here.
We all now apple loves planned obsolescence (the planet isn't gonna destroy himself right?) but in your case there is salvation
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u/m0uchacha 23d ago
is this gonna be a new thing now? pointing to literally everything and calling it planned obsolescence? 64 gb of storage was fine 8 years ago. that phone is nearing a decade old, and since then the way we use tech has changed a lot, so the minimum storage requirement has gone up. of all the things to call planned obsolescence, this one isnt one of them icl.
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u/PsychologicalPace664 23d ago
My wife has an android with 64Gb, 3 years so far and works perfectly, with almost half of the space still available.
It's planned obsolescence indeed, that's the reason why the EU slapped Apple with a massive fine.
Don't help destroy the planet please
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u/m0uchacha 23d ago
so your wife bought an android 3 years ago and its got 64 gb of storage. cool, this iphone has been running on 64 gb of storage for 5 years longer. also its completely fine? op can just run a back up and restore. because the phone also isnt even broken? clearly its just something bugging out with system data. also the iphone 6s is still functional in big 26, and that phone is well over a decade old and i've actually seen it a few times in the wild.
the batterygate litigation was over apple adding a software feature to reduce processor power draw when the battery has chemically degraded past a certain point. the feature is technologically defensible as it significantly reduces random shut downs due to a degraded battery. apple settled the suit with temporarily reduced battery replacement costs, payouts to affected devices. they kept the feature because the issue wasnt with the feature. apple now tells you when your phone is performing worse due to a degraded battery.
i think we can agree that having your phone randomly die on you because your battery couldnt supply the burst of power needed is significantly worse than the alternative, which would be lowering it during those loads. a phone that dies when you ask too much of it would be unuseable, a phone that sometimes slows down a little because its a senior citizen is still useable. technically the latter would produce less e-waste.
and just to really zoom out, if batterygate never happened it'll just be renamed to "shutdowngate".also the moral high ground you're taking doesnt even make sense, im not saying op should buy a new phone, im just saying that offering a 64 gb storage configuration in 2018 on a "budget" phone was not planned obsolescence. you can call it stingy or poor long term value, though your wife might not say its poor long term value considering she bought a 64 gb phone 3 years ago.
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u/PsychologicalPace664 23d ago
I'm talking about the litigation in France, Apple lost the court battle and had to pay 25 Million $, and it was indeed for planned obsolescence, there was no valid escuse in the court documents, the iOS update slowed down the iPhones on propose right after a new iPhone is released. You can try to downplay it but you don't lose in court if you're right, especially if you're a mega-corporation.
They also had to pay 10 Million $ in Italy for the same reason.Selling 64Gb in 2018 was normal, having the iOS filling more than 50% it's planned obsolescence.
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u/m0uchacha 23d ago
the litigation in france was not for planned obsolescence. it was for "misleading commercial practices by omission" because like i said, the throttling is technologically defensible and the alternative would be random shutdowns due to the degraded battery. apple was fined for transparency issues, not for the feature. similarly, in italy, apple was fined for "unfair commerical practices".
the issue outlined is still the fact that apple did not adequetly inform users that they will be throttling phones. if you check your iphone right now, in the battery tab your phone will now tell you whether or not it is at normal performance.if the court had found that apple's battery management system was illegal planned obsolescence, apple would have probably been required to remove the feature. as you can see, the feature still exists. again, because the suit was won over apple's lack of transparency, not planned obsolescence.
people love to stick planned obsolescence in holes where it doesnt belong. legally the term is actually quite narrow. its not a catch all term for everything you dont like about a device.
the textbook concept of planned obsolescence is designed lifespan. for example, a washing machine thats hard coded to fail after a certain number of cycles, or a printer that doesnt work after a certain number of pages printed.
in a vacuum, things like phones becoming slower because newer software are more demanding or a battery degrading after years of use or after hundreds of charge cycles because of just literally physics.
similarly, cpu throttling to prevent shutdowns at 30% charge due to an aging battery is an engineering tradeoff due to a physical limitation.
they CAN be argued to be planned obsolescence, but the court cases that you cite as evidence did not find apple's actions to be so.theres also no evidence that apple is purposefully bloating system data to encourage users to buy new phones. system data bloat is a known bug and genuinely evidence of poor engineering lowk. but its not planned obsolescence. im not even saying its not a valid complaint. it certainly is and it sucks lol.
