Watch Storage full!

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Level 1

4 points

Watch Storage full!

Hi Guys,

I'm new to Apple products, I've spent the last 20years using Samsung phones and have just changed over to Apple in the last 2 weeks!!

When I changed over to the Iphone 13 I got an Apple watch series 3 with it. Today I had a notifaction from it to say that the storage was full! The only thing I have done with it is change the clock face and monitor my heart rate! I haven't looked into the rest of it yet.

When you look at the storage information for the watch on my phone, approx 40% of the storage is taken up by the WatchOS, The pre installed apps take up about 20%. The remaining 40% is taken up by 'Other'! I can't find out what this other is, and I can't remove it?

Any help with this would be appreciated, I have an update to do on my watch which I can't do as it say there isn't enough room on my watch to do it!

Other than doing a factory reset I'm not sure what else to do?

Thanks in advance

Jim

Apple Watch Series 3, watchOS 8

Posted on Apr 9, 2022 12:15 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Chris_D13

Community Specialist

Apr 10, 2022 3:58 PM in response to TheJimReaper

Greetings TheJimReaper,

Apple Watch definitely shouldn't take that long to turn on. Based on the issues being described, reach out to Apple Support directly for assistance: Get Support

Kind regards.

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Answer 2

ArmMan1016

Community Specialist

Apr 10, 2022 10:45 AM in response to TheJimReaper

Hi Jim,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities, and welcome to the Apple family! We suggest restarting your Apple Watch, and checking the storage again. Per the Apple Support article: Restart your Apple Watch

Press and hold the side button until you see the Power Off slider.Drag the Power Off slider.After your watch turns off, press and hold the side button again until you see the Apple logo.

If the issue persists, unpair the Apple Watch from the companion iPhone and then pair it back. Unpair the Apple Watch creates a backup on the iPhone, so there is no concern of data loss. The steps to do so are listed here:

Unpair and erase your Apple Watch

Let us know the outcome, and we can go from there if needed.

Cheers!

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Answer 3

TheJimReaper Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 11, 2022 6:25 AM in response to Chris_D13

Thanks, I got on to them this morning and my watch in now back on! Although the staorage is still full!

I can't work out what the white 'Other' storage is? I haven't uploaded any photos or music to it, or any files! I don't know how to, to be honest, so I really don't know what it is!

Any ideas on what it might be and how to get rid of it would be really appreciated

Cheers

Jim

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Answer 4

TheJimReaper Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 10, 2022 3:52 PM in response to ArmMan1016

Hi ArmMan,

Thanks for the Welcome and for the help.

I have tried to restart my Apple Watch as you suggested, however after trying to restart it all I get is the Apple Logo!

I pressed to side button until I saw the Logo then released it, the Logo stays on the screens for approx 5mins then disappears for about 30secs before reappearing for another 5mins! As of typing this message to you it has been doing for about 2 1/2 - 3 hrs!

I have assumed that it shouldn't be doing this and that there is a fault so I've tried to turn it off and start over, but I can't seem to turn it off now!

So I am assuming I have a fault with my Watch?

Or is there a way I can reset it some how?

Again any help would be appreciated

Thanks In Advance

Jim

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Answer 5

Apr 11, 2022 6:42 AM in response to TheJimReaper

Unpair your Apple Watch via the Watch app on your iPhone

Then Re-pair your Apple Watch again and setup as new,this usually frees up

enough storage space to update your watch.And without any loss of data.

If the watch updates ok then you can unpair and re-pair it again only this time you can restore from your last backup instead of setting up as new,this restores your watch to how it was but now it's updated as well.

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Answer 6

TheJimReaper Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 11, 2022 7:01 AM in response to Community User

Hi Fieryjack,

Thanks for replying so quickly.

When I 1st raised this issue the storage was saying it was at 7.8GB! I was advised to restart my watch which I tried to do, however after turning my watch off, it would not restart! So I had to go through Apple Support to get it back up and running.

I had to repair my watch with my iphone and recover it, whilst it did that it updated.

Once it was finally back up and running I checked the storage to see if the had dropped any, which it has! BUT it has only dropped by 1 GB and it is only the WatchOS that has dropped! The White 'Other' storage is the same, this is the area I'm asking about. I don't know what it is. I've only had the Watch and Iphone 2 weeks and as far as I'm aware I've not transfered any files over to it!

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Answer 7

Apr 11, 2022 7:18 AM in response to TheJimReaper

The watchos has to keep a certain amount of storage in reserve,for example if you update the watch at some point the update file has to be moved onto the watch so that it can be installed which can now be measured in gigabytes,also the watch has various caches that store regulary used data in order to speed up operation of the watch.

You see where I'm going with this?,the watch is a small computer and functions just like it's big brothers but on a lesser scale.

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Answer 8

TheJimReaper Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 11, 2022 7:42 AM in response to Community User

Yeah I know the watch is basically a small computer and what it's doing. I'm familiar with all that! But surely the OS, the little space the various Caches should be taking up with me only having it 2 weeks! and the apps, and the little bit it needs to hold in reserve, they should not be taking up the 6.8GB of space they are? and if the White 'Other' storage area shown in the image I posted above is for the Cache and reserve then something is wrong because, 1 it shouldn't need that much reserve space, and 2 in the 2 weeks I've had the watch and barely done anything with it, there's no way that much cache data could build up on it!

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Answer 9

Apr 11, 2022 7:50 AM in response to TheJimReaper

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Watch Storage full!

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