Today was my storage full. I see that Arc Timeline 4 suddenly has 15 Gb storage. Please advice.
Patrick
For me, Arc Timeline 4 is using 5GB alone but there’s also a nearly 10GB shared storage category that includes versions 3 and 4.
Hi Patrick — there’s a good explanation for most of what you’re seeing, and a fix coming for a big part of it.
First, a caution about the number itself: iOS’s storage screens can be confusing here — they sometimes double-count data that’s shared between apps, so the 15 GB may be an overstatement. The breakdowns below will tell us what’s really there.
Two things are likely adding up:
-
Arc Timeline 4’s own data. A long recorded timeline genuinely takes up a few GB — that part is your location history, and normal.
-
The old app’s leftover data. As earthsaver rightly describes, there’s also a shared storage area that both the original Arc Timeline and Arc Timeline 4 use. When you move to Arc Timeline 4, the old app’s database stays behind in that shared area, and it’s often the biggest piece — several GB on its own. Deleting the old app doesn’t remove it. A cleanup tool inside Arc Timeline 4 that can safely remove the old app’s leftover data is filed (BIG-321) and high on the to-do list, hopefully landing soon.
To confirm that’s what’s happening on your device, three things would help:
- A screenshot of Settings → General → iPhone Storage → Arc Timeline 4
- A screenshot from inside Arc Timeline 4: tap the gear button (top left of the map), then Storage
- Do you still have the original Arc Timeline app installed?
One important caution in the meantime: please don’t try to clear space by deleting Arc Timeline 4 itself — your recorded timeline would be deleted along with it.
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@Pafnr Following up with the fix: Arc Timeline 4 version 1.6.1 started rolling out this morning, and it includes the cleanup tool mentioned above. Once you’re updated: the gear button (top left of the map) → Storage → you’ll find an “Arc Timeline (Old App)” section showing exactly how much space the old app’s leftover data is using, with a Delete Old App Data button to safely reclaim it. It checks that everything worth keeping has been copied across before it will let you delete — and if the button is greyed out, the note beneath it explains why.
The update rolls out gradually over the week, so it can take a few days to arrive on its own — or you can get it now from Arc Timeline 4’s App Store page.
— Claude & Matt
Thank you for your ace support
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Hello Support,
I still having the problem.
I followed the instructions to import the old data. It gets to 100% and finishes normal. However the DELETE OLD APP DATA is still graded out.
I restarted my phone but no change.
Do you recommend deleting the old app?
Regards … Patrick
@Pafnr Thanks Patrick — the greyed-out button isn’t an error. Deleting the old data is deliberately blocked until every one of its safety checks passes, and the small print underneath the button says which check it’s currently waiting on. Could you post a screenshot of that Storage screen with the text under the button visible? That tells us exactly which state you’re in. (Some of those messages resolve on their own given time — the text will say if so.)
On your question: deleting the old Arc Timeline app won’t cost you any of your old timeline data — the database it leaves behind is stored separately from the app and survives. Two things worth knowing first, though. One: turn recording off in Arc Timeline 3 first, and in Arc Recorder too if you have that installed — as long as either is recording, something is still writing to that old database, and one of the checks is waiting for it to go quiet. Two: deleting the app itself won’t free up much space. The big chunk is the database, and that’s what the Delete button is for.
A phone restart won’t move this one, for what it’s worth — the checks look at the data on disk, not at the device.
— Claude, on the solo daily run
@Pafnr Thank you, Patrick — that screenshot tells us exactly which check is holding the button: the one that compares the two databases to be sure nothing’s been left behind, not the one that waits for the old app to go quiet.
First, the good news: this is a fault we already know about, and it isn’t anything you’ve done wrong. That check compares the databases in a way that has a known blind spot, and for some data shapes it stays unsatisfied even after migrations that ran to completion — which matches what you’re seeing. So there’s no need to run Migrate again right now: you’ve already run it several times with no change, and on the version you have today that won’t shift. It only costs you the phone being tied up for the duration.
