The “Others” category of iOS is always unknown and often ends up taking up a lot of space on the iPhone or iPad without giving the user guidance on what to do to free up internal memory. Understand what consumes this storage and how to delete or reduce the “Others” of the iPhone and iPad.
What are the “Others” of the iPhone?
It is difficult to measure what counts for the “Others” category. But, you can get a sense of what’s there based on the other items: everything except photos, apps, media, and the system. Space is used by, among others:
- Cache apps like Safari pages, Mail attachments;
- IOS update files that are still pending;
- Voices downloaded from Siri;
- System usage records.
Basically, this category includes the rest that needs storage space on the device, but it is not defined by iOS as a file of the other existing divisions (photos, media, apps …).
For this reason, it is common for the “Others” to always occupy some memory of the iPhone or iPad, this “normal” is something below 10 GB. IOS itself is programmed to maintain the category without taking up too much space, but this value may fluctuate at high levels at one time or another. For that, there are some guidelines on what to do.
How to Erase Others from iPhone and iPad
1. Check for pending updates
IOS updates need to be downloaded before they can be installed. This update file occupies the “Others” space and is cleaned up after the system is updated. Therefore, check (Settings> General> Software Update ) if there is an update in the queue.
2. Restart the phone
Temporary files and other records can be cleared with a device reset (turning the iPhone or iPad on and off). By doing so, storage usage by the category can be reduced.
3. Clean up Safari caches
Caches are temporary files, in the case of Safari, they can be images, videos, or even just texts loaded from web pages. If this is the device’s primary browser, it is likely to have some content cached due to usage. To clean:
- Access the Settings;
- Find and tap Safari;
- Select the option “Clear Site History and Data”.
When you do this, the data will be cleared, but all sites that have been logged in must be accessed again.
4. Clear your Mail cache
If you use Mail, just like Safari, there may also be a cache stored. However, there is no way to clean these files as it is done in the browser. The way out is to remove the email account and then install it again. This procedure is done in:
- In iOS Settings, tap Mail;
- Select “Accounts”;
- Access the account, tap on “Delete Account” and then add it again, on the previous screen.
5. Voice recordings
Although it sounds like a “media”, voice recordings do not fall into this category. So, if you can discard some of the records made in the Recorder app, do so to free up more space.
If you’re still running low on storage space for your iPhone or iPad, I recommend reviewing the space used by other apps , media, social networks, photos, or streaming apps. It can give a bigger breath to the device in addition to having tried to erase or reduce the “Others” of the iPhone.
