- Check how much storage your phone has
- Delete app data and files
- Buy a microSD card
Table of Contents
Check how much storage your phone has
First thing, let’s look at how much space on your phone is left. It is a good idea to go through it and clean things every now and then, no matter how much room you have, but there’s no sense going overboard if you still have plenty of room to go.
- Open the Settings on your phone.
- Tap Storage.
At the top of this page, you can see how many gigabytes of storage you used to better put things into perspective, together with a percentage.
Delete app data and files
It’s time to get involved, now that you are on the Storage page. Our first recommendation is to remove data and files from the app.
Everything is broken up into handy categories, including:
- Photos & videos
- Music & audio
- Games
- Movie & TV apps
- Other apps
- Files
- System
Taping on one of these categories will then display a list of the apps below, and you will be able to delete the data per app.
Here’s an example of what this looks like:
- Click on the category you want (we’re using Music & audio).
- Tap on an app.
- Click Clear storage.
- Tap OK.
As you will see on the pop-up that appears to your monitor, this will delete “everything in your files, settings, accounts, databases, etc.” It can be helpful if you have an application on your phone, which you want to keep but do not often use.
You can also tap the category of files to be transferred to the file manager of your phone, making it easy to delete any random files you have forgotten.
Use Android’s “Free up space” tool
You’ll see the button “Free up Space” in the top of your storage page. Tapping this will guide you through a guided procedure to clear saved files / apps on your phone you don’t think you need for Android.
It has been divided into three categories: Photos and videos backedup, downloads and apps that are commonly used. Just tap the checkbox next to any of these items, tap Free up at the bottom left of the screen, and you will have some extra space for your phone as well.
Make sure Smart Storage is turned on
Photos and videos taken on your phone may be one of the biggest reasons for storage loss, and it has a cool way for Android to minimize its effect.
Tap Smart Storage again right over the app categories we’ve talked about before from our main storage page. You’ve got a few things you can do from here.
If this click is turned on, the click will be moved to the right and have an emphasis behind it, which for most people should be. Type on Remove backed up photos and videos below can delete your backed up files if they are over 30, 60, or 90 days old.
In Google Photos are always available all the photos and videos you have captured. This feature simply takes out the local versions of your device which take up superfluous space.
Buy a microSD card
Last but not least, if your phone supports them, you can always go out and buy a microSD card.
MicroSD card sizes, including 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB, are available for a host of sizes. There are a lot of cards you can choose from, many of which are cheaper than you would expect.
Not all phones offer expandable storage, so please make sure that yours does not work with your device before you go out and buy a card.
