How Do I Free Up Memory On My Phone

Have you deleted apps only to find that your Android phone's memory is still full? Does it lack a micro SD card expansion slot? Maybe it's chock full of photos and videos that you just don't want to delete.

If your Android phone runs version 4.2 or newer, you should see an extra sort of panic button in the Settings app's Storage screen: Tap the 'Cached data' line, and the system will offer to dump.
Back Up to the Cloud. This is a smart move with your laptop and other devices in addition to your phone. Google Drive, iCloud, Microsoft One Drive, Dropbox, and Box are ways you can safely tuck.
If your Android phone (or any other Android device) is running low on or flat out of device storage, here are a few ways to free up memory space on your Android device and optimize device memory: Use a microSD card This is the most obvious way to increase storage space on your Android device.

Most often, your iCloud storage goes towards backing up your photos, files, voice memos, apps, and text messages. Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories. “Free Up Space” on a Pixel phone Look through the different areas and select anything you would like to remove. Tap “Free Up,” “Delete,” or “Remove” to remove the files. You can head back to the main Storage menu and check how much space you now have available on your Android smartphone or tablet.

These problems are common on all smartphones. But unlike iPhones and iPads, Android devices make it easy to free up space through tools built into the OS, as well as Google's free cloud services. This guide will explain all the ways you can de-clutter your Android phone or tablet and maximize your available storage.

NOTE: The following advice assumes you're using Android 4.4 KitKat or higher. Even in that case, there may be some inconsistencies with phones using heavily manufacturer-customized operating systems, like the Samsung Galaxy S6.

Check Your Usage

First and foremost, you'll want to check out your current storage situation to see what's using the most space. Simply go into Android's Settings menu and tap Storage. That will bring up a screen that breaks your local storage down into six categories: Apps, Pictures and Videos, Audio, Downloads, Cached Data, and Misc.

Inside the Storage menu, you can click on each category to go to the appropriate app for managing that particular type of data. Check out the following sections for tips on how to tackle the worst offenders.

Pictures and Video

If you're like most people, your smartphone is your go-to camera. That means there's a good chance pictures and video are some of the biggest storage hogs on your device. But don't worry: You don't have to permanently erase those memories in order to free up space.

Google Photos

You can view photos stored locally on your device by tapping on 'Device folders' in the Google Photos app's menu.
Once you have selected the photos you want to delete from your local storage, tap on the three dots to reveal the 'Delete device copy' button.
Tapping the 'Delete device copy' button will remove the photos from your device. Just make sure they were backed up before you do so.

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You can view photos stored locally on your device by tapping on 'Device folders' in the Google Photos app's menu.
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Once you have selected the photos you want to delete from your local storage, tap on the three dots to reveal the 'Delete device copy' button.
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Tapping the 'Delete device copy' button will remove the photos from your device. Just make sure they were backed up before you do so.

Of course, you'll still need to delete the copies in your local storage. Luckily, that's something Google Photos makes dead simple. Here's how:

Tap the Menu button (in the upper left corner of the screen) and select Device folders.
On next screen, select everything you want to delete.
Tap on the three-dot symbol in the upper right corner to access the Delete device copy button.

The procedure is similar for other media, like movies and books. You can easily delete local copies while still making them available for streaming. Google Play Books and Movies both have Manage downloads pages in their settings menu, where you can delete local copies. If you prefer the Amazon Kindle app, you can do the same there.

Music and Audio

If you're really into music, you're probably using either Spotify or Google Play Music. Both of these services prioritize streaming, but also allow you to download local copies for offline listening. That's a great feature to have, but you can easily forget what you've downloaded and fill up your storage with music you haven't spun in months.

Luckily, it's easy to delete these downloaded copies. Like Play Books and Play Movies, Google Play Music also has a Manage downloads screen in its settings. For its part, Spotify simply has a Make available offline toggle. If you don't want to keep the music around anymore, just flick it to the off position on a case-by-case basis.

For other audio files on your device (like ringtones and voice recordings), tapping on the Audio category under Storage in Settings app will bring up a simple file manager, allowing you to easily get rid of any files you no longer need.

