Nobody wants to get a “storage full” warning on their Android handset: running out of room means you won’t be able to install any new apps or save any new photos or videos, and performance can quickly start to suffer too.
Google knows how important it is to keep a chunk of space free on Android, though, and the mobile operating system comes with two built-in tools for clearing out some room. You might not have previously discovered them, but they’re straightforward to use, and can solve your storage woes in just a few minutes.
What you get with Android can vary from device to device of course, but the two apps we’re talking about here are Google Photos and Google Files — which should be preinstalled on phones from most Android manufacturers (including Google and Nothing). If you can’t find them on your phone, you can download them via the links above.
Free up space in Google Photos
Photos and videos probably take up a sizable block of storage space on your Android device: now that we’ve all got high-quality cameras to use, it’s all too easy for images and clips to pile up (most of which you’ll probably never look at again).
If you’re backing up all of these photos and videos to the cloud in Google Photos, then the app can help you free up space on your device, once everything has been safely uploaded to the web. First, though, check the backup settings: in Google Photos, tap your profile picture (top right), then Photos settings > Backup > Photo and video quality.
There are two options here, Original quality and Storage saver. The latter will slightly compress your photos and videos as they’re transferred to the cloud — which can save a lot of room but can reduce resolution. Videos in 4K will be scaled down to 1080p, for example, and Google has a full explanation of what’s involved here.
It’s important that you know how your photos and videos are backed up, because this trick involves removing the local copies. From inside Google Photos, tap your profile picture (top right), then choose Free up space on this device. The next screen will tell you how much space you can reclaim by deleting the local copies of the files that have already been backed up to the cloud — just tap the button to continue.
These photos and videos will now be gone from your phone, but they’ll still be saved in the cloud, using the quality settings we just discussed. You can still view them through the Google Photos app on your Android phone at any time — and download and share them — as long as you have an internet connection.
Bear in mind that if you are using Storage saver, your original high-resolution copies will be gone for good, so this is perhaps best for those backing up via Original quality. And, ideally, you want to keep your photos and videos backed up somewhere else too, just in case something happens to the cloud copies — you could use the Google Photos desktop app to save them to Windows or macOS, for example.
Free up space in Google Files
If you open the Google Files app on your Android device (which is just labeled Files), you can free up space in a variety of ways — including options related to photos and videos.
The first screen you see gives you easy access to everything stored locally on your phone, including downloads and screenshots. Tap the menu button (the three horizontal lines, top left), then Clean to start freeing up some storage. The next screen shows you numerous suggestions for files you might want to delete from your phone, without losing anything important. You’ll also see just how much room is left on your device.
The options that appear are going to depend on your phone and what you’ve got saved on it. You might see suggestions to delete duplicate files, meme images saved from your messaging apps, older screenshots, blurry photos that you’re unlikely to ever want to use, downloaded files you might have finished with, and large files.
You’re still able to do some reviewing before committing to anything. If you tap on Select files under Delete large files, for example, you’ll be shown a list of the biggest items on your phone: these are typically going to be video files. Use the filter icon (three horizontal lines, top right) to sort them by date or size.
Use the check boxes to pick the files you want to get rid of, then use the button at the bottom of the screen to move them to the trash. Deleted files remain in the trash for 30 days before being wiped completely, so you can bring them back if needed.
Note that there’s no backup included in this Files feature. You need to make sure you definitely don’t want the files you’ve selected, or that you’ve safely backed them up somewhere else, before erasing them. By the time you’ve finished, you might be surprised at the amount of storage space you’ve managed to free up on Android.
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