Many iPhone and iPad users face the issue of device storage gets filled up quickly and without notice. When you check the storage space status on your iOS device you are usually taken aback by the discovery that an item named ‘Documents and Data’ consumes a large chunk of the available storage space on your iPhone/iPad.
On some devices, the storage space is taken by “Documents and Data” which eclipses the actual app. You can see our guide on how to get more storage on the iPhone.
Today, we are going to discuss another way of recovering lost storage space. It requires following the methods shown below to Delete this on your iPhone and iPad. We are also going to show you how to Clear in iCloud Storage as well.
After following the instructions below you will no longer need to permanently delete applications or but paid iCloud storage. A large majority of iOS users don’t know that a lot of storage space is taken by the “Documents and Data” of the apps. You can easily remove this to clear up more storage space.
What is “Documents and Data” on iOS – iPhone and iPad?
Each application on an iOS device has its own files and documents in the main folder. All files you open in an iPhone/iPad app are saved in its “Documents and Data” folder. iOS Apps store app cache, user account information, history, cache, logs, service files, and other relevant information under “Documents and Data”.
There are two types of Documents and Data. The first type is saved directly on your device, which takes up the internal device storage, while the other type is stored in the iCloud.
Some iOS apps don’t allow users to delete the documents and data as it is part of the app’s functioning process.
For example, if you delete service files for Spotify that are required for listening to offline music, you won’t be able to use the app. On the other hand, there are plenty of useful apps that don’t require such documents and data, which you can delete to save up some storage space on the iPhone and iPad.
Some apps usually take only a few MBs to download but over time accumulated information on them starts taking its toll on the storage space of your iOS device, so much so that a time comes when the Documents & Data takes up more space than the actual app size.
Now let’s see how to Remove this on iPhone and iPad running on iOS 10, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.3.1, 10.3.2, and later.
How to Delete Documents and Data on iOS Devices
The first way to clear storage space taken up by Documents & Data is to delete the app and reinstall it.
- Open Settings on iPhone or iPad.
- Go to General > iPhone Storage.
- Tap on the Manage Storage option.
- On the next screen, you will see a list of apps installed on your device along with the space taken by each app.
- Now, from the list of apps, tap on the app you think is taking too much storage space.
- Next, tap the Delete App button.
- Tap the Delete app again on the pop-up menu. (or you can delete from the Home Screen)
- Now download the deleted app from the app store.
- Once complete, return to the same app info page in Settings where you will see the app storage space has reduced to a large extent.
That’s all.
Similarly, you can repeat the above process for any app you think is taking too much space on your device.
How to Delete in iCloud Storage
By removing this in iCloud, you can recover up to a GB of storage space on your iOS device.
- Go to the Settings app.
- Head over to Storage & iCloud Usage.
- Tap on Manage Storage in the iCloud section.
- In Manage Storage, under Documents and Data, tap on the app you think is taking up a large space, which will open an Info page.
- Here, under Choose Data to back up. Turn off the apps whose data you don’t want to be saved on the iCloud. Or delete “Documents and Data” for the app to recover storage space.
That’s all.
Please note that the above methods work only for third-party apps. You cannot delete ‘Documents and Data’ for stock iOS apps such as Mail, Messages, Safari, Music, Maps, and others. For stock apps, you need to open each app individually and delete documents and data one by one. And it will help you get extra storage space.
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