What Is 'Other' Storage on Your Phone and How to Clear It

Published 2026-10-16 · Marion Phone Repair

You check your phone's storage breakdown and a huge chunk is labeled Other, System Data, or System — sometimes 10, 20, or even 50 GB or more. You cannot tap on it to see what is inside, and there is no obvious delete button. This mysterious category is one of the most common reasons people think their phone storage is full when they have already deleted photos, apps, and messages. Here is what it actually contains and how to reclaim the space.

What Other storage actually is

The Other or System Data category is a catch-all for data that does not fit neatly into the Photos, Apps, Messages, or Media categories. It includes:

• App caches: Every app stores temporary data to load faster — cached images, downloaded content, offline data, pre-fetched feeds. Social media apps (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter/X) and streaming apps (Spotify, YouTube, Netflix) are the worst offenders, sometimes caching several gigabytes each
• Browser cache and history: Safari, Chrome, and other browsers store cached versions of every web page you visit, along with cookies, local storage data, and downloaded files
• Streaming downloads and offline content: Music and podcasts downloaded for offline listening (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music), shows downloaded for offline viewing (Netflix, YouTube Premium), and map data downloaded for offline navigation (Google Maps, Apple Maps)
• Message attachments: Photos, videos, voice messages, GIFs, and documents received through iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, and other messaging apps. These often are not counted in Photos storage because they live inside the app's data container
• System logs and diagnostic data: Crash reports, analytics data, update files, and temporary system files. These usually are not large individually but accumulate over time
• Siri and dictation data, keyboard learned data, and autocorrect dictionaries
• Software update files: Downloaded but not yet installed iOS or Android updates can consume several gigabytes

How to clear Other storage on iPhone

Check what is using the most space

1. Go to Settings, General, iPhone Storage
2. Wait for the bar chart and app list to load (it takes a moment to calculate)
3. The list below the chart shows every app sorted by total space used (app size plus its data). The number on the right is the total — tap any app to see the breakdown of App Size versus Documents and Data
4. Look for apps with large Documents and Data numbers — an app that is 100 MB itself but has 3 GB of Documents and Data is caching heavily

Offload or delete cache-heavy apps

For apps with large caches (social media, streaming, browsers):

• Offload the app: Settings, General, iPhone Storage, select the app, Offload App. This deletes the app binary but keeps its data. Reinstalling restores your login and settings. This only saves the app size, not the cache — useful mainly for large games
• Delete and reinstall: This is the nuclear option that actually clears the cache. Delete the app entirely (Settings, General, iPhone Storage, select app, Delete App), then reinstall from the App Store. You will need to sign in again. This can reclaim several gigabytes from apps like Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X, and Spotify

Clear Safari data

1. Settings, Apps, Safari (or Settings, Safari on older iOS versions)
2. Scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data
3. Choose All History and tap Clear History
4. This deletes cached web pages, cookies, and browsing history. You will be signed out of websites you were logged into via Safari

Clear message attachments

1. Settings, General, iPhone Storage, Messages
2. Under Documents and Data, you will see categories: Top Conversations, Photos, Videos, GIFs and Stickers, Other
3. Tap into each category and swipe left on large items to delete them. Videos and photos sent through iMessage often account for gigabytes
4. Consider setting Messages to auto-delete: Settings, Apps, Messages, Keep Messages, change from Forever to 1 Year or 30 Days. This automatically deletes old messages and their attachments

Remove downloaded offline content

• Spotify: Open Spotify, Settings (gear icon), Storage, Delete all downloads
• Netflix: Open Netflix, profile icon, App Settings, Delete All Downloads
• Apple Music: Settings, Music, Downloaded Music, tap Edit and remove albums/playlists you do not need offline
• YouTube: Open YouTube, Library, Downloads, three-dot menu on each, Delete download. Or go to Settings, Downloads, Delete all downloads
• Podcasts: Settings, Apps, Podcasts, check Downloaded Episodes. Set episodes to auto-delete after listening
• Maps: Open Apple Maps or Google Maps, check for downloaded offline regions you no longer need

Restart the phone

A restart clears temporary system files, purges memory caches, and cleans up log files that accumulate during normal use. After a restart, check iPhone Storage again — the Other category often shrinks by several hundred megabytes to a few gigabytes. This is the simplest step and should be done before anything else.

How to clear Other storage on Android

Clear app caches

Android gives you more direct control over app caches than iPhone:

1. Go to Settings, Apps (or Applications)
2. Tap on a specific app
3. Tap Storage (or Storage and Cache)
4. Tap Clear Cache to delete temporary files without losing your data or sign-in. Clear Data deletes everything including your sign-in and settings — use this only if clearing the cache is not enough
5. Repeat for cache-heavy apps. On Samsung phones, you can sort apps by size to find the biggest offenders: Settings, Apps, tap the sort icon, sort by Size

Use the built-in cleanup tool

• Samsung: Settings, Device Care (or Battery and Device Care), Storage. Tap Clean Now or the Temporary Files option to delete cached data across all apps at once
• Google Pixel: Settings, Storage, Free Up Space. This shows suggested items to delete including old downloads, backed-up photos, and large apps
• Other Android: Settings, Storage, tap on categories (Apps, Images, Videos, Audio, Documents, Other) to see what is using space

Clear Chrome data

1. Open Chrome, tap the three-dot menu, Settings
2. Tap Privacy and Security, then Clear Browsing Data
3. Select Advanced, change the time range to All Time
4. Check Cached Images and Files (optionally also Cookies and Site Data, but this signs you out of websites)
5. Tap Clear Data

Check the Downloads folder

The Downloads folder on Android accumulates files from browsers, messaging apps, and email attachments. Open the Files app (or My Files on Samsung), tap Downloads, and review what is there. PDFs, APK files, images, and documents pile up and are easy to forget about.

When Other storage keeps coming back

Other storage grows back because the apps you use rebuild their caches during normal use. The solution is not to clear caches constantly but to manage the worst offenders:

• Set messaging apps to auto-delete old attachments and media
• Limit offline downloads to content you actively use — do not download entire Spotify playlists you listen to once
• Periodically delete and reinstall social media apps (every few months) if their caches grow to multiple gigabytes
• Set podcasts and news apps to auto-delete content after you consume it

If your phone storage is genuinely always full despite regular cleanup, the phone may simply not have enough storage for how you use it. A phone with 64 GB of storage that is used for photos, social media, and streaming will always be fighting for space. The next time you upgrade, consider a higher storage tier.

Storage cleanup help in Marion

If your phone storage is full and you are not sure what to delete without losing important data, or if your phone is running slowly because of full storage, Marion Phone Repair can back up your important files, clear junk data, remove unnecessary apps and cached files, and help you set up auto-cleanup routines to keep it from filling up again.