My $2000 iPhone is unusable because of Apple’s storage system and CapCut’s design — I’m paying $50/month for cloud storage I can’t even use

Question

Level 1

5 points

My $2000 iPhone is unusable because of Apple’s storage system and CapCut’s design — I’m paying $50/month for cloud storage I can’t even use

I’m at my breaking point with this.

I spent $2000 on this iPhone, I pay $30/month for 8TB of iCloud+, and another $20/month for CapCut Cloud Space, and somehow my phone is completely unusable because of the way Apple and CapCut handle storage.

I’m not talking about “a few big videos.”

CapCut is taking up over 800GB of my local storage.

If I delete the app, I lose every single editable project I’ve ever created — these are work projects, not random clips.

If I keep it, my iPhone is basically dead. I can’t update apps, can’t take photos, can’t even open Messages without getting “storage full” warnings.

And the worst part? I’ve done everything right:

I pay for 10 terabytes of cloud storage between Apple and CapCut.
I’ve tried uploading projects to CapCut’s cloud — it goes at 1% per hour and stops every time the screen locks.
I’ve tried backing up through Finder and iMazing — both fail because iOS blocks access to the app’s sandbox.
I’ve tried “Clear Cache” inside CapCut — it removes 500MB out of 800GB.
I’ve tried deleting old projects — iPhone storage doesn’t change at all.

So I’m trapped in a completely ridiculous situation:

CapCut fills my iPhone → I can’t delete it without losing my job files

I can’t back them up → uploads crawl and copies fail

I’m paying $50/month for cloud storage → none of it works

My $2000 iPhone → completely unusable

Apple, this is on you too.

You’ve built an OS that locks users out of their own storage.

There is no way to access or clean up app data safely, and no way for professional creators to move large projects off the device.

If third-party apps can’t integrate with iCloud Drive properly, then you need to make that clear — because right now, we’re paying for storage that your system simply refuses to use.

I use my iPhone for work — this is not a hobby.

And right now, I’m paying monthly for cloud storage and premium apps, yet my phone is a brick because iOS and CapCut are fighting over where files can live.

I want Apple and CapCut to take responsibility for this situation.

Either fix the sandbox restrictions that prevent users from managing app data, or make CapCut properly store its files in iCloud Drive so that “cloud storage” actually means something.

Right now, I’m sitting on a $2000 work device that I literally cannot use — and both companies are just shrugging.

This isn’t a user mistake. This is a design failure.

iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 18

Posted on Nov 3, 2025 6:07 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Carlos_samps Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 4, 2025 7:01 AM in response to muguy

That’s not the issue here.

The problem is that CapCut doesn’t actually release local storage when you delete projects or videos inside the app.

You can delete hundreds of gigabytes of footage and the iPhone’s storage number doesn’t change — not even by a few megabytes.

CapCut keeps all those “deleted” files buried inside its sandbox as hidden cache, and iOS gives users no way to clear it manually.

The only method that truly frees the space is deleting the entire app… which also erases every editable project I still need for work.

So I’m permanently stuck with 800GB of space consumed that I can’t reclaim unless I’m willing to nuke all my ongoing work.

No amount of “Clear Cache,” offloading, or project deletion changes anything — iOS just keeps reporting the same 800GB.

I’m not misunderstanding iCloud; I understand it’s a sync service.

The real issue is that Apple’s sandbox system prevents users (and even Finder or iMazing) from accessing or managing app data like this, while CapCut never actually deletes what it says it’s deleting.

So I’m left paying for 10TB of cloud storage while my $2000 iPhone sits full and unusable — because there’s no safe, supported way to actually clear or move the data.

That’s not user error.

That’s a design flaw — and it’s absolutely unacceptable for a professional workflow in 2025

Reply

Answer 2

Kurt Lang

Level 9

68,448 points

Nov 4, 2025 7:15 AM in response to Carlos_samps

The "design flaw" is with CapCut. iOS doesn't know anything about the footage you're deleting since it's not in the Photos library. Because of that, nothing gets synced to iCloud, and nothing goes to a Deleted Items bin iOS has any control over. Anything within a third party app is controlled only by the app.

It's not Apple's fault that a very poorly written app doesn't actually delete files when you tell it to. Contact the makers of CapCut and ask them why their app is so bad.

I just did a quick internet search, and this seems to be a very common issue with CapCut. And not just in iOS.

Reply

Answer 3

muguy

Level 10

91,148 points

Nov 3, 2025 6:13 PM in response to Carlos_samps

If you have a 2TB device (as an example) it's an exercise in futility to try to have more iCloud storage than the device and perhaps backup size. In general, anything in iCloud is also on your device. There may be some allowance. for optimizing storage (say in photos) but generally iCloud is. a synchronization service, not off-line device storage.

Reply