Google Play Music

If you scroll down in the Google Play Music app's settings, you will find the 'Manage downloads' button.
On the 'Manage downloads' screen, tapping on the orange checkmark circle next to a song will bring up a prompt to delete the downloaded copy.
On the 'Manage downloads' screen, tapping on the orange checkmark circle next to a song will bring up a prompt to delete the downloaded copy.

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If you scroll down in the Google Play Music app's settings, you will find the 'Manage downloads' button.
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On the 'Manage downloads' screen, tapping on the orange checkmark circle next to a song will bring up a prompt to delete the downloaded copy.
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On the 'Manage downloads' screen, tapping on the orange checkmark circle next to a song will bring up a prompt to delete the downloaded copy.

Apps, Cached Data, and Downloads

Before we go into dealing with apps themselves, we recommend you first see how much room you can make by deleting your cached data and downloads. This is the crud that builds up in your phone's memory during day-to-day use, and cleaning it out once in a while is simply a good policy.

If you tap on Cached data in the Storage settings menu, a prompt will appear asking you if you'd like to delete cached data for all apps on your Android device. If you've never done this before, it could end up freeing up a substantial amount of space. (On one well-used phone we managed to clear 2.78 GB.) The Downloads category works much like the Audio category described above, with a file manager where you can manually select what to dispose of.

Android Settings App

Tapping on 'Cached data' in the Storage menu will bring up this prompt to delete all cached data on your device.
If you tap on Apps in the Storage menu, you will be taken to this list of installed apps.
Tapping on an app will bring you to this screen, allowing you clear the app's cache and data, or uninstall it.

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Tapping on 'Cached data' in the Storage menu will bring up this prompt to delete all cached data on your device.
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If you tap on Apps in the Storage menu, you will be taken to this list of installed apps.
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Tapping on an app will bring you to this screen, allowing you clear the app's cache and data, or uninstall it.

Finally, there are the apps themselves. If you've moved all your media to the cloud, cleared your caches, and deleted extraneous downloads, but still need more space, it's time to start purging apps. Tapping on Apps in the Storage menu will bring up a list of all the apps on your device, sorted by how much storage space they use.

From there, you can tap on individual apps to do a few different things. First, you can (and should) Clear Cache, assuming you didn't already clear cached data for all apps. Then, if necessary, Clear Data. Keep in mind that this will get rid of login info, stored preferences, and other assets—in essence, it's like returning an app to its newly downloaded state. And if you want to get rid of the app entirely, you can simply tap Uninstall and follow the prompts.

Using these tips, you should be able to dramatically increase the amount of free space on your Android phone or tablet. But if you're in the market for a new phone, there are things you can do to avoid having to employ any of these methods.

If you're not comfortable surrendering your data to cloud services, we recommend that you look into getting an Android device with expandable storage. Google's focus on the cloud means fewer Android phones come with MicroSD card slots, but those that do can typically accept cards as large as 128 GB, giving you plenty of room to play with. It's an added expense, to be sure, but you'll be grateful for the room when you really have to get that shot.

iPhone Not Enough Space, Help!

iPhone is gaining popularity due to its smooth system, powerful functions, etc. However, the iPhone can still get several issues.

Recently, some iPhone users have complained to us that there is not enough space on their iPhone or the storage is full so they cannot save more data on it. They want to increase the iPhone’s internal memory.

Actually, this is no longer a new problem for any cell phone user. Commonly, the internal memory of iPhone 6 easily gets filled with music, photos, videos, and apps. Even with 128GB, it may eventually run out of memory after a long time.

Some of you might choose to directly delete some data from the iPhone in order to free up iPhone memory. However, this is not a good option.

Then, here a question asked by you comes: how do I make more space on my iPhone or how to increase storage on iPhone 6 16GB/64GB or any other iPhone device? Don't worry! Here in the article, you can find many reliable ways that help to increase iPhone storage effectively.

