Did you check your iPhone today?
Well, if you have an iPhone 4S, 5, 5C or 5S, on Wednesday you probably got a notice about a software update for Apple’s new iOS 8. (The operating system is also designed for the iPad 2 models and above and the fifth-generation iPod touch. The new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will come with iOS 8 preinstalled.) All you have to do is go to the software update section of Settings on your device and… then your eyes might explode.
Why? Because of just how much storage space you need to do the iOS 8 update. Think about it this way: Have you ever had to clean out your grandparents’ attic and found yourself faced with 50-plus years of old clothes and National Geographic magazines? Yeah, it’s kind of the digital version of that.
My own iPhone 5S, which I have had for less than a year, says iOS 8 is a program that takes up 1.9 gigabytes of storage. That amount alone would be enough to give me finger cramps after I delete all the pictures of my kids, apps that I thought were cool but don’t use (so long, Yelp) and anything else to fit iOS 8 onto my iPhone.
But I’ve only just started cleaning out my iPhone attic. And I don’t know what will be left when I am done.
That’s because the software update says I need “at least” 6.8 GB of storage freed up to install iOS 8. Just how much “stuff” is 6.8 gigabytes?
Well, for starters, the first iPod (the design of which Apple has quietly just retired) came out with a 5 GB hard drive. I would need 1.4 of those iPods just to hold iOS 8. My iPhone is the 16 GB model, so in order for me to experience the glory of all of iOS 8′s new features, such as measuring all the exercising I don’t do with HealthKit, I need to get rid of 42.5% of whatever is on my phone right now.
Let’s see…kid pics…Yelp app…That U2 album that I didn’t expect and really don’t want…Sorry, you’re all gone.
Sure, iOS 8 is a free upgrade. But is it worth the hassle of cleaning out so much, and then having to find the time to go back and squeeze in a lot of what I just got rid of?
Maybe. Maybe not. Then again, there’s always that new iPhone 6 that starts at $199…
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