What to delete to clear memory. How to clear external and internal phone memory on Android, remove unnecessary applications - procedure

Your Android phone or tablet can help you do so much, from being able to play games, listen to music and watch videos, do email, chat and surf the web; The list of tasks you can do on your phone is endless.

Unfortunately, the more apps and content you download, the more your phone will fill up. Once it is full, problems may arise. You might want to take a few videos with you to watch during your trip, but you're running out of space on your device.

Well, the good news is that freeing up space on your Android phone or tablet is a fairly simple task. In this article, we'll show you how to free up space so there's plenty of space for your favorite photos, videos, music, apps, and games.

Removing unused programs

If you have several apps that are no longer used on your Android phone or tablet, deleting them will free up space and improve your phone's performance. To do this, go to Settings -> Application Manager and uninstall the applications you don't need.

Clearing the application cache

You can also clear the app cache on your phone. Clearing the cache removes temporary application files and thus can free up some space. To do this, go to Settings -> Application Manager, find the apps that are taking up the most space, and then tap on Clear Cache.

Alternatively, you can download a cache cleaner app like Clean Master which will help you clear these junk files quickly.

Upload your photos to online storage

Photos often take up a lot of space on your smartphone. Instead of storing them all on your phone, you can use a cloud storage service like Google+ Photos to automatically back up all your photos to the cloud. To enable cloud synchronization, go to Settings -> Startup & Sync -> Autoupload. All downloaded photos can be viewed safely on PCs and Android devices connected to your Google account.

Remove unnecessary files and folders

Most people leave downloaded files on their gadgets after using them. These files “eat up” a lot of space and the device becomes inaccessible for subsequent downloads. Regularly deleting unnecessary data keeps your device space free. To do this, try an application called DiskUsage, which will help you find files and directories on your memory card that are consuming a lot of space. It displays all the information graphically, making it easy to see which files or content are eating up the most space. Just be careful when you decide to delete something, make sure what you see in DiskUsage is what you think it is.

Move apps and media files to SD card

Moving apps and media files to an SD card will not only free up your phone's internal storage but will also improve your phone's performance. To move supported applications to the memory card, you can use AppMgr III. This application is free to download and does not require root access. All you need to do is install this application on your phone and that's it. Please keep in mind that not all applications can be moved to the SD card. Some apps must be stored in the phone's internal memory and cannot be moved from there.

Freeing up memory on Android is not such a difficult task if you do it right. And this article is designed to teach you exactly that.

Before deleting something from the device, it is necessary to audit what is stored in the device and how much memory each element occupies. To do this, go to the “Settings” section, then “Device memory”. Here you can see detailed statistics on how much memory space is occupied by applications, pictures, audio, video downloads and other components.

By clicking on each element you can go to the screen for managing these elements. For example, by clicking on the “Photo” section, you will be taken to your photo gallery.

Note that if you click on "clear device cache" this will free up memory on Android, but it may slow down your apps a little as they have to fetch that cache data again. In addition, clearing the cache may lead to the fact that in some of your applications you will have to re-enter your username and password to enter them.

It is also worth noting that if you manually moved music or video files to other directories, Android will count them in the “Advanced” column.

If you have an SD card in your smartphone or tablet, then in the same section you can also view the data located on it.

Now that we have studied what our memory is clogged with, it’s time to move on to freeing it

2. Managing your applications

Look at the application icons on the desktops of your devices and honestly answer the question of how many of them you use regularly. Surely there are some that haven’t opened for several months. It's time to delete them to free up Android memory.

If you cannot decide which of the installed applications can and should be removed, go to the settings section and select “Applications” or “Application Manager”. Select "Downloaded".

Here you can see a list of applications that you have recently downloaded, as well as how much memory space they occupy. This will help you make an informed decision about which applications can be safely removed.

Start with the apps you no longer use, look at the largest apps that take up a lot of space, and consider whether you need them. To remove an application, simply click on its name and then the “Delete” button.

Please note that some of the applications you will not be able to uninstall due to the fact that they are built into Android or the software of the smartphone or tablet manufacturer. But if you select the “All” tab and click on any of such applications, you will find a “Force Stop” button there, then that application will no longer run and waste Android memory. In addition, you can remove updates for these applications, which will also relieve the device memory.

It also makes sense to transfer some applications to an SD card, however, unfortunately, not all Android devices support this function. In addition, if you format the SD card, your applications on it will become unavailable.

3. Clean up your photos

Review your photos in the gallery and make sure that there are no random or unnecessary ones. You know, photographs of the floor, ceiling and sky are of little artistic value. In addition, the necessary photos can be placed on an SD card, your computer, or, finally, on one of the cloud services, for example, Dropbox or Picasa.

4. Stream music and movies

If you have a really large music library, you don't necessarily need to store it on your device. Services like Google Play Music and Amazon Music can store a large amount of music files and stream it to you when you want it.

Five full-length films in HD quality can take up 15 gigabytes or more of memory. A dozen 1-2 minute videos you shoot will add a couple more gigabytes to this. So it is not practical to store all this on your gadget.

