A nasty Apple Maps bug is eating up a ridiculous amount of storage on some iPhones – here’s how to get rid of it
Whenever I ask someone why they haven’t downloaded the latest version of iOS, the most common answer is: “I don’t have enough storage space.” This is a very real and frustrating problem for many iPhone users, and while there are many easy ways to free up storage space on iPhone, what happens if you’re faced with a storage-intensive app that simply refuses to be deleted?
My brother recently came to me with this problem. He was unable to download iOS 26 (which typically requires at least 10 GB of free space) on his iPhone 14 Plus because, oddly enough, his Maps app was listed as taking up 13.93 GB.
A quick scan of Reddit suggested this wasn’t an isolated case, with other iPhone users experiencing the same problem, and I spotted similar threads on Apple’s Support Community forum, with each man and his dog offering a different solution to the problem of Apple Maps storage apparently being undeletable.
Supposed fixes included Clear Maps history by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > Important Locations & Directions > Clear HistoryAnd “mark a new small region offline and enable “Optimize Storage””.
Neither method worked in my brother’s case, which is why I’m confident in describing this issue as a bug (not least because removing Maps’ “Documents and Data” in Settings should remove the need to follow either workaround in the first place).
However, if you are currently experiencing the same Maps quirk on your iPhone, I advise you to try both methods before committing to the sole workaround. did proved a success for my brother’s iPhone (and proved a success for others who resorted to the same Hail Mary): a full backup and reset of the device.
I know, I know – it seems like a long and painful way to go. But backing up and resetting your iPhone doesn’t really take that much time, and you’ll be grateful for the dozens of gigabytes of free storage space you’ll have left to play with (I promise!).
To back up your iPhone using iCloud, check out our guide on how to back up an iPhone (you basically go to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Backup > Back Up Nowmaking sure the Back up this iPhone button is enabled). You can also follow the old-school method and back up your iPhone locally to a Mac or Windows PC using iTunes or the Apple Devices app.
To reset your iPhone, read our guide on how to factory reset an iPhone (TL;DR: it’s Settings > General > Transfer or reset iPhone > Erase all content and settings).
Then, once you restart your iPhone, follow the setup steps until you reach the “Apps & Data” screen. Here you can choose to restore your data from an iCloud backup or from a Mac or PC. Log in with your Apple ID, select the appropriate backup and wait for the process to complete.
And there you have it! Now when you head to Settings, your iPhone should look exactly like it did before, even though Maps now only takes up megabytes, not gigabytes (in my brother’s case, his post-backup Maps app’s “Documents & Data” was listed as taking up a much more reasonable 68.7MB).
I reached out to Apple to see if it was a) aware of this strange storage quirk and b) able to provide a more practical solution, and I’ll update this story if I hear back.
Have you encountered this Maps problem on your iPhone? And if so, have any of these solutions worked for you? Let us know in the comments below.
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