Find hidden space on your Android smartphone

It happens to all of us. We want to take a picture or install a cool app only to be blocked by an error message saying we are out of storage space. Ugh!!

I guarantee that no matter how much storage you’ve got, you want more. You need more.

Whether your handset has ditched expandable memory or your pocket has ditched disposable income, you can likely free up some space right away. Delete photos, clear cache, dump apps and find the space you so desperately need with these tips.

Forget the photos

Having a digital camera in the palm of your hand is the best thing ever! But chances are you’ve got gigs of pictures and video taking up precious space on your handset. After you have deleted the bad shots and duplicated, download and install Google Photos. Back up your precious pics to the cloud and delete the originals from your phone.

If you worry that Google already has too much of your information, consider alternatively like DropBox, Amazon Photos or Microsoft One Drive. Once you’ve installed a reliable cloud storage solution for your incredible images, set it to auto and forget it.

Free up space

Android provides a built-in tool to help you retain all the storage space you can muster; no third party app required. Resist the impulse to download file manager and battery optimizer apps that push ads and pull resources; they are rarely useful and hardly worth it.

Find the Free Up Space tool in your settings, and it will allow you to clear out photos, videos, downloads and apps.

Once you have unleashed the extra gigs previously occupied by unnecessary files, set the feature to auto to free your mind from the effort.

Get smart about storage

Another great Android feature is Smart Storage. It will automatically delete photos and videos after a predetermined period (30, 60 or 90 days) or if your phone is full. Play around You remember that app you downloaded and used once, hated and never used again. Yeah, I didn’t think so. Your device remembers.

Visit the Play Store, tap Apps and Games and sort by last used and scroll to the bottom of the list. Get rid of all the apps that you know you don’t need or want.

Home sweet home

If you’ve got app icons on multiple home screens and a bunch of widgets taking up real estate, consider carefully if you really need them. Chance are, you don’t. So relocate them to the trash can and enjoy both the new minimalist look and maximum performance.

Set it up

Tweaking your settings can offer a boost to your storage. A battery pull, an operating system update and (as a last resort) a factory reset following a back up may obliterate pesky problems plaguing your device.

Eventually, you will have to upgrade. But with these tips, you should be able to hold out a little longer and still have enough room to have a little fun.