If you purchased a movie using Google Play or Amazon, then they can always be found in the cloud services of these companies. Don’t forget about services where you can watch videos online, without having to download them to your tablet or smartphone.

5. Cloud services

We've already mentioned cloud services for streaming music, videos and storing photos, but we'll name a few more such services.

For example, Google Drive is an obvious choice for Android users, making collaboration very convenient.

Google Drive along with Google Play, Google Music and other Google services like Gmail and Google Docs give you 15 GB of storage space to store your data.

Recently, all kinds of gadgets have become an integral part of the lives of many modern people. Most owners of smartphones and tablets with the Android operating system sooner or later face the problem of lack of memory. In budget models, its volume is, as a rule, no more than four gigabytes, but it should be taken into account that at least a quarter is occupied by the operating system itself.

All modern games, as well as high-quality photographs, music and films, require increasing amounts of available memory. So, at some point the user simply will not be able to install the necessary application or download the necessary data. The lack of free space also negatively affects the speed of the device itself. So, how to free up internal memory on Android? You can move files to external storage and optimize the operation of your smartphone.

What fills the empty space?

When figuring out how to free up the internal memory of an Android phone, you should pay attention to several points. Certain methods may be effective in some cases, but completely inappropriate in others.

Before you free up internal memory on Android, you need to understand where the data filling the device comes from. Here are some of the most common options:

saving photos, music and videos;
data used in social media sharing;
audio from a voice recorder;
data downloaded via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi;
applications from the Play Store located in the device memory.

How to prevent files from being saved to the device memory?

To prevent the problem from recurring from time to time in the future, you need to redirect the download of files from the device memory to other media. For example, to a memory card (SD card). To do this, you should change the save path settings in the settings of some applications:

camera options;
voice recorder options;
Browser download space;
location of cached files from applications;
regulation of messengers;
regulation of bootloader programs;
regulation of GPS navigation maps.

In all of the above settings, the path to a specific folder (or several folders: separately for music, videos, pictures and files) must be specified, which is located on the memory card.

How to move data?

It is better to move files from the device memory to a memory card in similar folders. If there are none, you can create them using any file manager that is downloaded from the Play Store, or by connecting the device to the computer via a cable. Moving to places with similar standard names will avoid unnecessary confusion. Folders usually have the following names:

Bluetooth;
DCIM;
download;
media;
movies;
music;
video;
sounds.

Transferring files, as well as creating new folders, can be done in two ways: directly by the functions of the device itself or using a computer. You should not transfer data whose purpose is in doubt. Moving program files can cause device malfunctions, so you should be aware of this before freeing up space on Android's internal memory.

How to transfer files directly to the device?

To transfer pictures, music and videos directly to the device, it is better to use a file manager. The ES conductor is simple and reliable to use. The main function of the manager is precisely to work with folders and files. This file manager is very lightweight, does not take up the already small amount of memory, and is convenient.

To transfer the necessary data, you need to select it with one long press. When choosing the “move” action, click on “SD-card”. The advantage of this file manager is that the menu allows you to immediately create new folders for transferring files.

How to transfer files using a computer?

In order to clear the internal memory of Android using a computer, you need to connect the device to it using a USB cable. To ensure the ability to manage data on a smartphone or tablet, specialized programs and drivers must be installed on the PC. As a rule, such software is installed automatically, but you need to wait a little while the computer determines the type of device and finds the appropriate drivers on the network.

Problems that arise when transferring files using a PC can be easily resolved with the free AirDroid service, which allows you to work with your device from a distance by connecting to a Wi-Fi network. Firstly, this is good because you don’t need to install any additional programs or drivers to recognize your smartphone or tablet. Secondly, this service ensures communication between devices over a distance longer than a cable.

And yet, how to free up system memory on Android via a computer using this method? Everything is very simple here - data management is possible through any browser.

How to move apps to SD card?

How to free up internal memory on Android to unload devices? Let us note right away: this is not an easy task. The reason is that in order to carry out this operation for applications, as a rule, you need to have special rights, namely administrator rights, which will allow you to fully manage all files.

You can obtain administrator status by installing additional software or changing smartphone settings. In the latter case, everything is much simpler. Devices in the settings of which you can set “developer mode” allow you to perform many actions that are not available to ordinary users, for example, installing a fake localization.

If administrator access is already enabled, you should next install the Link2Sd application. It allows you to transfer both additionally installed and standard applications from the device memory to a memory card. But here you need to remember that such actions can lead to malfunctions of the device.

Without administrator rights, you can only move some applications. This action can be performed in the device settings. But the standard method is not very convenient, and if you do not want to change the settings, it is better to download the Android Assistant application.

Android Assistant consists of eighteen tools for versatile work with Android. Directly transferring applications is carried out as follows: open the program, go to the “Toolkit” section and select “App2Sd”. A list of applications that can be transferred will open.

Also, using this application, you can perform a comprehensive removal, which will help optimize and increase the speed of the device.

How to clean your device from unnecessary debris?

