Do you always have your phone's memory full and you can no longer save photos and videos or download new apps? It is a problem that afflicts many smartphones, especially those belonging to the low end of the market, which are often sold with insufficient storage space for the new needs of users.
In this article, we'll show you how to free up space on Android permanently.
Note: We used the Samsung Galaxy A52 smartphone for this guide. We tell you this because some of the steps shown below may be different if you use a phone from another manufacturer.
Index:
1. Use Google Photos and remove backed up images
Google Photos, even now that it no longer offers unlimited backup of photos and videos, remains a very effective weapon to free up space on Android. If you haven't already done so, install Google Photos on your smartphone and make sure you activate the backup and synchronization of the multimedia contents present in the device's internal memory: open the app, select Backup settings from the main menu and move the lever from OFF to ON (from left to right) next to Backup and Sync.
To further save memory space, choose to back up your photos and videos at a slightly lower quality than the original: from the "Backup and sync" tab, select Upload size, then press Save storage space.
Important: Google Photos storage competes with Google Drive and Gmail for the total 15 GB of free space offered by Google One. If you need more memory and want to rely on Google, you can increase the space available to you by purchasing one of the paid plans offered by the service.
Once all the photos and videos on your device have been backed up, you can delete them from your device. The simplest and fastest method is once again offered by Google Photos: open the app, press the profile icon at the top right, then select Free "x" GB and confirm with a tap on Free "x" GB and Allow .
At the end you will receive a notification confirming that the operation was perfectly successful (depending on the space to be freed up, this could take several minutes).
Note: In addition to Google Photos, there are of course many other solutions. On this topic, we invite you to read our guide on the best cloud storage services.
2. Eliminate downloads of movies, music and other multimedia content
In recent years, the phone has increasingly transformed into a music and video player: during the day it is used to listen to music, while in the evening it has become the main screen to follow movies and TV series. However, all this has serious repercussions on the internal memory of the device.
As you well know, apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music, Spotify, etc. allow you to download songs, movies and individual episodes of a TV series. And so, even large files – as is the case with episodes of a series – end up taking up a large chunk of free storage space.
Fortunately, however, the problem can be solved quickly and easily: in fact, it is sufficient to remember to cancel the downloads when they are no longer needed.
Here are the steps to follow to delete previously downloaded content from Google Play Music:
- Open Play Music.
- Tap the menu icon and select Settings.
- Go to Manage your downloads.
- Press Downloads , then confirm the deletion with a tap on Remove.
A similar procedure should also be performed with apps such as Netflix and Amazon Video, which in their latest versions have the Smart Download feature enabled (this the name used by Netflix), which automatically downloads the episode of a series following the one you downloaded previously. And while on Netflix this function deletes the title as soon as you finish watching it, the same does not happen on Amazon Prime Video.
Are you wondering what is the simplest solution in this case to free up space on Android? Clearly that of deactivating the automatic download option of the episodes or, even worse, of films and series according to your preferences.
How to turn off automatic Netflix downloads
- Open Netflix.
- Tap Downloads at the bottom right of the home screen.
- Tap Smart Downloads at top left
- Uncheck the box next to "While you're watching a downloaded episode of a series, we'll download the next episode for you and delete any titles you've finished watch. Download only works on Wi-Fi”.
- Turn off the option “We'll download a selection of movies and series so you'll always have something to watch. The download only works on Wi-Fi”.
How to disable automatic downloads of Amazon Prime Video
- Open Amazon Prime Video.
- Tap Personal area at the bottom right of the main screen.
- Tap the Manage link next to "Automatic download: Activate".
- Move the switch next to it from ON to OFF a Automatic download.
How to delete downloads on Disney+
- Open the Disney+ app.
- Tap the icon of the profile at the bottom right of the home screen.
- Tap App Settings.
- Select Delete all downloads.
