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):
- Make certain you have at least 500 MB of free space on your iPhone/iPod Touch (via the indicator on iTunes).
- 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).
- Launch Term-vt100 from your SpringBoard (home screen).
- Type the following commands exactly on your iPhone’s keyboard, paying specific attention to spacing and capitalization, and press return after each:
- cd /
- cp -pr Applications /var/root
- mv Applications Applications.old
- ln -s private/var/root/Applications /Applications
- Your Applications should now be stored in the Media (/var/root) directory. You can check that by typing the commands:
- cd /
- ls -la
- Among the listed entries, you should see something like the following:
- rwxr-xr-x 1 root admin […] Applications -> private/var/root/Applications
- This shows that your /Applications directory is symlinked to /private/var/root/Applications
- 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:
- cd /
- rm -rf Applications.old
- If something goes wrong, and your iPhone/iPod Touch repeatedly reboots or there are no icons on the SpringBoard, do one of the following:
- 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
- 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
18 Comments
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
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.
Can installer.app be moved to the new rivate/var/root/Applications?
Also, will new applications be installed into rivate/var/root/Applications ?
thanks
Woohoo!!!
A positive feedback from Florence, Italy, it woooooorks!
Thanks to you and iphoneatlas.
this sucks it makes my home screen blank everytime and i copy word for word, shity hack
Great works a treat much thanks
it should also be noted that you HAVE to have the BSD subsystem installed to do this.
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
PS: Strange, after deleting some more apps it finally worked.
Thanks for the fix!
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?
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!!!
i cant tell if its and l(L), or an I(i) because of the font…
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?
Can this method be used on a jailbroken 1.1.3 iphone?
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
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?
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.
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?