How to Free Up Storage Space on Your Android Device

The size of applications, photos and the operating system always increases. If you use an older Android device or even the entry-level model of a newer device, you’ll quickly find yourself reaching your storage limit.

There is nothing worse than taking out your phone for a once in a lifetime photo, only to meet the dreaded Full storage message. So how to free up storage on Android? Read on for a list of tips and ideas.

1. Identify applications that hog storage

How many of the apps currently installed on your phone do you use frequently?

Sure, we all need an email client, some social media apps, a news app, and maybe a game or two. But do you really need that random weather widget you downloaded or the app that distorts your face to look like your dog? Probably not.

Recent versions of Android make it easy to see which apps are the worst offenders. Navigate to Settings> Storage> Other apps. Wait for the list to complete, then tap the menu button in the upper right corner and choose Sorted by size.

Once you know what takes up the most space, uninstall everything you don’t need by going to Settings> Apps & notifications> See all apps X.

2. Delete offline content

Many applications allow you to save content to your device so that you can access it when you’re offline.

For example, Spotify allows you to save music directly to your phone. Some RSS readers allow you to save articles for later reading, as do bookmarking services like Pocket. Podcast apps save audio files for offline playback, Chrome can even save web pages for offline access.

Saving content for offline use is great if you have enough space. If you don’t, you’ll quickly start to wonder where all of your free space went.

A few prudent steps will solve this problem. Instead of downloading dozens of albums, try making a Spotify playlist of enough songs to cover your gym or travel session. Open only the laptops you use most frequently in OneNote and avoid downloading huge files from cloud storage services.

To delete the offline content you have already saved on your device, you have two options. You can clear app caches

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case by case going to Settings> Applications and notifications> See all X applications> [App Name] > Storage and cache> Clear cache.

Alternatively, you can use a reputable third-party tool that will clear app caches en masse. SD Maid is one of those tools.

To download: SD Maid (Free in-app purchases available)

3. Move photos to the cloud

Google Photos will automatically back up all your photos to the cloud. As long as you’re satisfied with a slightly lower resolution, they won’t count against Google Drive’s storage limits.

When looking at photos on your device using Google Photos, it is easy to overlook the fact that they are not saved locally. They are still accessible and visible through the Photos app, as long as you have an internet connection.

The app will even alert you when it can help save some space, with an on-screen notification letting you know you’re closing your storage limits.

If you think you’re close to your capacity, you can have the app verify on your behalf. Navigate to Google Photos> Menu> Free up space. The app will scan your phone, tell you how many photos have already been backed up, and tell you which ones you can safely delete.

4. Move the content to an SD card

Unfortunately, fewer and fewer devices ship with an SD card slot. They are especially rare on premium phones.

There is a good reason for the lack of SD compatibility on modern phones – Cheaper SD cards won’t work as well as more expensive SD cards because they have slower read/write times. But many users will not realize that their SD card is to blame: they will only think that the phone is idle. That is bad publicity for manufacturers; They would prefer that you just bought a more expensive model with more storage space.

If you have a mid-range or inexpensive device, you’re more likely to have an SD card slot. This is fortunate since such devices typically offer less built-in storage than their more expensive counterparts.

Android is capable of formatting an SD card to appear as internal storage on your device. Let’s go Settings> Storage> [SD card name], then tap the three vertical dots in the upper right corner and choose Storage configurations. Select Format as internal to start the process.

5. Take advantage of the Google Files application

The files for the Android Storage Manager app come pre-installed on all Android devices. Not as powerful as some of the best Android File Explorer apps

But it does a decent job of letting you organize downloads, file shares, and other documents on your phone.

However, one of the most neglected features of the application is the Free up space tool. It is directly integrated into the Android settings application. To use it, go to Settings> Storage and play Free up space.

The Files app will automatically open and start scanning your storage. It will identify junk files, large files, old files, and anything else you think you can safely delete. You make the final decision to complete the removal.

To download: Records (Free)

6. Android Storage Manager Tool

If you don’t trust yourself to keep up with these storage maintenance tasks, you can let Android do some of the work for you.

The native Storage Manager tool has been available from Android Oreo. Go to Settings> Storage and slide the lever next to the Storage manager at In position. If you touch Storage manager you can customize the feature, including how long photos and videos must be backed up for deletion before the local copy is automatically deleted.

Learn more about Android storage

Keeping your device clutter-free is just a small part of knowing how to manage storage on your Android device.

For example, did you know that it is possible to move entire applications to your SD card?

and far from your internal memory? If not an option, check out more tips on how to use an older Android phone with little storage space.