Paul Morris·

iOS 10.3 Update Can Free Up To 7.8GB Of Storage Space

Not many iPhone or iPad owners will really understand the new Apple File System (APFS), that’s bundled with the latest iOS 10.3 update, but it appears that those hardware owners could have the internal change to thank for a ton of additional storage space on their devices.

A growing number of users are finding that upgrading to iOS 10.3 leaves them with an additional 1GB or more of free space on their device, presumably thanks to the efficiency of APFS. The space-saving abilities of APFS haven’t been widely discussed by Apple in a public forum, although the move from the traditional Hierarchal File System (HFS) – which has been in use for more than three decades – to the new Apple File System (ADFS) was discussed as far back as last June during Apple’s 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference.

iPhone and iPad owners are clearly already experiencing the benefit of that change thanks to its improved storage efficiency, but it will also eventually be implemented into macOS, tvOS, and watchOS to benefit all of the companies software-powered hardware.

Many of the device owners benefiting from the storage reclaiming have noticed an additional 1GB or more being available on the device once the iOS 10.3 upgrade has finished. In some instances, such as testing by AppleInsider, as much as 7.81GB has been reclaimed on a top-of-the-range, 256GB iPhone 7 Plus.

It’s unlikely that the majority of those upgrading will reap those type of benefits, and it likely depends on the type of data stored on the device and how the new Apple File System handles that particular data and storage locations, but it’s fair to suggest that the majority of users will notice some tangible improvements, as well as a snappier, seemingly faster system.

In addition to making improvements with the introduction of APFS, Apple could also be making significant storage savings by being more ruthless with how apps store temporary data, which is particularly relevant for apps which rely on streaming data to the end-user. Regardless of how Apple is achieving the space savings with iOS 10.3, it’s unlikely that any installer of the platform will even think to complain about being handed back precious capacity on their iOS device.

iOS 10.3 is available right now for those who want to make the change.

(Via: Apple Insider)

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