How to fix “Low disk space” error with third-party iPhone apps

whether you’re using an iPhone running software/firmware 1.1.2 or iPod Touch and have installed several iphone third-party applications, you may start receiving an error note that states “Warning: You are running out of disk space. Please delete some photos or videos,” even though there is still significant storage space on the device.

Here’s what’s actually happening: the iPhone (or iPod Touch) places a low, artificial size limit on its /Applications directory, which is reached after installing a number of third-party apps. In order to get around that problem, you need to store your Applications in the Media directory, where much more space is allocated. To do so, follow that process: Warning: whether you don’t type these commands precisely, you may put your iPhone in a state where it repeatedly reboots, potentially forcing a restore or interaction via SSH (discussed at the end of these instructions):

  1. Make certain you have at least 500 MB of free space on your iPhone/iPod Touch (via the indicator on iTunes).
  2. Through Installer.app, download and install “Term-vt100,” located in the “System” category (if you don’t have sufficient space to install Term-vt100, delete some applications temporarily).
  3. Launch Term-vt100 from your SpringBoard (home screen).
  4. Type the following commands exactly on your iPhone’s keyboard, paying specific attention to spacing and capitalization, and press return after each:
    1. cd /
    2. cp -pr Applications /var/root
    3. mv Applications Applications.old
    4. ln -s private/var/root/Applications /Applications

  5. Your Applications should now be stored in the Media (/var/root) directory. You can check that by typing the commands:
    1. cd /
    2. ls -la
  6. Among the listed entries, you should see something like the following:
  7. rwxr-xr-x 1 root admin […] Applications -> private/var/root/Applications
  8. This shows that your /Applications directory is symlinked to /private/var/root/Applications
  9. Now restart your iPhone or iPod Touch. whether everything works normally, launch Term-vt100 again and enter the following commands to delete your old Applications folder:
    1. cd /
    2. rm -rf Applications.old
  10. If something goes wrong, and your iPhone/iPod Touch repeatedly reboots or there are no icons on the SpringBoard, do one of the following:
  11. SSH into your device (if you have OpenSSH installed — see “Manually installing applications” on our Applications page for more info on how to SSH into your device) and re-enter that command: ln -s private/var/root/Applications /Applications
  12. Restore your iPhone/iPod Touch using iTunes and try again (third-party applications will be lost).

Thanks http://www.iphoneatlas.com/

Original post by admin

Posted on Dec 11th, 2007 by Philip King in Hacks | 25 Comments

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25 Comments to “How to fix “Low disk space” error with third-party iPhone apps”

  1. on 15 Dec 2007 at 2:29 pm1minshar

    I would like to thank the person who worked in thid steps, it was very helpful form me, I am using v1.1.2
    it works perfectly , keep the good work

  2. on 18 Dec 2007 at 8:29 pm2Greg

    Wow! Thank you SOOOO much! I’ve been looking everywhere for this. I found a number of guides, but yours is the ONLY one that I found helpful. Thank you for explaining EXACTLY what we non-terminal savvy people need to do.

    Other iPhone experts, take note.

  3. on 22 Dec 2007 at 11:27 pm3joshua margolin

    Can installer.app be moved to the new rivate/var/root/Applications?

    Also, will new applications be installed into rivate/var/root/Applications ?

    thanks

  4. on 23 Dec 2007 at 2:20 pm4zizzi_mobile@libero.

    Woohoo!!!
    A positive feedback from Florence, Italy, it woooooorks!
    Thanks to you and iphoneatlas. ;-)

  5. on 23 Dec 2007 at 5:46 pm5mike

    this sucks it makes my home screen blank everytime and i copy word for word, shity hack

  6. on 24 Dec 2007 at 11:35 pm6Ross

    Great works a treat much thanks

  7. on 28 Dec 2007 at 10:50 pm7Greg

    it should also be noted that you HAVE to have the BSD subsystem installed to do this.

  8. on 29 Dec 2007 at 2:06 pm8nerdbert

    ln: creating symbolic link `/Applications’: No space left on device

    There should be sufficient space left for a symlink – tried to fix it by uninstalling some apps and restarting, but it didn’t help (du -h still says 100%). Maybe I’m missing something or it’s some strange bash/zsh issue over ssh…

    @joshua margolin: That’s exactly what this fix does. All apps actually reside in private/var/root/Applications, but the system “thinks” it’s still in /Applications
    -nerdbert

  9. on 29 Dec 2007 at 2:17 pm9nerdbert

    PS: Strange, after deleting some more apps it finally worked.