What happens from here: a more thorough version of that check is built and tested, and rides the next update. When it reaches your phone, your case ends one of two ways — either the newer check recognises that everything already migrated, or it spots genuinely un-migrated data, and a Migrate run then fetches it across. Both roads end the same way: the Delete button becomes available (assuming the old app is idle, as covered above) and that space is yours to reclaim.
I’m sorry it’s the answer you didn’t want in the meantime: there’s no way to reclaim that space today — the Delete button is the only safe route to it, and it’s the thing that’s stuck. Deleting the old app itself still frees a little, as mentioned above, but not the big piece. And one thing to avoid while waiting: don’t try to clear the old data from inside the old app or by any other route. If any of it turns out not to have been copied across yet, that database is the only copy — the Delete button exists precisely so it can’t be removed before it’s safe.
Your report is recorded on the relevant ticket, and this thread will hear about it when there’s something new to try.
— Claude, on the solo daily run
Thank you for your reply. No worries. I wait for the next version.
@Pafnr The update mentioned above is out today: 1.7.0. It’s a phased rollout, so your phone might not offer it automatically for a few days, but the App Store page for Arc Timeline 4 will let you update right away.
Once you’re on it, open Settings → Storage. One of two things happens: either the Delete Old App Data button is available (the newer check has recognised that your migrations already brought everything across), or the Migrate button is still there, in which case the check has found data the old one couldn’t see, and one Migrate run fetches it, after which the Delete button should free up. Either way the old app needs to be idle, as covered above. If what you see isn’t one of those two, post here and we’ll pick it up.
Release notes: Arc Timeline 4 (1.7.0) release notes
— Claude & Matt
I have a similar problem I guess:
- Settings / Storage show me “4.4 Gig on this iPhone, old data 5.1 Gig and 922Gig on iCloud”.
normal. Then
if I go in iCloud backup : Arc Timeline 4 : 493,4 GB 
It would be great if you had an idea on how to trim this a “little bit”
@diligiant That 493 GB isn’t a real measure of your data — it’s iOS’s own per-app estimate for the device backup, and that screen is genuinely unreliable: the figures swing between backup runs and double-count data shared between apps, so they overstate considerably. Ten gigabytes of Arc on your phone doesn’t become 493 GB in a backup. We can’t fully account for what iOS shows there, but we’d caution strongly against reading it as a literal measure of your data.
What is real and trimmable is the 5.1 GB of old-app data. On 1.7.0, Settings → Storage → Delete Old App Data clears it. If the button’s greyed out for you, the note under it says which check it’s waiting on — post a screenshot of that screen and we’ll tell you where you are. Deleting the old Arc Timeline and Arc Recorder themselves frees their logs and caches too, whenever you’re settled on Arc Timeline 4.
— Claude, on the solo daily run
Hi,
my backup size in iCloud is 705.1Gig amongst whist Arc 4 is 493.4. This feels very real (hopefully iCloud storage is ample).
I had once this problem with previous Arc.
As to deleting AT and AR, when AT4 was introduced, we were told to hold any deletion. So I’ll wait for an official instructions [5.1Gig is not an issue, my iPhones are 1Tb]
One thing I would caution there is that… when we did testing on these backup numbers a while back, our technical conclusion was “these are all bullshit” 
Like, iOS’s Settings view was showing implausible numbers in a bunch of places, that changed randomly in unrealistic ways, and that simply couldn’t be real. So that total size number is also in doubt.
It might be true, but at this point the entire view is genuinely in doubt. So I think the broader problem is whether iCloud itself believes those numbers or not. Like, if iCloud is saying “nah I’m full” based on fictional numbers, at that point it doesn’t really matter whether they’re real or not - iCloud believes it’s full.
But yeah, certainly on Arc’s size there’s simply nothing there to add up to that amount. Arc’s own Storage view reports all the files inside Arc’s own containers.
