Everything we do on our Android phones takes up huge amounts of space – from the many photos and videos we take, to our media-heavy chats and the dozens of storage-hungry apps we browse. So it’s no surprise that most of us run out of space after a year or two of use. Luckily, recovering some of that lost storage is just as easy, and you can free up space in just a few steps without any compromise.
On Android, you have plenty of options for reclaiming space on your phone’s storage, but Google also has tools that let you get rid of junk files that you might not even know are clogging up your phone. storage, which includes automatically deleting unnecessary items such as duplicate photos and screenshots. . Here’s how to easily free up your Android phone’s internal memory.
Delete duplicates and other unnecessary files
Google’s free storage management app called Files can clear huge chunks of your phone storage with just a few keystrokes. It intelligently scans your phone for things you can start without thinking twice. It will suggest you, for example, to remove duplicate files, screenshots, meme images from chat apps, unused apps and much more.
Another unique ability of Google Files is that it lets you clean up unnecessary files. All computer systems like your phone itself produce temporary data to perform regular and mundane tasks and over time this can accumulate to consume a significant portion of your device’s storage.
To access these suggestions, download and open the Google Files app. Give it a few hours or days to scan your storage. Once ready, you will find the suggestions under the “Clean” tab.
Clear app cache and data
Your favorite apps preload the features you use most to speed up the experience and keep you connected. However, to do this, they store hundreds of megabytes of temporary data on your phone’s storage, which continues to accumulate as your usage increases and the developer releases new updates. If you run out of storage, however, you can remove that data from your phone instead of completely uninstalling the app and it won’t break it.
Go to Settings > Storage > Apps > [App Name] > Clear cache.
Messaging apps are the silent culprit of low phone storage. You may not mind uploading a few photos your friend may have sent, but we may receive hundreds of files every day or week. Before you know it, your favorite instant messaging app may be responsible for consuming several gigabytes of space.
Luckily, most chat apps offer a storage tool that lets you manage the data they have stored locally. On Google Files, you’ll find sections under the “Cleanup” tab to remove unwanted chat media like memes and screenshots.
On WhatsApp, for example, you can visit Settings > Storage & Data > Manage Storage. WhatsApp automatically categorizes your chat files into a variety of convenient buckets, such as those over 5MB, items that have been transferred multiple times, and more. You can tap on any of these sections to delete files individually or delete them all at once. On Telegram, similarly, these storage management options are available under Settings > Data & storage > Storage usage.
Another no-compromise method to instantly free up space on your phone is to rewatch all the content you’ve saved for offline consumption. These can be offline maps on Google Maps, movies and TV episodes on streaming platforms. Unless you’ve explicitly selected low-quality downloads on streaming apps, even a single hour-long episode can tie up over 500MB of space. Google Maps had kind of taken up 6GB on my phone.
Unfortunately, Android doesn’t have a centralized hub to manage your in-app downloads. You will need to visit each app individually. Alternatively, if you know you’ve watched everything from an app’s download list, you can simply go to Settings > Storage > Apps > [App Name] > Clear data.
Switch to lightweight apps
Many popular brands such as Facebook and Google offer what they call “Lite apps”. These apps are for low-end phones that don’t have enough memory and storage to run the normal, full-featured app client. Lite apps are equipped with a streamlined feature set that allows them to consume exponentially less space on your phone and in most scenarios you won’t miss much either.
Some best lite apps available on google play store are Facebook Lite, Instagram Lite, Spotify Lite, Twitter Lite and Messenger Lite.
Move your files and apps to an external drive
If you’re struggling to make space on your Android phone, you can transfer some of your data to an external drive. Android lets you easily move your files and apps to an SD card (on compatible phones) or USB drive via a dongle. You can use any file manager app to do this, but we found Google Files to be the most reliable.
On Google Files, visit a file and tap the three-dot button at the top. Select “Copy to” or “Move to”, then choose the name of your external drive.
The process of moving apps to an SD card varies depending on your phone manufacturer. However, it should work on most devices: Go to Settings > Storage > Apps > [App Name]. Tap “Edit” and select the SD card.
That’s it, enjoy all the new space on your Android phone!