Android phones or tablets can very easily run out of memory, especially if you are a big fan of apps and want to try them all, if you listen to a lot of music or if you are fond of taking photos in the bathroom.
Cache data for offline use is just as relentless, especially if you have a low-end phone that provides too little storage space.
The less space you have, the more adept you become at managing your internal storage space. But if you are not passionate about this area of expertise, I recommend that next time you get a phone with more memory. Until then, whether you like it or not, you'll have to read the tips below.
Use the storage tools provided by Android
Modern versions of Android have an option that shows you exactly what's taking up space on your phone. To find out, go to Settings and then Storage. There you will see how much space is used by apps and their data, photos and videos, music, downloads, cache data and various other files.
For example, you can select Apps to see the list of those taking up the most memory, with the option to delete them. Select Downloads to see all files downloaded to your phone, or go to Cache data to clear data from installed apps. Use the other options to figure out which files are taking up your space and delete the ones you no longer want.
When dealing with applications, keep in mind that the application itself, its data, and cache memory add up to the total space used by it. For example, if you have the Spotify app installed and have collected a lot of music to listen to offline, it might use more than 1 GB of space. You can clear the temporary memory (cache data) to free up space, and then you can set the app to store less data for offline use.
The example applies to any application that uses temporary memory. In the screenshot below, the Facebook app itself is only 209MB, but it stores 16.20MB of cached data on the device.
You can see how much space data like this is taking up for each app, and you can clean it up individually by going to the app list.
Find out which folders and files are taking up the most space
Android's built-in tool is useful for seeing how much space is used by different types of data, but it's not as accurate when it comes to memory occupied by folders and files. For this you will need the DiskUsage application. It's free and you can download it right away from the Play Store. (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.diskusage)
Open the app to see which folders and files are taking up the most space. You can delete them directly from the application. For example, you may come across a remnant of a folder left after you deleted a game or an application. Select the folder or file, press the Menu button and choose Delete to get rid of the unwanted items.
Take into account that you can delete files that some applications depend on. Don't delete data belonging to an app if you're not willing to lose it. Most of the time, the data syncs online and you have the opportunity to redownload it if you need it, but don't count on it.
Add an external memory card and move your data there
Many Android devices are built with a microSD card slot, although this is becoming increasingly rare in newer devices . If your tablet or phone has a space for a microSD card, you can buy one and thus gain quite a lot of memory. Unfortunately, the space obtained in this way cannot be used for some applications or operating system files, but you can store music, videos, photos, and other media files.
Even if your device already has an SD card, but the available space does not satisfy you, you can buy one with a larger capacity. SD cards are quite affordable, so you can significantly increase your storage space at a great price.
After you install the card, connect your device to your computer and move your media or other files there. Use a file manager type application for this.
Move apps to SD card
Some Android phones allow you to save memory by moving apps to the memory card. With the advent of new generations of Android, Google has moved away from this option for reasons of performance, stability and security, so it is not available everywhere, especially on new phones.
This option was removed with Android 4.4 KitKat. However, it is still found on some Samsung devices, even if they are running KitKat, or newer versions of Android. Check your phone to see if you're lucky enough to have this option.
If it is possible to transfer applications to the SD card, you can go to Settings and then to Applications. By selecting an app, you will see the Move to SD card option under the Storage section. If not, that means your device doesn't allow the transfer, or you don't have an SD card installed.
Built-in apps can't be moved this way because they need to run in the background. If a certain app doesn't allow the transfer, but the device does, you'll see the button grayed out, making it impossible to access.
Upload photos online
Photos often take up the most space on a modern smartphone. Instead of storing them all on your phone, you can easily use an app that automatically uploads them to an online storage space like Google+, Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive. Google+ Photos is integrated into the Photos app on your Android device and gives you unlimited storage space. You can access your photos from the Photos app or photos.google.com from any computer.
Then you can use the Photos app on your device to delete the copies that are left on it, thus freeing up quite a bit of space. You can also copy photos to your computer and keep them in classic mode.
This trick also works for other files that take up a lot of space on your device. For example, you can upload a large amount of music to a service like Google Play Music, which you can then play using an internet connection.
Older Android devices clearly differentiate between "internal storage" and "SD card". In this case, the physical storage space will be divided into two: one for system and applications, and another for data. This means that you may not be able to make room for media files by deleting apps, and vice versa, you may free up space for apps by removing media files. This only applies to older devices.
Newer Android devices have all of their internal memory in one piece, so you can use it for whatever you want. If you add an SD card, it will be available as another storage destination.
Author: Stefan Neculai