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My general > settings > iPhone storage shows I am using 16gb of 64gb... yet when I try to do a restore it tells me that the backup can't be done because there is not enough space... ?!?!!

This backup is from the same phone, so how can it not have enough space?

How am I supposed to free up enough space to complete a restore?! I am so confused.

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  • Don’t you erase a device to perform the restore? How is there any space used when you begin a restore? Perhaps adding a picture with an edit or detailing specific steps you’re taking will allow for better answers
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Nov 15, 2021 at 12:24

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Lmao - for real I had the same issue as yours . I was so confused that I literally went to apple store to figure out what’s wrong . You won’t believe what actually was the issue . It showed that my backup file was 146 GB ( my phone’s space is 128 GB ) . And that was the reason the backup was not possible .

So I think even you’re facing the same issue . We never check the size of the backup. :)

The fix is to omit some data from the backup and try again or remove data that needs to back up.

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  • This isn't an answer as you don't provide the solution you used, just that the problem was a large backup.
    – Steve Chambers
    Commented Nov 15, 2021 at 11:28
  • @SteveChambers the fix is added. The question needs more improvement, but I give credit to any attempt to help even if the question isn’t yet super clear. Hopefully the OP still has both devices
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Nov 15, 2021 at 12:15
  • @SteveChambers the solution is just as bmike suggested . I removed some unwanted files from the backup until it suited the space available and then performed the restore . Sorry for not specifying .
    – Math geek
    Commented Nov 15, 2021 at 12:28
  • how do you know what the unwanted files are? Isn't everything hashed and thus has hexadecimal names which are unidentifiable?
    – patrick
    Commented Nov 15, 2021 at 16:43
  • @patrick Ok it wasn’t me who did the work actually . I shared the backup with a friend ( who could be trusted ) to delete all the photos of mine in the backup cuz I already had it in a different device . I asked him what did he do - he says he opened the backup through a third party software then deleted the photos and later re downloaded the backup . I will let you know the name of the software as soon as I get it . But I think you can google the same . Cheers !
    – Math geek
    Commented Nov 16, 2021 at 14:50
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For anyone else that comes across this issue, it still happens till this day. My iPhone 11 was reporting 40 GB usage for com.apple.VoiceMemos (even when I deleted the Voice Memos app) so I decided to backup my phone and restore to see if it fixes it.

Anyways I got the same error message as it turns out, 125 GB backup for 128 GB phone was still too much so I had to go through my iPhone backup (backed up with iTunes) with iTunes-Backup-Explorer and delete quite a lot of photos from the backup, maybe you can also use iMazing too. Point being, make a lot of space until iTunes actually begins restoring.

NOTE: please make a copy of your original backup before doing any modifications to your backup folder.

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