iOS system data error that steals your iPhone's memory? Here are 5 solutions

For years, there was an iOS bug that was eating up a large percentage of iPhones' available storage. The problem persists in iOS 17.4 and 17.5, but luckily there are solutions that don't require wiping your iPhone. Here's how to fix iPhone system data storage error.

On Apple community forums, Reddit and other sites, iOS users have been complaining about system data storage error for years iPhone (some messages apply to iOS 13). I had no problems with this bug until iOS 17.3–17.5, where I saw up to 60GB of memory occupied by iOS system data.

And it's not just a report error: the storage used by the system data is unusable. Unlike the cache in individual iOS apps or Apple apps like Safari, there's no button to quickly clear system data. Here's how Apple describes what it's used for:

System data includes caches, logs, and other resources currently in use by the system. This value will change depending on the needs of the system.

Apple has not offered an official solution to the problem, but there are several ways to solve it. We'll start with the simplest and fastest option and move on to more complex tactics.

How to fix iPhone system data storage error

You can see how much space system data is taking up on your iPhone by going to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Go to Bottom ” > System Data

Try turning your iPhone offand on
- Go back to iPhone Storage > System Data to see if that helps .
- This alone helped reduce my system data by over 50GB (but sometimes after a few days or weeks it bloats up again and further restarts help)
Change iMessage history to keep it for 1 year or 30 days instead of forever
- Go to Settings > Messages > Keep messages > 1 year or 30 days.
Some users report that they were able to uninstall and reinstall. > Apple TV to clear cache, and do the same with apps like Instagram, TikTok, Discord, Slack, etc.
Clear Safari cache
- Settings > Safari > Clear history and website data (note: this will affect all sites you are logged into, etc.)
Via Reddit user Vertsix has a more complexDate Trick”that seems to work reliably for clearing iOS system data. Be sure to follow the steps outlined so you don't lose your iMessages in the process.