Freeing up space on your iPhone: Deleting the "Other" category that takes up space

Posted on by mrsoltys
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What is this 1.3 GB of "Other" On my phone?!

I get a little irked sometimes on my 8 GB iPhone when I can update an app or download a podcast because I'm out of space.  I usually try deleting some old apps I don't use, or old photos, but what's really annoying is the mysterious "Other" that is taking up almost 1/4th of the non-system space on my phone.

Don't worry: for some reason this actually doesn't delete your music (But you might want to back up before you do this just to be sure)
You'll need to rsync your music after this step, but the "other" will be gone

After reading some forums, I found an equally mysterious solution.  First, back up your iPhone.  Next, head over to Settings->General->Usage->and wait a little bit for under "Storage" for the phone to load everything up.  Click "Music" when it appears and then Swipe the "All Music" tab from left to right and click "Delete."   After hitting Delete, Restart your iPhone.  Then you'll need to re-sync your phone.  You should have much more free-free space in the "other category".

Shazam! You've just free'd up some space on your phone!
Shazam! You've just free'd up some space on your phone!

 

 

 

 

Does anybody have any clue why this is?  I'm curious if iPads and iPod touches have the same issue...

Update: Well, after trying this method, my music started acting a little funny, so i re-synced it and the "other" climbed to just under what it previously was...  Bummer.