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bj097

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 27, 2013
347
23
no time to research
buying it tomorrow
64 or 128?
i don't play games and don't use icloud services.
normally taking pictures,
not normally shooting videos....
what is the actual available capacity left for 64gb after iOS and installing common social apps e.g. ig, whatsapp etc
 

Kaikidan

macrumors regular
Jul 3, 2017
181
167
I used to have 64gb but since I used offline stored music (yeah oldschool) and had a huge icloud photos library, 64gb didn't lasted, upgraded to 128gb, but transitioning to the iPhone 11 there was only 64gb available at the time here, but since I had managed to transfer my music library to a 128gb Walkman, i've gonne with it, so the problem now was photos, even with icloud backup they would still take 25gb plus 5-10gb for System/others and some unreassonably big apps like uber (300mb) and whatsapp and his cache... I was constantly at 55-62/64gb, after that and a lot of attemps to reduce icloud photos cache I backed up my photos on the pc and tried to go without icloud photos, at first it was at 35/64gb without instagram/twitter/facebook installed, but just some weeks later it was already at 44/64... Conclusion: Now I picked up a 256gb device just to never have to worry anymore about space.

TL;DR:

64gb:
only really useful for people who only use the device to make calls and minor activities, don't take too much photos and some minor app usage, or if you has the time and patience to micromanage storage at all time

128gb: the sweetspot right now. Unless you're a heavy user you will hardly ever will run out of space

256gb: Overkill for most people

Edit: There is a reason why apple now only offers newer models in 128gb and not 64gb anymore.
 
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canuckRus

macrumors 6502a
May 18, 2014
931
348
Must be considering an older model as new iPhones start at 128gb. That said, light users should have no problem with 64gb unless overloading with music and/or photos.
 
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bj097

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 27, 2013
347
23
I used to have 64gb but since I used offline stored music (yeah oldschool) and had a huge icloud photos library, 64gb didn't lasted, upgraded to 128gb, but transitioning to the iPhone 11 there was only 64gb available at the time here, but since I had managed to transfer my music library to a 128gb Walkman, i've gonne with it, so the problem now was photos, even with icloud backup they would still take 25gb plus 5-10gb for System/others and some unreassonably big apps like uber (300mb) and whatsapp and his cache... I was constantly at 55-62/64gb, after that and a lot of attemps to reduce icloud photos cache I backed up my photos on the pc and tried to go without icloud photos, at first it was at 35/64gb without instagram/twitter/facebook installed, but just some weeks later it was already at 44/64... Conclusion: Now I picked up a 256gb device just to never have to worry anymore about space.

TL;DR:

64gb: only really useful for people who only use the device to make calls and minor activities, don't take too much photos and some minor app usage, or if you has the time and patience to micromanage storage at all time

128gb: the sweetspot right now. Unless you're a heavy user you will hardly ever will run out of space

256gb: Overkill for most people

Edit: There is a reason why apple now only offers newer models in 128gb and not 64gb anymore.
Thanks for this piece of great advice. I'll take 128 then
 

bj097

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 27, 2013
347
23
Must be considering an older model as new iPhones start at 128gb. That said, light users should have no problem with 64gb unless overloading with music and/or photos.
I'm a light user and don't listen to music, but I like to keep chat history and its related pictures, and keep taking screenshot of useful information I've found when browsing sites. Is 64GB fine?
 

BrianBaughn

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2011
9,674
2,427
Baltimore, Maryland
64 has never been a problem for me as I use Google Photos (paid) to back those up. Free iCloud is backing up my photos, also, but I delete them once Google has synced them.
 

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Dec 19, 2004
7,329
4,718
Georgia
It really depends. I have what I consider a lot of apps on my iPad and iPhone. I have 40GB free out of 64GB. But I don't store much in the way of pictures, music or video. No games either. It's mainly software for web browsing, business and finance, streaming, news and reading.
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,577
12,689
Photos take a lot of space. Out of the box, I believe you get 50GB available from the 64GB (after OS and pre-installed apps).

I think 64GB is workable but only if you offload majority of stuff to the cloud (e.g. iCloud Photos set to optimize, streaming only for music and video, etc).
 

ApfelKuchen

macrumors 601
Aug 28, 2012
4,334
3,011
Between the coasts
I use 64 GB with the cloud (well, 54 of 64 GB Used), have over 100 GB in the cloud. So if you're going no-cloud and not actively shifting your photos, etc. over to a computer, you'll probably need more than 64 GB.

It's the price you pay - sort of like how large a house you buy - the more stuff you want to store on-site, the less willing you are to rent a storage locker elsewhere, the more you're going to pay for the house.
 

bj097

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 27, 2013
347
23
Photos take a lot of space. Out of the box, I believe you get 50GB available from the 64GB (after OS and pre-installed apps).

I think 64GB is workable but only if you offload majority of stuff to the cloud (e.g. iCloud Photos set to optimize, streaming only for music and video, etc).
I don't like using cloud because I am always unfamiliar with the sync things, so I always transfer important photos to computer's hard drive.... in that case, is 64GB enough?
 

ApfelKuchen

macrumors 601
Aug 28, 2012
4,334
3,011
Between the coasts
I don't like using cloud because I am always unfamiliar with the sync things, so I always transfer important photos to computer's hard drive.... in that case, is 64GB enough?
It can be enough, but you'll have to be actively managing your storage. The less storage you have, the more effort will be required. On the other hand, failing to manage/clean your storage is what leads to people "needing" huge amounts of storage in the first place.

My position is that the cloud can save your butt. Most people who backup their phones to a computer end up forgetting to backup. Inevitably, when something goes wrong (loss, damage, or equipment failure) their most recent backup was a year old.

The cloud is also a major convenience. If you do have multiple devices - iPhone, iPad, Mac or PC (yes, there is iCloud for Windows), it's nice to synchronize your data between them. The calendar event I create on my iPhone shows up on my iPad and Mac and can even be retrieved by voice command from my HomePod. The photos I take on iPhone are available for display on my 12.9" iPad screen and my 60" television via AppleTV. And so on.

Yes, the cloud takes a bit of learning, and the space you use in the cloud can become just as cluttered as space on a local hard drive, but overall I would not want to be without it.
 
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bj097

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 27, 2013
347
23
It can be enough, but you'll have to be actively managing your storage. The less storage you have, the more effort will be required. On the other hand, failing to manage/clean your storage is what leads to people "needing" huge amounts of storage in the first place.

My position is that the cloud can save your butt. Most people who backup their phones to a computer end up forgetting to backup. Inevitably, when something goes wrong (loss, damage, or equipment failure) their most recent backup was a year old.

The cloud is also a major convenience. If you do have multiple devices - iPhone, iPad, Mac or PC (yes, there is iCloud for Windows), it's nice to synchronize your data between them. The calendar event I create on my iPhone shows up on my iPad and Mac and can even be retrieved by voice command from my HomePod. The photos I take on iPhone are available for display on my 12.9" iPad screen and my 60" television via AppleTV. And so on.

Yes, the cloud takes a bit of learning, and the space you use in the cloud can become just as cluttered as space on a local hard drive, but overall I would not want to be without it.

When you talk about icloud, I'd like to tell you a real story that happened to me quite a few years ago, I forget the exact year but it was probably around 2013 or 2014. At that time I called the Apple customer service for support on something I forget, but now I still clearly remember that the customer service was able to see and even tell that I had a picture in the photo stream or icloud something and he/she was able to see what the picture was about, I don't normally share any picture with friends or family so I don't know if I have made some pictures public but well, I don't know, he/she only knew my Apple ID and got to find out my pictures, I still remember this clearly and don't understand.
 
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