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iStorm

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 18, 2012
1,766
2,201
I am having a problem with being able to delete some data out of my iCloud storage. On my iPhone or iPad, I'm going to 'Manage Storage' and trying to delete data from iCloud Drive/Other Documents, iMovie, Alto's Adventure, and Siri, but nothing happens after deleting - it just stays on that screen and still shows that they have data if I go back and refresh. (I was able to delete some other categories earlier.)

The same thing also happens when trying to do it on my Mac. It just says that it couldn't be deleted and "Try Again Later".

My iCloud Drive or iMovie have no visible documents in those apps, but they both show as having less than 1 MB of data. I know it's nothing to worry about given the low amount of storage they're taking up, but it seems like I should still be able to delete everything.

Is this a common problem, or known issue? Any workarounds?
 

Beards

macrumors 65816
Mar 22, 2014
1,338
628
Derbyshire UK
I have been complaining to Apple for a number of weeks of this. I deleted a 3.1GB file from icloud over a month ago and despite removing it from icloud storage the 3.1GB has not been recredited back to my account.
 

now i see it

macrumors G4
Jan 2, 2002
10,640
22,205
iCloud is quirky at best. Try renaming files sometime. Sometimes works, often doesn't (for me).
 

zz_nosa_r

macrumors regular
Oct 21, 2015
248
175
Hell
I previously have the same issue. But i just found out that of you delete something in your phone in icloud, it will mot actually delete it but goes to the “Bin”. The only way to completely delete it is to log in to icloud.com and go to bin then delete the files there or empty the bin.
 

SoYoung

macrumors 65816
Jul 3, 2015
1,449
840
iCloud is by far the worst cloud service I tested. Still can’t delete a local iCloud Drive file without delete it completely from the cloud...
 

excrispy

macrumors newbie
Sep 30, 2019
2
0
I had a difficult problem with this that took weeks to figure out with the help of tech support.
If you've tried all the basic things like turning off backup, deleting all files on your local icloud directory, and checked all syncing mac devices, then try these steps.

1. You cannot delete the entire "desktop" and "documents" folder. Doing so will make them reappear the moment you refresh. Instead, go into both folders and delete everything.
2. After you delete your documents, go to the "recently deleted" page, which you should be able to find on the page on "https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/". Delete the files there as well, or they will still take up storage.
3. If you delete the files there and they keep reappearing, you need to contact tech support. That is a bug in the software and they need to reset the system for you. Here's the message I got from tech support after they did that and it finally worked.

"Sometimes glitches like this happen, I just had to reverify you and just click a button to “rebuild” the storage. We do those on Macs sometimes with storage issues, but every issue is different. Some resolutions workout in people’s favours and some require a bit more effort. :) It’s hard to say, because what works for you may not work for someone else, but it doesn’t hurt to relay the suggestion to the public. Appreciate your efforts for that!"

Good luck! Hope that helps.
 
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