How to fix iPhone 7 Plus that keeps prompting memory errors after implementing new iOS update? [Troubleshooting Guide]

Wondering why you are always prompted with memory errors, like Memory Storage is Almost Full, Insufficient Memory, or other relevant warnings on your iPhone 7 Plus after updating iOS to the latest version? If so, then this post might be able to help you out. Read on to find out why you ended up facing this error and what must be done on your phone in order to get rid of it.

If what you see after downloading or installing a new file, app or software update is an error prompt regarding a memory issue, then it’s probably denotes one thing. And that is your iPhone is already running low on memory thus needed some more space to allocate new processes and request inputs. This can happen if you’ve already stored a lot of contents on your phone like huge apps and multimedia contents. Software updates especially major firmware can come in huge file sizes given that they’re bringing in a lot of new features and functions. Needless to say, installing the update could end up getting the internal memory of your iPhone completely full or occupied. As a result, your device will no longer be able to allocate new processes and service again because the memory is full. So what are you going to do then? Let’s find out.

But before anything else, if you have other concerns with your iPhone 7 Plus, make sure you drop by our troubleshooting page for we have already addressed some of the most commonly reported issues with this new iPhone. If you need further assistance or if you can’t find what you’re looking for in that page, fill up our iPhone issues questionnaire and hit submit. Don’t worry, it’s a free consultation service so you don’t have to worry about anything. Just give us more information about the problem and we’ll do our best to help you fix it.

Potential solutions to fix post-update memory errors on your iPhone 7 Plus

Below are some helpful workarounds and possible solutions to a post-update error regarding the internal memory of your iPhone 7 Plus. Feel free to try and see which from these methods is able to get rid of the memory error you’re getting.

First workaround: Reboot your iPhone 7 Plus.

For the first instance when you are prompted with memory error after installing a new update to iOS, it may be just a minor minor glitch on the iPhone software due to the recent changes implemented. Normally, issues like these are easily dealt with be a restart on the iPhone so if you haven’t already give it a shot and then see if that rids the error. Here’s how:

  • For starters, simply press and hold the Power button for a few seconds or until the Slide to Power Off slider appears. Drag the slider to turn off your iPhone completely. Wait for about 30 seconds and then press the Power button again to reboot.
  • With iOS 11 or later platforms, you can shutdown your iPhone through the settings menu. Just go to Settings-> General-> Shut Down. Give your iPhone at least 30 seconds to 1 minute of rest and then press the Power button to reboot.

In the case where your iPhone is freezing after the error message prompted, a forced restart would be necessary.

To do so, press and hold both the Power and Volume Down buttons simultaneously for at least 10 seconds or until the Apple logo appears.

Both restarts won’t affect any of your iPhone data hence they’re safe.

Second workaround: Check the memory status of your iPhone 7 Plus.

Memory errors or any warning message regarding your iPhone memory or internal storage typically denotes a memory problem. Most probably, your device has ran out of available storage space after the update because the memory was already shrinking even before the update file was downloaded and installed. The thing is that, the update file might have filled up the remaining storage and so there’s nothing left. Now to let you know of this, your device is showing a pertinent error message or warning.

To check if this is really what’s going on, navigate to Settings-> General-> [Device] Storage. If you see any recommendations for optimizing your iPhone storage then you may consider that as well. Check the value of Used Storage and Available Storage.

If the available storage is below 1GB, then that’s a hint for you to start removing unnecessary, old and unused apps and contents from your device. Also care to check how much storage is consumed by each of your apps. Some apps may use up a significant amount of memory especially when they go rogue. If you see any unusual memory usage by certain apps, then you might as well consider uninstalling the app from your device. Otherwise, you can offload the app to free up storage used by the app without deleting its documents and data from your device. Furthermore, you can move some data from your iPhone to iCloud or iTunes backup.

Third workaround: Delete the update file and then try to reinstall.

There are times when the update download and installation won’t end up successfully and so leads to any trouble instead of positive overall outcome. This is when you will need to retry and make sure that this time around it would be a successful download and installation. If you think this is what happened in your case, then don’t be afraid to redo the process. Make sure that your phone has sufficient power left (over 50% of battery) and that it’s connected to a stable Wi-Fi network. Then delete the update file and redownload and install it again on your device.

  • To do so, go to Settings-> General-> Storage & iCloud Usage-> Manage Storage. Then wait for the list to populate-> scroll through the list and locate Software Update. From this menu, select the update file that you’ve recently downloaded-> then tap Delete Update.      
  • Restart your iPhone 7 Plus and  then go back to Settings-> General-> Software Update and reinstall the new update.

When the update was successfully re-installed, reboot your iPhone again and then see if that fixes the problem and rids the memory error afterwards.

Fourth workaround: Restore or reset iOS on your iPhone 7 Plus.

This must be deemed your last resort if none of the prior workarounds is able to resolve the underlying cause and that you’re still getting the same memory error or warning after installing the new iOS update on your iPhone 7 Plus. A system restore or reset will likely fix more intricate software issues that caused conflict to the iPhone system and somehow affects the iPhone’s usual routine and/or operation.

In order to proceed, you will need to secure a computer (Windows or Mac) that has the latest version of iTunes software installed. Once you have it ready, follow these steps to restore your iPhone or reset iOS and fix the error with iTunes:

  1. Open iTunes on your computer.
  2. Connect your iPhone 7 Plus to your computer using the supplied USB connector or Lightning cable.
  3. If prompted, enter the correct passcode for your device or tap the option to Trust This Computer on your iPhone screen.
  4. When your iPhone is recognized in iTunes, select it from the list of devices in iTunes.
  5. With your iPhone 7 Plus selected, click the option to Restore Backup in iTunes. This will let you restore to a previous iOS backup file that’s more stable.
  6. Locate the file by referring to the date and file size. Be sure to pick the most relevant.
  7. Click the Restore button and then wait for the restore to finish. If prompted, enter the password for your encrypted backup.

Keep your phone connected after it reboots and wait for it to synchronize with your computer. By the time the sync finishes, you can disconnect.

If the standard system restore won’t work, then try restoring your iPhone 7 Plus through recovery mode in iTunes or DFU mode instead. These are more advanced iOS restore options you may resort to especially when dealing with more serious software errors on your iOS device. An in depth walkthrough on how to carry out each of these iPhone restore is available on our Tutorials page for iPhone 7 Plus. Feel free to visit that page whenever you need more help with the steps.

Ask more help from Apple Support

If ever you’re still getting the same memory error on your iPhone 7 Plus even after doing all the aforementioned workarounds including an iOS downgrade, then you may contact Apple Support for other options and recommendations. Unfortunately, there is nothing else you can do on your end to resolve the underlying cause. Take note of the exact error message you are seeing and then relay the message to the support people so that they’ll have at least a hint of what went wrong in the first place and therefore be able to come up with the best possible solution.

Engage with us

If you have other issues with your Apple iPhone 7 Plus, we are always willing to help. Contact us through our iPhone issues questionnaire and provide us with all necessary information about your problem so we can find a solution to your issue.

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