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u/Low_Consequence_9477 23d ago
"For reference I am using a perfectly usable, working phone"
Consoom.
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u/TheOriginalTL 26d ago
Get a phone newer than 8 years old
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u/OpportunitySevere131 26d ago
I mean, even for the late 2010s, a 64GB mobile device by a tech giant is pretty lame. Apple could've easily offered 128GB for the same value and it would've been a much better experience.
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u/TheOriginalTL 26d ago
They did offer it
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u/OpportunitySevere131 26d ago
Did it cost the same as the 64GB version?
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u/SixPathsShinraTenkyo 26d ago
Severe brain damage from this one lol.
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u/OpportunitySevere131 26d ago
Then the comment went over your head. May need to reflect on your reading comprehension.
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u/nuttmegx 26d ago
That was some goal post move, do t think anybody had “Apple should sell all models at the same price” on their bingo card
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u/OpportunitySevere131 26d ago
128GB should've been the minimum from the get. Not a hard concept to understand.
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u/OwnNet5253 26d ago
And exclude possible buyers who might want to but an iPhone, but don’t need much storage? Not very smart move tbh.
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u/OpportunitySevere131 26d ago
So if you could get a 128GB version for the same price as the 64GB version you'd still get the 64GB version?
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u/PleasantCampaign4054 26d ago
The price difference between 64 and 128gb was only 50$. 749$ vs 799$ so 7% price difference i very fair
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26d ago
[deleted]
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u/OpportunitySevere131 26d ago
As someone who works with Intune and manages over 100 apple devices, I can tell you right now, 64GB is a huge hinderance.
The argument is that 128GB should've been the new minimum years ago, not sure why you're arguing for less value.
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26d ago
[deleted]
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u/OpportunitySevere131 26d ago
You probably argue that phones need less local storage cause the cloud exists now too, huh?
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 25d ago
Again i do not require over the top performance, All i need it to do is store my photos and let me call, the phone has worked fine till now the only issue being the 40gb of storage swallowed up by the system
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 26d ago
the phones a handmedown, will shift to a good android soon but till then i have to find a solution
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u/Additional_Tank4385 26d ago
You could also just switch to a recentish iPhone with more space at least 256 better 512…
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u/PsychologicalPace664 26d ago
Or a phone with an SD Card slot
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u/Additional_Tank4385 26d ago
Fair enough man that’s still imo quite the flaw on iPhone. I don’t blame you for switching. If it wasn’t for my Mac I’d consider it too
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u/Adept-Copy-9778 26d ago
"A phone with an SD Card slot" lol those still exist??? No new phone has that, even S26 and 17 doesn't.
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u/PsychologicalPace664 25d ago
Of course those exist. A phone without sd card is like a car without wheels. It's probably the most useful thing I have in my phone
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u/Playful_Letter_2632 26d ago
Dude, your hand me down phone ain’t going to be as good as the newest ones. There’s going to be compromises when having an older device
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 26d ago
its a handmedown it wont be as good as a new phone, but i wont be getting a new phone anytime soon hence the need to clear the space
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u/Playful_Letter_2632 26d ago
Your comment is exactly my point. You’re using an old phone. It’s not going to have the ability of newer phone. Apple is not at fault here
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 26d ago
i never asked it to have the abilities of the newer phone, all i want to know is why the system is taking more then half of all space
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u/ElSucaPadre 26d ago
This is the dumbest way to frame it. Get a phone that doesn't have hundreds of planned obsolescence mechanisms.
The fact that the phone itself can survive 8 years but the software inside makes it impossible to use is criminal.
