Out of space on your smartphone and full memory, how to survive

Many phones from a few years ago, still used today, find themselves with little internal memory, which quickly fills up when exchanging messages from WhatsApp or downloading new content from the Internet.

After realizing that saving on internal memory didn’t pay off, in this guide we will show you all the best tricks to survive with a phone with little internal memoryso you can use it even today without receiving the hateful out of memory message.

READ ALSO: Fix low space on Android

1) Remove unnecessary apps

The first step to survive with Android with full memory and no space can be done by uninstalling the apps that we have no longer used for a long time, so as to recover a minimum of space.

To be able to proceed in this direction we open the app Settingslet’s get into the menu Applications o App, we select the app to delete then use the Uninstall button to remove it. On modern smartphones we can list apps based on usage time (there should be a button at the top to sort the list): by setting Frequency of usewe will see the most used apps at the top, while at the bottom of the list the apps never used or used very little.

In order to recover a lot of space, we recommend removing all apps that have not been used for at least 2 months.

2) Add internal memory (microSD)

Another very effective method for surviving with an Android with little memory involves using a fairly large microSD, so as to both increase the internal space and provide a separate space to move larger files (photos and videos in particular).

If our Android phone is compatible with microSD, insert one inside, start the phone and then tap on the notification on the new memory unit found. Modern versions of Android will let you choose how we want to use this memory card:

• microSD as internal memory: it will be used as an expansion of the internal memory, so as to increase all the space available for apps, cache and system data.
• microSD as portable storage: it will be used as additional space, in which we can save photos, videos and all larger files.

If we have less than 128 GB of internal memory, it is always better to use the memory card, so as to increase the available space and survive with an Android indicating full memory.

In this regard we can read our guide on How to Move Android Apps to SD Card. If, however, we want to use the card as portable storage, we recommend moving the files using the free app Files To SD Card.

Don’t we have a microSD for the purpose? We can see the best ones in our guide on how choose the best MicroSD for Android smartphones.

3) Move large files to the cloud

If the space runs out due to the photographs and videos we take with our smartphone or that we receive on WhatsApp and the like, we can move this type of data to the cloud, so we can delete them and recover a lot of space.

First we download the app on our smartphone Google Photowe log in with our Google account (already present on the phone), then we enable the backup of the DCIM folder (where all the photos and videos shot with the smartphone’s cameras are kept) and of the folders in which the photos and videos are present , taking us to the app settings, selecting Backup and sync and finally tapping on Device folders.

After making the backup, we can use the voice Free up space on your device (always in the Photos app settings), so as to delete all the photos and videos saved in the backup in one go.

All multimedia elements will still be available on the cloud and on the app, so you can view and re-download them at any time. The photos can also be viewed from a PC, all you need is the Google Drive synchronization program.

To use other cloud services with photo and video synchronization, we refer you to reading our guide best Cloud apps for Android and iPhone to save files without taking up memory.

4) Use deep cleaning on Xiaomi

On Xiaomi and POCO phones we can use the Cleaner tool to quickly remove useless files and clean the system deeply, using all the various menus and advanced cleaning options for this purpose.

To proceed we open the app Safetywe press on Cleanerwe wait for the end of the scan and then press on Clean up. In the following screen we press on Blow deepwe wait for the new system scan and analyze the contents of the phone’s memory, eliminating duplicate photos, blurry or black photos, videos that are too large or any other item that takes up too much space on the phone.

5) Use deep clean on any phone

The cleaning system seen on Xiaomi can be replicated on any Android phone using the app Files di Googlei.e. the file manager provided by Google itself, the company that creates and manages the release of the Android operating system.

To proceed, open the app and press down on the menu Clean upwe wait for the end of the scan and then press on Clean up to immediately delete unwanted files; in addition to this we can scroll through the files, videos and useless images, selecting those that can be deleted without problems from the phone (it is always advisable to carefully check what you want to delete, to avoid throwing away videos or images that we particularly care about).

To learn more we can read the guide to Google Files, excellent file manager for freeing up space, managing files and sharing them.

5) Use SD Maid

Another very effective method to survive with Android with full internal memory or empty space is to periodically clear the cache and temporary files that the system and installed apps continuously generate. In this sense, the free app is very useful SD Maid.

All we have to do is start this app regularly, tap on Scan and, after a few seconds of analysis, clean our phone. Obviously the system will return to generating new cache and new temporary files as time passes, so it is best to keep this app handy to start a periodic cleaning (at least every week).

Other similar apps to clean our Android smartphone can be seen in our article on App to clean Android from useless files that take up space.

7) Change operating system

Another very effective method to Survive with a slow and full Android smartphone involves unlock the Android system in the phone and root it.

Once you have unlocked your mobile phone, you can install a lighter custom ROM, which takes up less space: it is currently the best LineageOS.

Obviously it will be necessary to follow specific guides depending on the model, have a minimum of familiarity with the use of the computer and courage in carrying out operations that can even cause irreparable damage.

If we are interested in following this path, we advise you to read our guides on how to unlock android bootloader (necessary operations on many modern devices) and on how to use ADB Sideload to install ROMs, updates, recovery.

Conclusions

The simplest solution would be to buy a new mobile phone, so as not to immediately suffer from problems related to poorer phones.

Unfortunately, our purchases are not always successful but with the advice described in this guide we can survive just long enough to buy a new smartphone at least 128 GB of internal memory (even better if 256 GB, to be on the safe side).

In the meantime we can further optimize our device by reading our guide on how Optimize Android, free up memory and kill processes for a faster phone.

If, however, we really wanted to buy a new phone, we can spend little by choosing one of the models described in our guide the best Smartphones for 200 Euros.