On Android, it seems that cell phone storage is never enough. Until recently, 16 GB of memory was adequate for average users. Today, a 32 GB device starts to show problems soon.
The reason? It seems that the device’s operating system, as well as apps, take up more space than they should. This makes the effective storage to use really scarce. If you suspect that your cell is running out of memory, there are several signs that will confirm it.
Signs that you need to free up space
If your phone’s internal and SD memory is full or close to being full, the system will notify you. This is the most direct way to confirm that you do indeed have a storage problem and that you need to free up space on your device.
However, the signs are not always so clear. There are other signs that could tell you that your smartphone is dangerously low on storage.
1. Slow phone
When your phone doesn’t have enough space to run programs in the main memory (ROM), it starts storing parts of them in the secondary or virtual memory. If this happens, the device slows down due to the operating system. The operating system, in turn, will work slower because it will have to switch between main and secondary memory, which will affect the device’s operating times.
2. You can no longer install apps
When you try to download more apps, the system tells you that your available storage is insufficient. Another sign that you are running low on space is that the apps you have installed cannot be updated.
3. You cannot record or save video
It is likely that when recording a video or saving it, the system will display an error and will not allow you to record or save it. This can also happen with images or music. Lack of storage may be responsible for this problem.
How to free up space on your smartphone?
If your cell is giving unmistakable signs of running out of space, the solution is to free up memory. To do this, you have several options.
Upload your files to the cloud
This has become one of the most convenient and efficient methods of data storage. It is a great resource for users, as it allows them to save their files and have them always accessible without taking up their cell phone memory.
If you are not yet using a cloud service such as Drive, Google Photos, Dropbox, etc., it is time to consider it. With these tools your photos, videos, music and files of all kinds will be safe, accessible and will not be a problem for the proper functioning of your smartphone.
Delete apps
You already know that one of the reasons why the memory of your smartphone is insufficient is because of the apps (and their excessive size). For this reason, an effective solution to free up space is to delete them. Over time, we all accumulate apps that we rarely, if ever, use.
These are not only taking up space on your smartphone, but they require resources in the background, updating their data, connecting to the network or monitoring some part of the system. This slows down your device. We recommend you to carefully review the list of installed apps to decide which ones to remove.
Change WhatsApp settings
One of the apps that most contributes to fill your memory is WhatsApp. If you use it constantly, it is important that you configure it properly. Surely you have a lot of fun with the memes that are sent to you or with the videos that are shared in your groups. But if you do not manage these files well, they will cause you storage problems later.
To prevent this from happening, you must configure the app so that the photos and/or videos are not automatically saved on the device. It is as simple as following the Settings > Storage and Data path. There you should indicate that no media file is downloaded in this way. This means that when you receive an image or video, you will have to select the manual download option.
Erase the cache memory
Every application you have on your phone creates temporary data that it uses while running. These are called cache files. When your device is running out of space, you could delete them to free up memory.
Doing so is simple and you can choose to clear the entire cache or select just a few. Just go to your device’s settings, enter the Apps section and choose the one you want to clear the cache for.
Use Google Files
There are different tools that help you manage the files on your phone and free up space when you need it. You’ve probably heard of CCleaner or Norton Clean, but an excellent option that comes from Google is Files. It allows you to quickly check, search and transfer files, as well as create a backup in the cloud.
When you have this app, it will send you messages periodically to recommend a cleaning. This will allow you to immediately free up space on your smartphone.
Restore your phone to factory settings
If despite the above actions, your device still has storage limitations, you can choose to format it. This way, you won’t have to decide where to delete things from, as it will be as good as new after applying this solution. In many cases, it turns out to be the 100% effective way to free up space.
Before making this decision, we recommend that you backup your data so as not to lose anything. For this procedure you should go to your computer’s settings.
Applying these recommendations can help you free up space on your cell phone. If you do not manage to increase the storage enough for it to work optimally, you may have to buy a new device. If you do it in an operator, and it is not unlocked, Movical can help you to remove this restriction. Contact us!