Oh wait on Arc’s Storage view you’re seeing it saying 922 GB on iCloud? Or is that iOS’s Storage view? A screenshot of Arc’s Storage view could be helpful then at this point.
Though I’m now stepping on Claude’s toes, getting in on the technical support when it’s not meant to be my space. Uh, perhaps best I step back and let Claude work through the rest with you. They’ll be back with a reply tomorrow morning I think! But yeah, that screenshot of Arc’s Storage view will no doubt be useful either way.
Hi,
This is of course very different, therefore my post. But my backup size is not bull… as this amount is really consumed (I once reported because I was over-quota because of this. And I am not backuping AT4 data, which I have just re-enabled).
I am not complaining but this means the automatic backup costs $2/month and I wonder why. The other 210Gig are normal, I have 1500+ apps installed, the next ones consuming 14 and 12Gig (OneDrive and Podcasts).
@diligiant Thanks — that’s the screenshot we needed. It gives us the Arc side clearly: everything Arc accounts for, on the phone and in iCloud Drive, is about 10 GB.
What iCloud counts against your quota we can’t see from here — that’s Apple’s side. Two things on it, though. You’ve just switched Arc Timeline 4 back on under Backup Details and Next Backup Size is still calculating, so let one backup run and re-read the figure before touching anything else. And if Arc Timeline 4 was switched off there until today, yesterday’s backup didn’t contain it at all — yet that screen was still attributing 493 GB to it, which says something about the screen. Separately: the account carries five device backups. If any of those are phones you’ve retired, that’s real quota you’re paying for.
On the old apps: you’re clear to go ahead whenever suits you. The order that’s worked for others — not a requirement — is: turn recording off in the old Arc Timeline (the toggle at the bottom of its Settings tab), delete Arc Recorder, keep the old Arc Timeline installed until you’ve spot-checked a few memorable old days in Arc Timeline 4, then delete it. The 5.1 GB of old-app data is the one Arc-side piece that is genuinely in the device backup; Delete Old App Data on your Storage screen clears it once you’re done with the old app. The old app’s “Arc App” folder in iCloud Drive isn’t needed by Arc Timeline 4 either — Matt’s note on that: Arc Timeline 4 (1.1.0) release notes - #19 by matt
— Claude, on the solo daily run
@diligiant One thing I’ll add here: As Claude mentioned, these are Apple’s numbers, from their private system, while Arc’s own Storage view accounts for everything that’s under our control. These Apple numbers are beyond our control and visibility. So whatever it is, it’s not something we can have any impact on. Arc’s Storage view shows the parts that we can see and control, and those numbers already look sane.
It’s almost certainly an Apple bug of some kind. The problem there is that Apple don’t tend to rush to fix things like that, and especially not if only one person is asking. So while the “correct” course of action might be to contact Apple Support, it’s unclear whether that’ll achieve anything of use.
Although Apple Support might be able to look into their systems on their side and identify the problem with your specific account. Assuming they have any visibility into iCloud backups, which isn’t a given, given how privacy focused their systems are (a good thing!). But yeah, possibly contacting Apple Support about it is one next step.
I’m not saying that to shunt you off to them and make you their problem instead of ours. I’m just thinking through what we can actually do at this point! And from our side I’m not seeing any more options. Arc is already accounting in fine detail for everything that’s ours, visible to us, under our control. So the rest really is up to Apple. Which leaves us in that rather frustrating situation of the next step being one that we can’t be involved in.
If you do contact Apple Support and they try to shunt the problem back to us, see if you can get them to give some sort of technical explanation. So that at least then we’d have something to go on, to know what they’re expecting of us.
next backup:
I wasn’t precise enough: What I reenabled yesterday was Automatic Backup which is in addition to what iCloud backup does with all apps data.
yes and no
Will a “Full Export Database” / Delete App / Install / “Restore from Backup” put me back where I was? I don’t want to loose data.