Note: The moment you we write to you, the Disney + application does not yet have the automatic download function like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
3. Want to free up space on Android? Uninstall the apps you don't use
Along with the photos, videos and multimedia content downloaded from streaming platforms, apps are the other item that contributes significantly to occupying smartphone memory. On Android, the choice is so vast that it pushes users to download an excessive number of applications, often losing touch with reality.
How to solve the problem then? Simple, by uninstalling useless apps, i.e. those that maybe you use once every six months. Here's how you do it:
- Open the Settings app.
- Scroll down until you find Applications.
- Select one of the apps you want to uninstall.
- Tap Uninstall at the bottom center and confirm the operation with a tap on OK.
If you are not sure about uninstalling an app because you think it may be useful in the future, we suggest you check how long it's been since you last used it: the more time has passed since you last used it, the less valid reasons you will have to keep the app installed just one day longer.
To make sure of the real use of each app, follow the next steps:
- Open the Google Play Store.
- Tap the profile icon in the top right and select Manage apps and device.
- Select the Manage tab. li>
- Tap the icon next to “Recently Updated” and from the “Sort by” screen add a check mark next to the “Less Used” option.
The The first ones you see in the list are the ones you've used the least. In any case, before proceeding with the uninstallation, make sure that they are really useless.
Note: These may also include system apps. We therefore invite you to proceed with due caution and not to touch any of the default settings of these apps.
4. Clear app cache and data
Another powerful tool to free up space on Android phone is clearing the cache and clearing data of each app. The first involves the elimination of temporary data, the second instead acts more deeply, going to delete all data. If you are perhaps not very tech-savvy, these two operations may appear complicated or, even worse, impossible to implement. We assure you, however, that they are both disarmingly simple.
Here's how to clear the cache and data of each app:
- Open Settings.
- Scroll through the list of tabs until you find the one called Applications.
- Select an app of your choice.
- Go to Storage memory.
- Tap Clear cache at the bottom right to empty the cache.
- Tap Clear data at the bottom left to delete all data associated with the app .
Generally, one of the apps that keeps the most data in the phone's storage space is WhatsApp, due to the many multimedia contents that are exchanged in chat. And if it is true that by removing the app data you get to save a lot of space, it is equally true that you have to proceed with greater caution than with most other applications. In fact, the risk is that photos, videos or other important files will be deleted.
Our suggestion is to first check the WhatsApp photos and videos saved in memory, backing up the ones you don't want to lose via Google Photos. Once this is done, you can proceed with deleting the data connected to the instant messaging app. It goes without saying that the same goes for other similar applications, such as Facebook Messenger and Telegram.
Here is the procedure for viewing the multimedia content on WhatsApp:
- Open WhatsApp.
- Tap the three dots icon at the top and select Settings.
- Tap Storage and data.
- Go to Manage Space.
- Select the contact whose exchanged photos and videos you've exchanged to date.
Note: if you think this is for you more intuitive, you can proceed with deleting files on WhatsApp directly from the screen you just opened, simply by tapping on the box of the items you want to delete and tapping the trash can icon at the top right.
5. Use a file manager
If you're still wondering how to free up space on Android's internal memory, valuable help can come from a file manager like Files by Google, which not only allows you to delete the contents of apps chat, but also remove duplicate files, apps you don't use and clear your cache. In addition, Google's file manager warns you when there are unwanted or temporary files to be removed to improve device performance.
In short, we can define it as a universal and irreplaceable app, capable of offering valuable help in freeing up space on Android.
To make the most of its functions, once you have downloaded and opened the app, tap on Allow and move the switch from OFF to ON next to Allow access to all files to allow Google Files to access yours files, edit and delete them.
Another great file manager for Android that we suggest you try is Mi File Manager. Alternatively, also check out the FV File Explorer review.
Conclusions
Our guide on how to free up storage space on Android ends here. Do you know of any other methods that have helped you recover useful memory space? Which app do you usually use to increase the available internal memory of your smartphone? Let us know your opinion by leaving a comment below the article!
You may also be interested in: How to free up space on Google Drive