iOS 26 System Data Bug

If you’ve updated to iOS 26 and suddenly found your iPhone completely unusable due to storage issues, you’re not alone. Since iOS 26.1, thousands of users have reported a severe bug where “System Data” balloons to consume all available storage—sometimes 100GB or more—making phones unresponsive and forcing repeated restores.

I’ve been dealing with this issue myself. Since the update, my phone has become unresponsive four times. When it happens, the standard volume up, volume down, power button sequence doesn’t help—the phone just sits on the Apple logo with a progress bar that never completes. The only solution has been DFU mode restores, which take all day.

This post compiles everything I’ve learned from research, Reddit threads, Apple Community forums, and personal experience. In fact, I put this guide together while I was restoring my phone. Again.

What Is System Data?

System Data (previously called “Other” in older iOS versions) is a catch-all category that includes caches, logs, Siri voices, fonts, dictionaries, Spotlight indexes, and other temporary files. Under normal circumstances, it should be around 10-15GB.

The problem: in iOS 26, something is broken. Users are reporting System Data consuming 50GB, 80GB, even 180GB—essentially all available storage. And the truly frustrating part? When you delete apps or files to free up space, System Data immediately expands to fill that space.

How Bad Is the iOS 26 Bug?

This isn’t a minor annoyance—it’s rendering phones unusable:

• Some users report having to restore their phones every two weeks
• The bug can fill storage within minutes to hours after a restore
• Phones become completely unresponsive when storage fills up
• Users can’t even back up their phones because there’s no free space to create a backup

One Reddit user summed it up: “Had to restore after my system data made my iPhone full before updating to 26.1, and a month later it’s already ballooned back to 180GB.”

Which Apps Are Causing This?

Based on community reports, these apps are the most frequent culprits:

Streaming Music Apps

• Amazon Music – Repeatedly mentioned as a major offender. Critically, the iOS version has no built-in “clear cache” option. The only way to clear its cache is to delete and reinstall the app, or log out and back in.
• Spotify – Users report it accumulating 3GB+ of cache data
• Apple Music/Podcasts – Streaming creates playback caches categorized as System Data

Video and Social Media Apps

• YouTube – Can accumulate 5GB+ of cache
• TikTok – Aggressive video caching
• Instagram – Known for hiding cache in System Data

Messaging Apps

• Discord – Users report 7GB+ of cache
• Snapchat – Media caching issues
• Messages – Especially with lots of photo/video attachments

Other Culprits

• Mail – Persistent caches that can take up gigabytes
• iCloud Photos sync – Can get stuck and create “ghost files” that bloat System Data
• Safari – Browser cache accumulation

How to Fix It

Here are the solutions, ordered from least to most disruptive:

1. The Date Trick (Temporary Fix)

This exploits iOS’s cache expiration system. Results vary—some users see dramatic improvements, others see minimal change, and the fix is often temporary.

1. Enable Airplane Mode and turn off Wi-Fi
2. Force quit all apps
3. Go to Settings → General → Date & Time
4. Turn off “Set Automatically”
5. Set the date 6 months to 1 year in the future
6. Return to home screen and wait 60 seconds
7. Check storage—it may have decreased
8. Turn “Set Automatically” back on

Warning: Some users report this only works temporarily—one user saw 10GB freed, only for it to fill back up the next day.

2. Sync or Update via Computer

This is a key finding: connecting your iPhone to a Mac or PC and syncing through Finder (Mac) or iTunes (Windows) can clear significant amounts of System Data without requiring a full restore.

• Just syncing with Finder/iTunes often clears cache data
• Updating iOS via computer (instead of over-the-air) removes the old version cleanly and can dramatically reduce System Data. One user reported going from 60GB of System Data to 10GB after updating through their Mac.

This also bypasses the storage requirements for OTA updates—the update files download to your computer instead of your phone.

3. Offload or Reinstall Problem Apps

Since specific apps are often the culprits, try these steps:

• Go to Settings → General → iPhone Storage
• Review which apps are using the most storage
• Offload or delete streaming and social media apps (TikTok, Instagram, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, Discord)
• Reinstall them fresh

For Amazon Music specifically, you can try logging out and back in, or visit music.amazon.com/showDebugOptions in Safari to clear specific caches.

4. Clear Other Caches

• Safari: Settings → Safari → Clear History and Website Data
• Messages: Settings → Messages → Keep Messages → change from “Forever” to “1 Year” or “30 Days”
• Message attachments: Settings → General → iPhone Storage → Messages → Review Large Attachments
• Mail: Remove and re-add email accounts to clear persistent caches
• iCloud Photos: Toggle off, wait a few minutes, toggle back on to reset sync

5. The Nuclear Option: Backup and Restore

If nothing else works, this is the most reliable solution—but also the most time-consuming.

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC
2. Open Finder (Mac) or iTunes/Apple Devices (Windows)
3. Create a backup (check “Encrypt local backup” to preserve passwords and Health data)
4. On your iPhone: Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Erase All Content and Settings
5. After the phone resets, restore from your backup
6. Check System Data—it should be dramatically lower

Important: Back up to your computer, not iCloud. A computer backup followed by restore is more effective at clearing System Data than an iCloud backup/restore cycle.

The catch: With the iOS 26 bug, many users report that System Data starts growing again within days or weeks after a restore. You may need to repeat this process regularly until Apple releases a fix.

Preventing Recurrence

Until Apple fixes this bug:

• Keep at least 10-15GB free at all times to give iOS room to manage itself
• Regularly sync with your computer
• Update iOS via computer rather than over-the-air
• Monitor your storage weekly—catch the problem before your phone becomes unresponsive
• Consider which streaming apps you really need
• Keep Messages set to auto-delete after 1 year

What Apple Needs to Do

As one frustrated Reddit user put it: “An OS in 2026 that doesn’t have controls to clear cache or do it automatically is pathetic.”

Apple needs to:

1. Fix the underlying bug causing System Data to grow uncontrollably in iOS 26
2. Provide users with a way to clear system caches without erasing their entire phone
3. Require apps to properly release cache data
4. Show users a detailed breakdown of what’s actually in System Data

If you’re affected, I encourage you to submit feedback to Apple at apple.com/feedback. The more reports they receive, the more likely this gets prioritized.

The Bottom Line

The iOS 26 System Data bug is a real, widespread issue—not user error. Your best options right now are:

• Try the date trick for temporary relief
• Sync and update through a computer
• Reinstall problem apps (especially streaming apps)
• Be prepared to do periodic backup/restore cycles until Apple releases a fix

It’s frustrating, time-consuming, and shouldn’t be necessary. But until Apple addresses this, these workarounds are what we have.

Resources

• Apple Community Thread
• Reddit r/ios discussions on System Data
• Apple Feedback