Mystery 1 GB files in Photos / Documents

[Alley Cat]

I have an iPad and once again I have a mystery of why 1 GB is being reported being taken up in Photos.  I only have 32 photos and no video.  I cannot figure what is taking up all that space.

 

Last time this happened, 2 GB was associated with VLC even after I deleted the video and restarted the device.  I uninstalled VLC and it removed the 2 GB along with it.

[User6060]

Do you have a full photo stream?

 

If you don't want those last 1000 photos synced to your iPad then you can disable it in the settings. 

[Shadrack]

I think its a straight up bug right now in iOS -- photos not being properly deleted.

 

I see folks posting about this problem in /r/ipad weekly. If you have a jailbroken iPad, you can use iFile (or anything that lets you directly work with all the files) and delete them. If that is the case, follow this guy's advice here: http://www.reddit.com/r/ipad/comments/301cbw/340mb_of_photos_according_to_storage_but_i_have/cpo909x

 

The only other solution seems to be to do a full restore of the iOS device. Terrible solution, but seems to be the only way without waiting for hopefully an update.

 

If you don't have iCloud Photos (beta) enabled, enabling it and disabling it may cause iOS to do some clean up -- but I doubt that will work. Something to try as a last resort before doing a restore.

[James See]

Is it also a possibility that some files or images were saved in a folder that can't be seen on iPad screen. I think you should try using a phone manager tool, so that you can fully see all of the folders and files stored in your device. You can use iTools or iExplorer. Both of these program will allow you manage your files directly without using iTunes. 

[majortom1981]

I think its a straight up bug right now in iOS -- photos not being properly deleted.

 

I see folks posting about this problem in /r/ipad weekly. If you have a jailbroken iPad, you can use iFile (or anything that lets you directly work with all the files) and delete them. If that is the case, follow this guy's advice here: http://www.reddit.com/r/ipad/comments/301cbw/340mb_of_photos_according_to_storage_but_i_have/cpo909x

 

The only other solution seems to be to do a full restore of the iOS device. Terrible solution, but seems to be the only way without waiting for hopefully an update.

 

If you don't have iCloud Photos (beta) enabled, enabling it and disabling it may cause iOS to do some clean up -- but I doubt that will work. Something to try as a last resort before doing a restore.

Photos go into a kind of to be deleted folder in IOS. By default they dont get deleted until 30 days. 

[Shadrack]

Photos go into a kind of to be deleted folder in IOS. By default they dont get deleted until 30 days. 

 

Yes, that is how it should work. Yup. It doesn't always work right as of iOS 8.3. iOS 8 has been riddled with phantom space issues since its launch. I see posts weekly on Reddit from folks who have this issue. The tell-tale is that there is a difference between the free space reported in iTunes versus that on the device (through settings->general->usage). The iTunes reflects what it should be if all the phantom space was recovered and if you have this problem a simple firmware restore and backup restore will make this amount match what is reported on the device.

 

So far the only solution is full restore unless your device is jailbroken.