Low internal storage is something that has become synonymous with almost every smartphone owner. While most phones these days have at least 16GB of storage, that’s not enough considering that phones record 4K video these days and graphics-intensive games have pretty big sizes. The ‘insufficient storage’ error is quite annoying especially when you have a great new app or game to download. That’s why we want to share with you today A complete guide on how to free up internal storage on Android.
Therefore, this guide will contain tips for both rooted and non-rooted users. You can use these tips as a checklist when you think you want some free space on your internal memory. Let’s dig.
1. Clear Cached Data
The first and fastest way to get rid of this ‘Insufficient storage’ error would be to clear cached data. We recommend clearing cached images and files from social media apps and web browser.
To clear the cache, Storage Settings your device and Tap on internal storage choice. It will show you the amount of data received by different types of media, including cached data. Tap on “Cached Data” to clear the cache. Press OK when prompted.
However, you need to be careful if you rely entirely on mobile data for the internet because cached data will actually help you save that extra data.
2. Find Large Files and Remove Unnecessary Files
The next thing you should do is to eliminate the useless and biggest files. Often large files can be movies and HD videos that need to be moved to an SD card or other storage device. But first you have to find it. Finding such files in various folders would be quite a tedious task. Therefore, to facilitate this process, a storage analyzer app.
I recommend using Storage Analyzer & Disk Use (Free). It will easily show you the 10 biggest files available in your internal storage.
After installing the application, open it navigation drawer and you should see “largest files“. Tap on it and you will get your result. Now, all you have to do is to remove the necessary files long press a file and you will get the option shilling.
You can even use some advanced file manager apps that offer similar options to sort the largest files in your storage.
3. Remove Duplicate Files and Photos
Duplicate files are mostly generated when you use an Android smartphone for a long time and mostly consist of APKs and PDFs. Even photos are duplicated when we take 2-3 photos together to get the best shot, but we always forget to delete the bad photos. This causes duplication in photos.
you can easily delete duplicate photos using a popular app called Gallery Doctor (Free). It automatically finds bad and copied photos and gives you a quick option to delete them all at once. You can even review them before deleting them if you want.
Open the app and initially, it will ask you to scan the photo app first. After completing the scan, you will receive a Complete health report of your gallery. Now here, to youBad Photos” and “Similar Photos“. All you have to do is review the ones you want to keep and delete the others. It makes the task easy for you by choosing the best photos you might want to keep.
Gallery doctor is mostly for photos, but if you want search for duplicates in documents and other files, you need to download Duplicate File Finder app (Free).
This application checks the naming convention of files to find duplicates. Here, too, you can review the files and check what you want to keep. It displays the number of copies available for a given file and also shows the file location to make the process even easier. After you finish separating the files, press the Delete button to remove them.
4. Batch Uninstall Useless Apps
If you are an Android Enthusiast, trying new apps and games is something you should do every day. Chances are, you have a bunch of useless apps on your device that you no longer use. Well, it’s time to remove them forever.
Now, there is no way in Android system that allows you to uninstall multiple apps at once. Therefore, we will have to use another application to perform this task. we can use Simple Uninstaller app (Free with in-app purchases) and for more details check out our full article on how to uninstall multiple apps on Android.
5. Transfer Files to SD Card
Well, that’s not wise. If your internal storage is running low, pictures, videos, music and other documents should be transferred to an SD card. You can easily do this using the file manager app you use. You can also use your computer to do this. Connect your phone to your computer via USB and cut-paste the selected files.
6. Remove or Move Offline Areas in Google Maps to SD Card
The offline feature of Google Maps is pretty amazing but takes up a lot of storage. Therefore, if you have saved areas that you do not really need, you should consider removing them or moving them to the SD card. First, let’s look at how to delete them.
Hungry Navigation drawer in Google Maps and tap on “Offline domains“. Now tap the one you want to delete from the list of offline domains. On the next screen, click Update or delete field.
Now you just need to change a setting to move your Offline Spaces to SD card. Inside Offline Domains pagetap on Settings icon in the upper right corner. Next, tap on “.Storage preferencesSelect ” and SD Card option and tap “save“.
7. Choose Cloud Storage
If you are blessed with a high speed internet connection, you should probably choose cloud storage. Choosing a cloud storage service now comes down to your own preferences. You can check out our article on the most reliable cloud storage services to choose from. After installing a cloud storage app, you may want to consider moving your files to the cloud to save internal storage on your Android smartphone.
8. Treat SD card as Internal Storage
Now, this tip is specifically Android 6.0 and above. Android Marshmallow has introduced a new feature that allows your phone’s external memory to be adapted as internal memory. This is definitely useful as you cannot move some files, apps, app date to SD card. With the storage adopted, you will effectively increase the internal storage of the device. Well, let’s see how you can do it.
First, a fast SD card. While your regular SD card is working, read and write speeds will be slower. So make sure you get a high speed SD card. If you choose to work with your already mounted SD card, be sure to back up all its contents as the SD card will be formatted for use as internal storage. A new drive will be assigned to the already existing storage.
When you’re ready, go to: Settings->Storage and USB on your phone and tap “.portable storageTap on “You have. On the next screen”.Format as internal storage“. Next, you will be prompted to delete all content on the SD card and format it as internal storage. Tap on it”Erase and Format“.
So, now you have a little more internal storage to fill. You should be able to install more apps and games. However, make sure Do not remove SD card without reformatting as portable storage. Also, it won’t perform as well as an SD card and internal storage after all.
9. Clean Junk in One Tap [Root]
The junk I’m talking about here are leftover files and folders of uninstalled apps. Such files are usually not cleaned by the Android system and you cannot remove them until you have rooted your device. Yes, this tip requires a rooted Android device.
The application we will use here is SD Maid (free version). IT removes all ‘corpse’ files with just one tap. Apart from that, it also cleans the database, giving you enough free memory space. Well, let’s see how SD Maid can help.
Open the app and Quick Access section, start the scan. It will start finding leftovers, cached files and other unnecessary data. Tap on it after completing the scan. run now to clear this data.
Well, the app is you. schedule scans If you choose to buy the pro version ($3.49). In my opinion, this root method is more efficient and faster than some of the other rootless methods mentioned above.
10. Uninstall Bloatware and Other System Apps [Root]
Unless you’re using a device running stock Android, you must have noticed various bloated apps that take up valuable internal storage. Uninstalling bloatware It’s one of the best things you can do to free up internal storage. However, you can only uninstall system apps on a rooted Android device. We can use the very popular Titanium backup (free version) app is known for its ability to backup apps and their data, but you can also use it to uninstall system apps.. There are other similar apps that can help us accomplish the task but I think Titanium Backup is better. So, let’s see how to remove some unnecessary system apps that come pre-installed on your device using Titanium Backup.
Open the app and click “Backup/Restore” tab. Here you will get a complete list of all the apps installed on your device including system apps. Now, just tap on one of the system apps and a dialog box pops up. Here, you will receive uninstall option IT. You can even backup the system app or just Freeze it if you want. Freezing the app will make it unusable, but it will still be in your storage.
You can also check out our detailed article on how to remove bloatware from both non-rooted and rooted devices.
SEE ALSO: How to Change or Fake GPS Location on Android
Use these tips to free up internal storage on Android
Well, with the tips mentioned above, you should now have enough internal storage on your device. As I mentioned earlier, you can use these tips as a checklist when you’re running low on storage. All by us, but let us know how these tips worked out for you in the comments section below. Also, any query is welcome.
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