How to Free Up Space on Android

Smartphones and tablets can easily fill up with storage, especially if you've been using them for a while. Here are some ways to free up space on your Android device.

Not everyone can afford to buy an Android device with 128GB or 256GB of storage. If you don't store data on cloud services , the storage on your device can run out very quickly.

Automatically free up storage space with Samsung Storage Booster

Using Storage Booster is really easy. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Battery and device care .

2. Tap the three-dot menu, select Storage booster , and tap FREE UP . This will do three things: delete duplicate images (if you have any), compress rarely used apps, and delete saved APK files.

You can also deselect categories you don't want affected or go inside a category and select individual items to delete or compress.

You can also use Storage Booster to move some of your apps to your SD card to free up space on your internal storage. Tap Move apps to SD card and select the apps you want to move. Tap Confirm to continue.

Note that this feature is not available on Samsung phones that do not have an SD card slot. Even if your phone does, moving apps to an SD card can sometimes result in data loss, so before proceeding, make a backup of anything important stored in the app you are moving.

If you are moving a game, see if there is an option in that game to log in to your Google or Facebook account to back up your progress. There are too many stories of people losing all their game progress this way and having to start over.

Finally, you can use Storage Booster to automatically delete cache files, empty folders, and ad data stored on your phone at a scheduled time. Turn on Auto delete unnecessary data and tap the same menu to set how often you want this to happen; choose Daily at midnight, Weekly, Every 15 days , or Monthly . You can also get a notification when the deletion is happening.

There have been a few complaints from Samsung users that Storage Booster sometimes automatically deletes app data that should be deleted. That’s why, if the same thing starts happening to you, it’s best to turn off the auto-delete feature.

Clean up memory manually

If you still don't have enough internal storage after using Storage Booster, consider clearing it manually. To clear storage manually on a Samsung phone, go to Settings > Battery and device care > Storage .

Here you will be able to see exactly how much memory is being taken up by what types of files and applications. Contrary to what some people believe, the system only takes up a small percentage of the total internal memory.

Apps are often the ones that take up the most space, so removing the ones you no longer need can quickly reclaim lost storage. But before you do, be sure to back up any important data they may contain before you delete these apps from your phone.

Be sure to also go through old pictures, videos, documents, voice notes, and songs you no longer listen to and delete as many as you can.

Using third party tools

If the built-in tools aren’t enough, you have another option: install tools from the Google Play Store. Files by Google is a great app that helps keep your phone clean.

Some Android phones come with Files by Google pre-installed , but if not, you can easily download it from the Play Store. The app is a useful tool that suggests what you should delete on your phone, saving you from having to manually delete each section.