How to Increase iPhone Storage

Here we collect 8 useful methods to expand iPhone storage in two aspects. Follow them now if you are bothered by iPhone storage full.

Case 1: Free up Memory on iPhone

As is well known, all iOS devices don't have an SD card slot. In other words, unlike Android users, you are not allowed to directly expand the storage space of your iPhone by inserting an extra SD card.

Hence, you can only increase iPhone memory in other ways. And here, you can choose to free up space on iPhone for more iPhone storage.

① Extract iPhone Data to PC

Usually, you may consider transferring some files to your computer, an external hard drive or a USB flash drive so as to remove some files. How to do this? Actually, it is very easy as long as you use a professional iOS data extractor tool.

Here, MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS can be your good helper. Developed by MiniTool Software Ltd., it is helpful to transfer existing files to your computer, a USB drive or an external hard drive and recover lost files from iPhone internal memory/iTunes backup/iCloud backup.

Note that it is available on Windows OS including Windows 10/8/7 and Mac OS X.

In order to move files to your PC or a drive, just get its Free Edition from the following button and install it on Windows 10/8/7 or your Mac.

Then follow the guide below to start to free up iPhone memory so as to fix the iPhone storage full issue and increase iPhone storage.

Step 1: After running MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS, you see three features. Here, we use its Recover from iOS Device function.

From the following figure, you will find this tool requires you to download the latest version of iTunes firstly. Or else, this feature is not working. Thus, just follow the instruction to download iTunes from Apple's official website and then click the Retry button.

Tip: The iTunes version must be the latest one.

Step 2: Apple's devices have high security so no software can directly access iOS device data without authority. Hence, this step requires you to trust your PC to perform the scanning of your data after connecting iPhone to this PC.

How Do I Free Up Memory On My Alcatel Phone

To extract files from iPhone to your computer, please click Trust button on your iPhone screen.

Step 3: Then, you see your iPhone detected by MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS. Click the Scan button and then this freeware will begin to analyze your device data.

Step 4: See the screenshot below! The scanning operation is performed. Please wait patiently.

Tip: You'd better not click the Stop button. Otherwise, some data cannot be scanned.

Step 5: After the scan, you enter scan result page. Usually, you will choose to transfer some videos, music files and precious pictures to your computer, an external hard drive or a USB drive. Just click corresponding file type on the left side and check the items. Then, click the Recover button to continue.

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Note that MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS Free Edition has some limitations in the feature, for example, it only allows recovering 2 photos/app photos/videos each time. In order to extract more files, we suggest using its Full Edition.

After getting the activate code, register it in the scan result interface to avoid a scan again.

Step 6: At last, you can save selected items to the default path in your computer. You can also specify another location by hitting the Browse button and click Recover to transfer files.

After finishing all operations, you can disconnect your iPhone from your computer, open it and remove/delete those files you have moved to a target disk to free up iPhone memory. This way, you can increase iPhone storage effectively.

Tip: This freeware can be also professional iOS data recovery software, enabling you to recover lost pictures, messages, contacts, audios, videos, etc.

② Delete Old iPhone Backups

Usually, you might have a few backups in iPhone which may take up a fair amount of storage space. In order to free up memory on iPhone, another solution to increase iPhone storage is deleting some old iPhone backups.

Go to Settings and click General.
Tap onStorage & iCloud Usage.
Tap onManage Storage under the iCloud section to choose the old iPhone backup.
Hit Delete Backup > Turn Off & Delete to turn off backup and delete all backup data for the device.

Note: The backup will be deleted but iCloud backup will be also disabled.

③ Delete Unused Apps

Firstly, you need to find out which apps are taking up so much space if you find the iPhone storage full issue. You can do this by going to Settings > General > iPhone Storage (Tip: it may be Storage & iCloud Usage in older iOS versions) and taping on Manage Storage.

Then, you will see a list of apps arranged by the storage space they take up from largest to smallest. If you find the app you rarely use is taking up much memory, choose it to view the space used by its Documents & Data.

How to free up space on iPhone documents and data? Just choose and delete the app by tapping the Delete App option. Simultaneously, Documents & Data will be removed.

