Definitely not imessages. 140gb of something. Your fix will work but it's not possible for me at the moment. Support is attempting to help me but is failing.
You could also try to leave that screen on for a few min, close that screen and reopen it again. They are most likely Apps, or Apps cache that wasn't calculated when you first use that screen.
There is also the iMessage bomb and iCloud Photo bug. But those were a long time ago and I haven't heard about it for years.
So yes best to do Factory Reset. And I know it is a pain. I have lots of people around me who just refuse to update apps and iOS anymore. ( But Apple is now actively courting them to do so )