How to Clear the Other Storage Category on Your Phone

Published 2026-10-16 · Marion Phone Repair

Your phone storage is full and the storage breakdown shows a large category called Other (or System Data on newer iPhones) consuming gigabytes of space. You have already deleted photos, uninstalled apps, and cleared what you can, but this Other category remains stubbornly large and has no obvious way to clear it. The Other category is a catch-all for data that does not fit into the standard categories like Apps, Photos, or Messages. It includes cached files, streaming content, downloaded data from apps, system logs, browser data, email attachments, and various temporary files that accumulate over months of use. Clearing it requires targeting these specific sources because there is no single button to clear Other storage.

What counts as Other storage

App caches: Every app stores temporary data to speed up loading. Social media apps like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook cache images and videos you view so they load instantly if you scroll back. Streaming apps like Spotify and Netflix cache recently played content. Over months, these caches grow to multiple gigabytes
Browser data: Safari, Chrome, and other browsers cache website data, images, scripts, and browsing history. Heavy web browsing without clearing data accumulates gigabytes of cached content
Message attachments: Photos, videos, GIFs, voice messages, and documents received in iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, and other messaging apps are stored on your phone. A year of group chat with shared media can consume tens of gigabytes
Email attachments: Email apps download and cache attachments as you view them. Large attachments (PDFs, presentations, photos) stay cached even if you never explicitly saved them
Streaming offline content: Music downloaded in Spotify or Apple Music, podcasts saved for offline listening, and videos downloaded from Netflix or YouTube are stored locally and counted in Other or the associated app size
System logs and data: iOS and Android generate diagnostic logs, crash reports, and system caches during normal operation. These are usually small individually but accumulate over time, especially on phones that have not been restarted in weeks

Clear Other storage on iPhone

Safari data

Settings, Safari, Clear History and Website Data. This removes cached websites, cookies, and browsing history. Safari cache alone can consume 1 to 4 GB on heavy web users. After clearing, you will be logged out of websites and need to sign in again

App caches

iOS does not have a universal cache-clearing button. To clear an app cache, you must offload or delete and reinstall the app. Go to Settings, General, iPhone Storage. The list shows each app and how much space it uses, with the total broken into App Size (the app itself) and Documents and Data (the cache and stored content)
Look for apps with large Documents and Data values. Social media apps, messaging apps, news apps, and streaming apps are the biggest offenders. Tap an app and choose Offload App to remove the app but keep its data, or Delete App to remove everything. Reinstalling the app from the App Store gives you a fresh installation with an empty cache
Common high-cache apps: Instagram (2 to 8 GB), TikTok (1 to 5 GB), Facebook (1 to 4 GB), Twitter/X (500 MB to 3 GB), Snapchat (1 to 3 GB), Spotify (1 to 10 GB depending on downloads)

Message attachments

Settings, General, iPhone Storage, Messages. iOS shows a breakdown of message storage: Top Conversations, Photos, Videos, GIFs and Stickers, and Other. Tap each category and review the largest items. Swipe left on conversations or media items to delete them
Settings, Messages, Keep Messages. Change from Forever to 1 Year or 30 Days. This automatically deletes messages and their attachments older than the selected period. This is the single most effective ongoing storage management for iMessage users

Streaming app downloads

Open each streaming app and check its downloaded content. Spotify: Settings, Storage, Delete Cache. Netflix: Settings, Downloads, Delete All Downloads. Apple Music: Settings, Music, Downloaded Music, and swipe to delete albums you no longer need offline. Podcasts: Settings, Podcasts, and delete downloaded episodes

System data

If System Data (the renamed Other category on newer iOS versions) is extremely large (over 10 GB), a backup and restore can reduce it. Back up your iPhone to iCloud or a computer, then go to Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Erase All Content and Settings. After the erase, restore from the backup. The restore process rebuilds the system data from scratch, eliminating accumulated logs, stale caches, and orphaned data that individual clearing methods cannot reach
Restarting the phone clears some temporary system caches. If you have not restarted your phone in weeks, a simple restart can free several hundred megabytes of temporary system data

Clear Other storage on Android

Clear app caches

Settings, Storage, then tap Cached Data (on some Android versions, this shows total cached data with an option to clear all at once). On newer versions: Settings, Storage, Apps, then tap each app and select Clear Cache
Samsung: Settings, Device Care (or Battery and Device Care), Storage, and use the Clean Now option to remove temporary files and cached data. Samsung also shows cached data per-app in Settings, Apps, select app, Storage, Clear Cache
Google Files app: Install Google Files from the Play Store. Open it and tap the Clean tab. It identifies junk files, large files, duplicate files, old downloads, and cached data across all apps with one-tap cleanup suggestions. This is the most convenient ongoing cleanup tool for Android

Browser data

Chrome: Open Chrome, tap the three-dot menu, Settings, Privacy, Clear Browsing Data. Select Cached Images and Files, Cookies and Site Data, and choose the time range (All Time to clear everything). Chrome cache alone often consumes 500 MB to 2 GB
Samsung Internet: Open the browser, Settings, Personal Data, Delete Browsing Data. Select cached images and files

Messaging apps

WhatsApp: Open WhatsApp, Settings, Storage and Data, Manage Storage. It shows the largest files and media from each chat. Select and delete media you no longer need. WhatsApp media is one of the biggest storage consumers — group chats with shared videos accumulate rapidly
Telegram: Settings, Data and Storage, Storage Usage, Clear Cache. Telegram lets you set automatic media deletion rules — media older than a selected period is automatically removed from local storage while remaining available in the cloud for re-download

Downloads folder

Open the Files app (or My Files on Samsung) and navigate to the Downloads folder. This folder collects every file you have downloaded from browsers, email, messaging apps, and other sources. Sort by size and delete files you no longer need — old PDFs, images, APK files, and documents accumulate here unnoticed

Identify storage hogs

Settings, Storage, Apps (or Settings, Apps, sort by size). This shows every app sorted by total storage used including app data. Apps you rarely use but that consume significant storage are good candidates for uninstalling or clearing data
Settings, Storage shows the overall breakdown between System, Apps, Images, Videos, Audio, Documents, and Other. If Other remains large after clearing caches and downloads, some apps may be storing data in unusual locations. The Google Files app Junk Files scan catches many of these

Prevent Other storage buildup

Regular cache clearing: Clear browser cache and social media app caches monthly. This prevents gradual accumulation that eventually fills your storage
Auto-delete message attachments: Set messaging apps to automatically delete old media. On iPhone, set Keep Messages to 1 Year. On WhatsApp and Telegram, enable automatic media management
Review downloads regularly: Check your Downloads folder monthly and delete files you no longer need. Enable automatic download deletion on Android (some file managers offer this feature) for files older than 30 days
Use streaming over downloading: Instead of downloading playlists, podcasts, and videos for offline use and forgetting about them, stream content when possible and only download what you will use within the next few days

Storage cleanup help in Marion

If your phone storage is full and you are not sure what to safely delete or how to clear the Other category without losing important data, Marion Phone Repair can review your storage, safely clear unnecessary data, set up automatic cleanup, and help you manage your phone storage going forward.