Delete "Documents and Data" from iOS app without deleting app.

[Unrealistic]

Alright, I've been googling this but can't seem to find anything. I'm having difficulty with my iOS devices backing up to iCloud because I am out of space.

From the looks of it, the main cause is applications caching content that no longer exists. Facebook, iPhoto and many others are using an inordinate amount of space and it seems counter intuitive.

After looking at the Usage section in iOS 5.1.1 I see the "Delete app" button, but I don't want to delete the app, just the cache. Is there a way to do this?

If there isn't, is there a jailbreak that does this? Deleting an app, just to have to redownload it also seems counter intuitive. Some of these apps are a few gigs in size.

[Unrealistic]

I also have a second question that I can't seem to find an answer to. Is there anyway to delete an app and keep the data? I have a 1.8GB game that I would like to delete for now but keep the data so I can resume it when I redownload it from the App Store.

[.Neo]

First of all you're posting in the from subforum.

Secondly, many apps have an option to delete data. This is managed within the app itself, not through the OS.

[Lee G. Veteran]

Moved to iPhone/iOS.

[Manish]

  On 28/06/2012 at 00:50, Unrealistic said:

Alright, I've been googling this but can't seem to find anything. I'm having difficulty with my iOS devices backing up to iCloud because I am out of space.

From the looks of it, the main cause is applications caching content that no longer exists. Facebook, iPhoto and many others are using an inordinate amount of space and it seems counter intuitive.

After looking at the Usage section in iOS 5.1.1 I see the "Delete app" button, but I don't want to delete the app, just the cache. Is there a way to do this?

If there isn't, is there a jailbreak that does this? Deleting an app, just to have to redownload it also seems counter intuitive. Some of these apps are a few gigs in size.

I'm getting confused. So are you out of space on iCloud or on your device? By cache size, do you mean the local "Documents & Data" size? In iOS, you can't clear this manually (unless you delete and reinstall, but that's not the same thing really); this is done automatically when the device is low on disk space. On jailbroken devices, I believe there's an app called iCleaner that might be of help. However, iCloud does not back up contents from an app's cache and temp directory. Instead of looking at the breakdown of your local storage, look at the breakdown of your iCloud backups, are Facebook and/or iPhoto taking up massive amounts of space here too?

  On 28/06/2012 at 00:54, Unrealistic said:

I also have a second question that I can't seem to find an answer to. Is there anyway to delete an app and keep the data? I have a 1.8GB game that I would like to delete for now but keep the data so I can resume it when I redownload it from the App Store.

If an app stores its data on iCloud, it'll stay even if you were to delete the app. (Under Manage Storage for iCloud settings, there's a "Documents & Data" section that shows apps using the latter cloud method of saving data.) Alternatively, use iExplorer to backup your app data manually: http://lifehacker.co...e-to-a-new-ipad

[Edited for additional clarification and information.]

[Unrealistic]

  On 28/06/2012 at 10:06, Manish said:

I'm getting confused. So are you out of space on iCloud or on your device? By cache size, do you mean the local "Documents & Data" size? In iOS, you can't clear this manually (unless you delete and reinstall, but that's not the same thing really); this is done automatically when the device is low on disk space. On jailbroken devices, I believe there's an app called iCleaner that might be of help. However, iCloud does not back up contents from an app's cache and temp directory. Instead of looking at the breakdown of your local storage, look at the breakdown of your iCloud backups, are Facebook and/or iPhoto taking up massive amounts of space here too?

Apologies for the confusion. I have a 64GB iPhone 4S that's only about 1/2 filled. iCloud is where my issue is. Basically what is happening is iCloud can no longer backup my iPhone because I am out of space. When I looked at the iCloud Data section I noticed a few apps were using too much space. For instance, iPhoto is using 253MB to backup pictures, Facebook is taking about 100MB at the moment, Garageband is taking about 300MB, etc.

What I figured I could do is reduce the Data size of the apps by deleting their cache and then when I go back into iCloud, it will say my next backup is considerably smaller than my previous backup and allow me to backup again. I deleted all the temporary songs on Garageband and all the modified pictures in iPhoto, but iCloud doesn't seem to detect the changes.

  Quote

If an app stores its data on iCloud, it'll stay even if you were to delete the app. (Under Manage Storage for iCloud settings, there's a "Documents & Data" section that shows apps using the latter cloud method of saving data.) Alternatively, use iExplorer to backup your app data manually: http://lifehacker.co...e-to-a-new-ipad

Yes, I saw this, but I just wanted to make sure. I didn't want to delete the game and then realize too late that I lost the 20+ hours I had put into it.

[Manish]

  On 28/06/2012 at 16:20, Unrealistic said:

but iCloud doesn't seem to detect the changes.

Did you try restarting your iPhone? You might need to delete your last iCloud backup too.

Also, I don't understand why your Facebook backup on iCloud is anywhere near 100MB; mine's only 41KB. It's not supposed to be backing up any cached or temporary items. I'd consider reinstalling it.

Perhaps you could also deselect apps to prevent them from backing up on iCloud.

  Quote

Yes, I saw this, but I just wanted to make sure. I didn't want to delete the game and then realize too late that I lost the 20+ hours I had put into it.

I've used it before and it did work on that particular occasion.