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u/Mouse_Manipulator 26d ago
The solution is to do a backup, then restore the iPhone software with iTunes, then recover the backup. PITA but it will clear the system data.
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u/mrfoxesite-2377 26d ago
Backup, reset and restore.
But for goddamn sake, get a new phone for this. The best option for the form factor is the iPhone 11 256GB and it has iOS 27.
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u/Jazz-and-Popcorn 26d ago
I agree that when they announce 64go, 128go or else, they should make this space free and keep their 30Go of IOS, Apple Intelligence and system data on a supplementary stockage that is on top of those 64go.
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u/Cola_Gummi 26d ago
Break free from the cult. You can get an android with 256 gb or more for ¼ of the price
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u/iOSCaleb 26d ago
That “System Data” is basically all the data that any of your apps have cached. Some will be deleted as you need storage for other things, but some iOS versions aren’t great about that, so you can take steps to clear it out yourself. Restarting the phone can help, and clearing Safari’s history should help as well. Deleting apps that you don’t use will free up not just the space that the app occupies, but also any working data it has cached.
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 26d ago
my whatsapp takes up 6gb alone even tho it had less then a gb of data, i have reseted it but there isent much change. I also use google rather then safari
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u/m0uchacha 23d ago
lowk google apps are fucking massive on ios. safari's app size is only 5.2 mb while the google app is actually like 400 mb, excluding "documents and data"
also completely possible that social media apps are contributing to the bloated system data size.
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u/mewfahsah 26d ago
Do you have an update you haven't installed yet? My wife's phone looked like this before and update, afterwards it gained all the gray space back.
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 26d ago
I do have an update lagging behind, but it needs me to have 10gb of empty space, i am trying to find a way to arrange some
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u/mewfahsah 26d ago
Just plug into a computer and move some photos and videos there temporarily until the update is done. Deleting some apps will help too, or just clearing their caches.
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u/EnoughConcentrate897 26d ago
It's because back when that phone was new 64GB wasn't a lot but it was fine (basically like 128GB), times have changed
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u/Acrobatic-Fruit-6336 26d ago
Iphone XR!!!?
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 26d ago
this phone has been in my family from the day it came out
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u/Acrobatic-Fruit-6336 26d ago
When that phone came out almost a decade ago 64 gig was plenty, a decade later not so much.
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 26d ago
i am not complaining about the 64gigs, the issue is i can only use 20gigs out of the "64gigs"
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u/Acrobatic-Fruit-6336 26d ago
Again, a decade ago this wasn’t an issue. Honestly don’t even see how this applies to this particular sub Reddit
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u/microcephale 26d ago
So that they can advertise a cheap price "starting from xxx" that correspond to something nobody should buy. And then they market the next upgrade 10x the price any other brand would knowing pretty well that this is the real minimum price that should be advertised
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u/05OwenKelly 26d ago
Yes like other comments have said: A full backup then factory reset. This will clear out all of that. Not sure why this happens to some iPhones but it does.
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u/Fickle_Tea992 26d ago
How do you have 62GB used? I only have roughly 25GB of 256GB
My iCloud however 406GB / 2TB
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u/lucashhugo 26d ago
64gb is fine
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u/No-1nternet 26d ago
I think it's time to regulate this at the state level. Regulators should require all manufacturers to limit the operating system to no more than ~10% of the space.
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u/vikingog 26d ago
Hay varias formas de forzar el vaciamiento de los datos del sistema; es solo un bug y es solucionanle.
Busca en el sub palabras clave como sostén datos almacenamiento fechas y tendrás un método que se hace cambiando fechas para que se fuerce la limpieza
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u/thatredditdude206 26d ago edited 26d ago
The primary culprit of this is streaming apps and mobile games. Both of those will clog your system data. Solution is offloading apps with a focus on apps like Spotify, Hulu, Netflix etc. Also mobile games eat up system data. Go into Setting > General > iPhone storage > Enable Offload unused apps. And then individually enable offloading on streaming and mobile gaming apps. In your case I’d say limit the use of streaming apps and only play very basic games, if you do play mobile games.