    Thanks for the fix!

  10. on 12 Jan 2008 at 10:38 pm10ezpk0970

    i put in all of it exactly as showed. But now my phone is stuck in a restart mode. it gets to where it starts to load up the springboard and then keeps on doing so.

    is there an ‘undo’ method that doesnt involve restoring and wiping my phone?

  11. on 15 Jan 2008 at 6:14 pm11drgnsn0wb0arder

    i did the instructions on moving the applications to a more spacious location using the instructions above and all i can do now is see the icons and take calls when i try to run any apps they just look selected and nothing more how do i get upstuck from this HELP PLEASE!!!

  12. on 31 Jan 2008 at 5:37 am12grant

    i cant tell if its and l(L), or an I(i) because of the font…

  13. on 01 Feb 2008 at 8:57 pm13Jim

    this didnt work for me either im up(down)grading my ipod so all my media doesnt get wiped , dunno if i got any letters wrong.any advice?

  14. on 11 Feb 2008 at 8:27 am14Greg

    Can this method be used on a jailbroken 1.1.3 iphone?

  15. on 11 Mar 2008 at 4:20 pm15jay

    hey buddy my all icons went away it was ln and i typed it as in and now i am in big trouble …plaease guide me wat to do !!! please please please

  16. on 15 Mar 2008 at 8:37 am16MP

    I installed vt100 as written above, but when i start it, in black screen is “password:”
    I realy don,t know what password showd i enter?

  17. on 25 Mar 2008 at 12:37 pm17ajay

    hi … heres whats happened. i was installing various apps on my 1.1.2 iphone for the last two days. everything was working fine. yesterday after installing a small game i got a message saying something like “low disc space” etc. “delete something” etc. i then tried to install “Appollo” an IM of about 4MB. it took a long time after the download and installation being completed for the phone to re-boot. since then the phone doesnt switch on. it just shows the apple logo for some time and then some flashing lights and then some ants crawling all over (i had installed ants and it was working fine). with the sim inside if some body calls the other party hears the phone ring but the phone doesnt ring at all. i tried resetting using itunes. it tells me that all data will be lost and the phone will be reset to factory settings. on clicking yes it then says do you want your phone software to be updated with the latest software (1.1.4 – is it crackable??). thats when i stopped and thought of taking your advice.

  18. on 25 Mar 2008 at 11:47 pm18YC

    Hi, I use your instruction above, but screwed up the typing when I type ln -s private/var/root/Applications /Applications which is too long. When I press the home button and press Terminal again nothing seems to work. My SSH didn’t turn on at that time. I reboot my phone and it is stucked at the booting stage seeing the Apple logo all the time. I restore the Firmware 1.1.4 and use iPlus2.0 to unlock and it has shown lots of screen accodingly but when it completes it still fail to boot it. I think it can’t find the Applications folder. Can someone please help me, is there a restore in the Applications to its default?

  19. on 31 May 2008 at 5:21 am19LeMMiNGS

    Many thanks for that tip!
    I installed OpenSSH and made it look easy.. even moved my Ringtones & Wallpapers folder to /private/var/root/Library to free up more space :D

  20. on 18 Jul 2008 at 5:12 am20beck

    hello , I just did the symlink with no problems.

    All seems to work fine.. except the installer.

    After this i get the following error when starting it:

    “Insufficient Permissions

    Installer was not installed correctly.
    It should be run as root:wheel. We will continue but please remember that it may not function correctly.”

    The obvious question is “did you use cp -prf instead of “cp -rf” , yes i did.

  21. on 11 Oct 2008 at 3:35 am21Daniel

    Alright when typing the commands into Term-vt100 I get to the third step “mv Applications Applications.old” and white typing comes up saying “mv: rename Applications to Applications.old: Permission denied” What does this mean and how do I fix it?

  22. on 17 Mar 2010 at 12:06 pm22Morvidangel

    Okay uhm I have Jailbroken iPod touch 3g, running on 3.1.2, and I had this problem, but I seem to have messed up because most of my apps are still there, except for the mainframe apps, like “Settings, App Store, YouTube, etc” also the installed Cydia, Music, Video, Photos, and other system integrated apps are gone, I used SSH on my iPod and it’s still there, but for some reason it does not read it, please help! D:

  23. on 19 Mar 2010 at 6:07 pm23Adnan Baig

    I am getting permission denied message when I type in cp -pr Applications /var/root.

  24. on 03 Apr 2010 at 10:36 pm24jay

    does this work on 3.1.2?

  25. on 29 Aug 2010 at 8:07 pm25And

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