How to Free Up Storage Space on Android

Your Android phone can run out of space because of bloatware, cache, internal storage in apps, and various unwanted files. If you have taken too many photos and videos on your phone, it can easily run out of space too. In this guide, we will show you different methods to free up storage space on Android.

1. Free Up Storage in Android Using Files by Google App

If your phone often runs out of space, you should check which files to delete. There’s a free app called “Files by Google” that can help you clean up space when your phone feels full.

After you install the app, it will ask you to grant it All files access. Turn on the toggle to allow this.

Launch the app. Tap the menu button, followed by Clean. This gives an overview of your storage, junk and downloaded files. Tap Clean again to delete junk files. You can also choose any large files or downloaded files to remove.

Tip: before deleting anything with Files by Google, it’s useful to Analyze Storage. Do this by tapping the main menu for the files you want to delete.

The Files by Google app is also a file manage by itself. You can also check out your phone’s internal storage to see the file folders that are taking up space on your device and what they contain. Delete those files and folders that are no longer in use (residual files left over by apps).

Note: We won’t recommend using any third-party cleaners for your phone. “Files by Google” is a core Google app that doesn’t cause any device issues.

2. Use Android’s Native Storage Manager

Besides Files by Google, all new Android phones have a Storage option in the Settings menu. There is a button to free up storage space on your Android phone. You can find your phone’s storage manager by going to Settings and then selecting the specific menu for your device model.

Once you’re in the Internal Storage menu, navigate to each app and folder to see which files are taking up your storage space. You can then decide if you want to uninstall an app or folder or just remove some of their files.

3. Uninstall the Unwanted Apps

Apps often consume the most storage space on your device. You can free up storage space on Android by removing the apps you never use, hardly use, or haven’t used in a long while.

It’s easy to find how long you’ve gone without using an app you installed. Open the Google Play app and tap your profile icon on the top right. Then, tap Manage apps and device -> Manage. Here, you can see all the Installed apps marked with a check symbol. You can now sort installed apps by Least used. Select any app from this list and you can view an option to delete it.

Another way to remove unwanted apps is to go to Settings -> Apps. Then, filter and sort all apps by Last Used. This will show the most recent apps at the top. Scroll down to the bottom to find and remove the least used apps.

Also read: did you know there are many hidden apps on your Android phone?

4. Upload Media Files to the Cloud

If you have plenty of photos and videos that you are not willing to delete, one way to free up their storage space in Android is to upload them to the cloud. There are plenty of cheap cloud storage services around, so doing this is easy.

All your photos and videos should be automatically synced to the Google Photos app on your Android phone. If not, start backing them up or use one of the Google Photos alternatives. After that, you can delete the media files. You can also use iCloud which works with Android for online backups and is very popular.

For music files, upload your collection to YouTube Music instead of storing them on your phone and stream on your phone or tablet via an Internet connection.

Check it out: quickly find downloaded files on any Android device.

5. Delete the Clutter in Text Apps

Many of us use messaging apps with our contacts, which leads to a lot of photos, videos, and files piling up over time. Whether you use WhatsApp, Telegram, or Signal, each of these apps stores a lot of old media. To free up space on Android, you need to clear the storage in your messaging apps from time to time.

Go to Settings -> Apps and choose the messaging apps you use the most. In the Storage menu, tap Clear cache to delete cached files. Then, tap Manage Storage to check for files that are forwarded many times, very large files, or unnecessary contacts and messages. These can all be deleted.

Tip: is mobile data not working on your Android phone? Here are the best fixes.

6. Free Storage in Android By Optimizing Google Photos

Since, the photos and videos really take up a lot of space on an Android phone, it’s best to optimize the storage space. There are multiple ways to do this using Google Photos app.

• Open the app, tap your user icon or photo, and then tap Free up space on this device. If you regularly back up photos to your Google account, you’re just one click away from removing several gigabytes of storage on your device.
• Again, click your user icon or photo in the app, followed by Account Storage -> Review and Delete. Here, you can delete large photos and videos, blurry photos, and screenshots that were automatically uploaded from your device.
• On your Google Photos account, go to Photos Settings from the user icon. From there, go to Backup -> Backup Quality. Instead of Original Quality, you can save the images as Storage Saver. These will save your images at a slightly reduced quality which is hard to tell.

Related: there are many ways to fix Google Maps when it’s not working.

7. Delete Offline Maps in Google Maps

Google Maps is very useful for daily navigation and commuting. Over time, it collects a lot of data that can take up space on your Android phone. You can delete the file cache and storage as mentioned earlier.

However, many people forget to remove offline maps they saved earlier. If they do it, they can free up a lot of storage space on their Android. Open the Google Maps app and click on your user icon or picture, followed by Offline maps. Next, select the older offline maps you no longer need to remove them from your device.

Also read: find out how to share your location on Android.

8. Delete Downloaded Video Files

If you are using Netflix, Prime Videos, Disney+ or any of the video streaming app on your phone, you will be able to download the videos for offline watching. These downloaded videos can take up tons of space on your phone.

To free up storage on your phone, you can delete some (or all) of the downloaded videos. Within the streaming app itself, under the Download section, you will be able to delete your downloaded videos.

9. Uninstall System App Updates

Every Android phone has a lot of system apps which can have their own updates which accumulate over time. They need to be removed regularly. To do this, go to Settings -> Apps and using a dropdown menu, you can display Show System Apps. For any of these system apps, click the three-dot menu which would allow you to Uninstall updates for the app. To finalize, click OK.

Remember that as a last resort, you can always do a factory reset for your Android phone. This will erase all your data, so you need to take a backup of your important apps and contacts first. If you’re still using a microSD card, you can move some of your data there to free up storage space on Android.

Image Credit: DALL-E 3. All screenshots by Sayak Boral.

Sayak Boral - Staff Writer

Sayak Boral is a technology writer with over eleven years of experience working in different industries including semiconductors, IoT, enterprise IT, telecommunications OSS/BSS, and network security. He has been writing for MakeTechEasier on a wide range of technical topics including Windows, Android, Internet, Hardware Guides, Browsers, Software Tools, and Product Reviews.