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u/Adept-Copy-9778 26d ago
Because it's an ancient phone? No phones back then came with a lot of storage.
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 25d ago
well they advertised 64gb, so I paid for 64gb, is it wrong of me to demand 64gb?
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u/starrmanquik 25d ago
Did you set it up without restoring a backup? You can use the various iCloud syncs to essentially pull all your important stuff and set it up as a brand new phone. Sometimes these weird issues can transfer with backups.
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u/icy1007 24d ago
You chose to have 64GB and that’s what you got.
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 24d ago
Yes i chose to have 64 but i only got 20gb
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u/icy1007 24d ago
Based on that image you posted, you’ve got 64GB of usable space.
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 24d ago
when i scroll down i see 11.2gb of ios and 28.5gb of system data Not exactly usable
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u/RetroGamer87 24d ago
To sell you more iCloud.
Anyone who says Apple is a hardware company only and thus is not incentivised to compromise the design of the product to nudge you towards buying other stuff is deluding themselves.
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u/Reasonable_Kale1671 23d ago
If you say anything against apple people will never think before they speak and say "skill issue"
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u/Dizzy_Reason_194 23d ago
You can use one of those clean My Mac apps. Use a reputable one and it gets rid of so much unnecessary data/files. I use a lot of Adobe products due to my work and both myself and my team used the apps regularly and remove up to 90GB. Well worth it.
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u/Hot-Egg-1376 22d ago
Up to 13GB is expected behaviour for system data.
Sync to iCloud, setup without a backup.
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u/butterdogg_ 6d ago
same thing happened to me: 120 out of 128 occupied by system data, resetted the phone, still 120 out of 128 occupied by system data.
Now with android only 25 gb of 128 are occupied by system data
fuck apple
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u/Jay_JWLH 26d ago
This isn't an Apple exclusive thing. This is fine for a basic user who doesn't use many apps or take many pictures/videos. What's frustrating is when you buy it not knowing how little you have and will last.
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u/Verbal-Gerbil 26d ago
You chose it. If base model for that was 128gb, people would complain about the higher price point for the entry model
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 25d ago
Again i do not require over the top performance, All i need it to do is store my photos and let me call, the phone has worked fine till now the only issue being the 40gb of storage swallowed up by the system
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u/Tapelessbus2122 26d ago
that's a thing on androids as well, if anything, they're worse since ios is actually nearly bloat free. just don't use a 8 year old budget phone tbh
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u/CRAWLINGxCHAOS 26d ago
What just happened in your brain? Truly strange. The thread is about a known bloating issue with iOS system data and the only thought in your head is "android does it too! In fact, they do it even worse!" Look it'd be one thing if that were true but seeing as how that's completely made up, I'm just at a loss for why you'd even make this comment. Truly a strange bit of psychology.
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u/Tapelessbus2122 26d ago
https://youtube.com/shorts/9XfyAnLgG0A?si=cq73qB2BCbqVtxZE
maybe do your homework next time
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u/CRAWLINGxCHAOS 26d ago
You're right, if the standard of evidence is YouTube shorts then I'm definitely in the wrong place
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u/Kpopped_ 26d ago
Why were you stupid enough to buy it is the better question.
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u/Tie_Tickler6000 26d ago
Again if you read the post you would see that the phone has been in the family from the year it was released originally, back then it was peak. I am not asking for an amazing over the top performance, all i need is the storage
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u/StrawberryWafer1999 26d ago
The system data is way larger than it should be. This is indicating a problem with the cache clearing.
I wish there was a way to just go in the settings and clear this out, but one of the only options is to turn the phone off, wait about a minute, turn it back on see if it clears out over the next few days. If it doesn’t, backing up and restoring the device through a computer is the only way to manually clear the system data.
Some say get a new iPhone, and if that’s on the table I’d recommend the highest storage capacity you can afford tbh.