iPad storage and software updates

[Glynne]

I have an oldish 32GB iPad and my storage was ~ 29GB
The last 2 updates iOS 17 & iOS 18 required ~ 6GB of space and so I was unable to update directly and so I connected to my iMac desktop, backed up everything, reset to factory settings and loaded the new software before restoring all of my data. The whole process being a pain in the proverbial.

My query is that I now have iOS 18 but my storage is now 22.5GB!
I don’t appear to have lost anything but can’t understand how I seemed to have gained around 6GB of storage.
Can anyone advise please as I was tempted to upgrade my iPad so I wouldn’t have to go through the rigmarole again but with over 9GB of space, I should be OK for the next software version?
Thanks.

 

[woodieallen]

Eh? Maybe I'm misreading this but if you had 29GB before the upgrade and now you have 22.5GB, how is that a gain ?

I have a relatively new one but haven't opted to upgrade as there is nothing of interest for me and so why risk incompatibility with other stuff? Just a shame that you can't just upgade the security stuff.

 

[Glynne]

Sorry, I can see the confusion.
What I was saying is that before the upgrade I was using 29GB and so had 3GB free and now I’m using 22.5GB and have 9.5GB free.
My only reason to keep updating is for the security stuff as you mention but it seems strange I have so much more usable memory.