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Forum Discussion
Dropbox iOS app taking up 1.3GB of local app data storage but no offline files?
As you can see in the screenshot, the Dropbox iOS app is taking up 1.37GB of space in app storage alone. But I have no offline files.
Things I've done:
- Made sure that I have ZERO files marked as "Make available offline". So no files are being explicitly stored.
- Explored the settings menu deeply. No where can I find a way to clear the local cache or set a limit.
- Searched this forum and the best solution I found, which I know will work, is to completely the delete the app, re-install it, and log in again. But that's such a hack.
Here's a screenshot where the app even says it has no cached files...
What's going on? What's in this mysterious 1.37GB of stored data?
Also, is deleting the app completely and re-installing it still the only option to resolve this? If that's still my only option this situation is a bit absurd. Is there local app data just constantly growing no matter what? Also for reference I use Camera Uploads regularly and I'm pretty I had to do the same thing about a year ago to clear up space. So all this junk filling up my phone accumulated in a year or so.
Cheers
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, andherand.
From what I understand, it’s the Dropbox cache that keeps taking up space from your device, even after the upload is complete, correct?
In this case, here’s what I’d like you to try as a test; clear the app’s cache via the app settings (just make sure there are no files uploading before that), uninstall the Dropbox app, restart your device and then, reinstall Dropbox.
After that, please try to upload a few files to the app and let me know if you’re still having the same issue.
- I have noticed the size growing when uploading large files. It is almost like Dropbox is copying the file to a new location on the phone when transferring the file. Then when the transfer is complete the app never removes the transferred file from a temporary location adding wasted space to our devices.
I am using Dropbox version 310.3.2 iOS version 16.2 (20C65).- Nancy
Dropbox Staff
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, andherand.
From what I understand, it’s the Dropbox cache that keeps taking up space from your device, even after the upload is complete, correct?
In this case, here’s what I’d like you to try as a test; clear the app’s cache via the app settings (just make sure there are no files uploading before that), uninstall the Dropbox app, restart your device and then, reinstall Dropbox.
After that, please try to upload a few files to the app and let me know if you’re still having the same issue.
- That worked. I got back my 2 gb of wasted space. thank you
Thanks for the reply Hannah.
I should have mentioned in my post that I had already tried that. I tried it again and can confirm that it did nothing. I still see 1.36GB of "Documents & Data" being used by the Dropbox app. It had no effect.
What exactly is it supposed to do? If the cache it clears is the same storage shown under "Space Used", it makes sense it does nothing because that's already showing Zero KB of space being used.
Any other ideas?I noticed that my Dropbox app was out of date so I just updated it. In this new version I then tried "Clear Cache" again. It also did nothing. But somehow in the process the Dropbox app's "Documents & Data" storage has increased from 1.36GB to 1.37GB... it really seems like it's just going to keep growing forever with no way to clear the space. My guess is it's something like the Camera Uploads image thumbnail cache never being cleared. It constantly increases since I'm constantly uploading more photos.
Is there any other solution I could try? (besides deleting and re-install the app) If not, could you confirm that this is a known issuing affecting some users like me? Thanks