Note: You can always download the deleted app for free whenever you’d like even if it is a paid app. All your purchases are tied to your Apple ID, so Apple knows what apps you own.

④ Uninstall and Reinstall Storage-Hungry Apps

Over time, some apps may take up a lot of iPhone memory because they store data and cache locally for better performance. An example would be Facebook.

Perhaps you will find the storage space that it alone takes up is up to gigs on iPhones or iPads. Thus, please check your iPhone storage usage regularly and see which apps are taking up the most memory on your iPhone or iPad.

Then, to uninstall and reinstall those apps to get rid of all cached data.

This is a simple way to help free up iPhone memory and increase iPhone storage.

⑤ Use iCloud Photo Library

In iPhone, there is a feature called iCloud Photo Library, which enables you to keep your photos in the cloud instead of on your iPhone. If you enable it, it will help you to free up much-needed space on your iPhone for new data by removing local copies, typically older photos.

How to free up space on iPhone using iCloud? Just do this by going to Settings > Photos & Camera to turn on iCloud Photo Library.

Tip:
1. You must have enough iCloud storage space.
2. You can only view photos that are streamed offline.
3. Make sure the option Optimize iPhone Storage is selected.

⑥ Turn off Photo Stream

If you have enabled Photo Stream, you can see photos you have taken on your iPhone/iPad and all pictures you have uploaded. Although those photos are not full-res, they still take up much space.

You may not need these photos, because they may just be duplicates of existing photos on your device. How to increase storage on iPhone? Just turn off Photo Stream.

Go to Settings > Photos (or Photos & Camera in older iOS versions) and disable My Photo Stream. This will delete your Photo Stream from your iPhone and expand iPhone storage.

Actually, in addition to the above ways, you can choose to empty the Recently Deleted folder, clear Safari cache, only keep HDR photos, etc. to free up memory on iPhone to increase iPhone memory when there is not enough space for data storage.

Tip:
Among these solutions, if you need to delete some files, we suggest transferring them to your PC or hard drive with MiniTool Mobile Recovery for iOS to avoid data loss.

Case 2: Use Hardware/WiFi Connected Memory to Increase iPhone Storage

In general, you may take measures to free up iPhone memory to extend iPhone storage. Additionally, you can do an iPhone memory upgrade to 64GB or more space on your iPhone 6 or other models.

This method is based on using hardware connected or WiFi-connected memory to expand the storage of your device. Well then, how to increase storage on iPhone 6? Keep reading.

Employ Flash Drives with Lightning Connector

A phone-friendly lightning port stick like a USB drive can work with your iPhone or iPad running iOS12 with the lightning connector, giving you a fixed amount of storage.

SanDisk has released its iXpand flash drive for iPads and iPhones, and you can use it to transfer files between your PC and iPad or iPhone with ease.

By connecting this device to your iPhone when the iPhone 6 storage full issue happens, you can transfer data faster without any additional battery to operate, auto-sync photos and videos from the camera roll, and also directly watch popular format videos from the drive.

Warning: It is not possible to permanently connect this device to your iPhone since you need to charge your iPhone with a charger cable. Besides, it is not convenient to put this device connected to your iPhone in your pocket.

Use Wireless Flash Drives for iOS Devices

Don't want anything sticking out of your iPhone or iPad? You can choose to use a wireless flash drive which can be known as a media hub. Wireless flash drives are coming with snap-in Wi-Fi and an internal battery, letting you connect to other Wi-Fi devices in order to transfer files, stream HD videos and music, save and share videos/photos to or from your iPhone or iPad.

To add more storage space to your iPhone 6 or other devices, you need to buy a wireless flash drive. If you need to increase more iPhone storage, many companies offer wireless hard drives which can work well in the same way.

Using the above two ways, you can effectively increase iPhone external storage. Just choose one based on your actual needs.

Bottom Line

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Is your iPhone storage full? Now it's your time to try all the above solutions to free up your iPhone memory or add an external device to increase iPhone storage.