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Was hoping I could restore it to factory settings and recover some space. I just finished an ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ on my iPhone 6s 16GB. I have not signed into anything, installed any updates, or installed a single app. I did not restore from any backup (iCloud or iTunes). iOS 11.4

This is the storage as is stands after the reset:

How can I clear/recover the 4GB of "Other" storage being used? Is there a "deeper" wipe than ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ available?

Update: The device has been removed from our MDM program, reset and the storage still remains consumed.

Update: 4 months later, it's gotten worse, the "other" usage has consumed over 10gb at this point. Just tried factory reset from itunes instead of the phone itself, did not free any up at all. Device not associated with the MDM program.

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  • Try restoring your device through iTunes as this is equivalent to erasing the disk on the device and reinstalling the OS.
    – airsquared
    Oct 24, 2018 at 17:44
  • @abc I tried that, twice, second time checked phone storage before restoring after the reset, huge gray blob was there before restore after reset.
    – mxmissile
    Oct 25, 2018 at 14:26
  • Do you still need an answer to this? A straightforward restore and not adding any data should show precisely what’s up with storage on this device. No need for DFU or anything fancy, just restore and don’t set up the phone or sign in to anything.
    – bmike ♦
    Jul 22, 2020 at 8:36

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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I understand you haven't installed a single app, but the list shows Self Service, the client side app to a solution. This is not part of iOS and is a separately installed app. MDM lets the administrator place any files on your iPhone, so it is possible that the space is consumed by data provided through MDM. You can contact your administrator.

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  • Good catch, that was installed automatically I assume. Unfortunately the administrator sits next to me and I had him un-provision this device (while testing this out), and reset the content and settings again, this time the Self Service app was not installed and no MDM info. The ~4GB "Other" is still consumed. Going to have him test this on a newer iphone 7, MDM provisioned and not.
    – mxmissile
    Jun 27, 2018 at 13:27
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Is there a "deeper" wipe than ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ available? Yes, in fact there are two. A restore from Recovery mode. Slightly deeper is a restore from DFU mode, but it's unlikely to be better in this case.

To restore from Recovery mode:

With the phone connected to a computer with the latest iTunes:

  1. Press the Power and Home buttons and hold them until the phone is switched off.

  2. Release the Power button and keep holding the Home button till the phone enters the Restore mode.

  3. Click Restore (not Update) for a "deeper" wipe. This is not the same as a standard restore.

Other thoughts:Deactivate iPhone Drive? (Source: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/323032/33389 ) But you say you "have not signed into anything", so it should already be inactive. Delete all accounts, if any. Finally, a WAG: It could be due to an extraordinary amount of bad flash that Apple has marked as unavailable.

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The problem here is you are adding data to the phone after you restore it. Get a clean restore (no need for holding any keys down like DFU or other items) since this is purely about erasing the filesystem and then not adding any apps or accounts.

Then you’ll know the actual usable storage and be able to decide if you need service due to storage being marked unusable or if you just restore data from backup / cloud to take up that space.

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  • I've since replaced the phone, but this was a complete clean restore back to factory. (no apps, not signed into icloud, nothing).
    – mxmissile
    Jul 22, 2020 at 14:15

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