By following the above steps, you can make significant progress in the process of clearing your memory. Once you have set the correct settings, you most likely will not have to do all the steps again from time to time. But you will have to use information on how to free up internal memory on Android by removing garbage often. So, by installing a special application (for example, Clean Master), you can make the cleaning process quick and easy.

The so-called garbage in the device, which occurs through the accumulation of cached data from the Internet, browser history, and applications, is a very common phenomenon. Periodic cleaning allows you to increase the free space on your device and speed up all actions.

If we look at cleaning a device from debris using the example of the most optimal and convenient Clean Master program, then there will be no difficulties in using it. You just need to select the “garbage” option and click “clean”. The application, conducting an in-depth analysis, makes sure to specify which files should not be deleted.

How to store files on the Internet?

To free up internal memory on Android 4.2, you can use so-called cloud storage. They allow you not only to store files, but also to open them using various devices. Having installed an application of this type on a smartphone, to gain access to the data you will only need to register (when you turn it on for the first time), and subsequently enter your username and password.

Constant access to the Internet is also important when working with cloud storage, because the data is stored in “virtual memory”. Among the most successful cloud storages are Google Drive, Mega storage, Yandex.Disk or Dropbox.

How to completely clean the device?

To radically clear the device’s memory, you need to completely delete all data. The action is performed using the “Format” option. As a rule, this item is located in the device settings in the “Backup and data reset” tab. After confirming the user’s intentions and deleting the data, the device will reboot and take on its original appearance, that is, the smartphone will be missing everything that was installed and downloaded after purchase.

In general, the instruction “How to free up memory on Android” includes several steps, some of which are interchangeable. Consistent execution of various types of actions will lead to an increase in free space, which certainly entails optimization of the device.

All owners of gadgets running the Android operating system often face the problem of filling up the internal memory of their device. How to clean it and get rid of problems associated with ROM fullness. Let's figure it out.

All manufacturers of smartphones, tablets and other mobile equipment declare the amount of internal memory in their characteristics. But when purchasing such a gadget, you need to understand that part of this memory will already be occupied by the operating system and system programs. This poses certain problems when downloading the latest episodes of an interesting TV series or the discography of your favorite group to your device. If you don't want to see the inscription " Android internal memory is full", you have to compromise and upload one thing.

This can be avoided if, in addition to your own memory, you purchase a large flash card for your device. But, not all modern devices support external drives. What should owners of such devices do, how to clear their phone memory?

There are several solutions to this issue:

Transfer “heavy” files (pictures, audio and video) to your computer
Clear memory of unnecessary (“junk”) files
Transfer files to the cloud

Transfer files to a flash card

But let's start by solving this issue for those devices that support SD cards. Want to know how to move files on Android? Nothing could be simpler. In order not to fill the memory, you can save all possible files to a flash card. To do this, specify this option in the settings:

Cameras
Voice recorder
Browser
Messengers
File downloader

This list can be continued for a long time. Particular attention should be paid to applications that work with “heavy” files. For example, image, video or audio editors. When saving files to a memory card, create a folder there (if this is not done automatically) for each application. Then you can avoid problems with your device’s memory being full.

IMPORTANT
This method of clearing device memory cannot be used for system files. This can cause problems with the performance of the gadget and even its failure.

The easiest way to move files from the device memory to the card is using a file manager. There are a lot of applications in this category in the Play Market. The most popular today is.

Many consider this manager to be the best for Android, and for good reason. With its help, you can simultaneously move several folders and files, it is possible to save apk files of installed applications and much more.

How to move files on Android using ES Explorer:

To do this, you need to select them (long press on one file),
call menu ("More" button)
find the “Move to” item
in the proposed list you need to select “SDCard”

How to move files on Android using PC

Synchronizing your device with your computer has many benefits. You can share files and keep the amount of free memory at the required level. For example, before going to work, you can “upload” new chapters of an audiobook, music albums or videos. This procedure can be carried out every time you need to update and measure such files.

Connecting your Android smartphone or tablet to your computer is very easy. It is enough to connect these devices using a USB cable. To do this, you do not need to download any programs or drivers. Modern computer operating systems can easily determine the type of connected device. You can enter its memory using standard conductors.

Today you can use a more modern solution - AirDroid. With it, you can share files with your PC remotely. While outside your home, you can download a music album or movie from your media library and listen to it. No wires are needed for this. All you need is a stable Internet network. To which both the PC and the mobile device must be connected.

Setting up such synchronization using this service is very simple. Thanks to the user-friendly interface of the program, even those who have never had the opportunity to share their files remotely can do this.

How to transfer applications to a memory card

Any application installed from Paly Market by default is installed in the device memory. And it takes up an unreasonably large amount of space. In order to transfer applications from the memory of a smartphone or tablet to a flash card, you must have super administrator rights () and install special software Link2sd.

IMPORTANT
If the procedure for obtaining root rights is incorrect, your device may turn into a “brick”. Therefore, this procedure must be carried out very carefully, monitoring every step. But even properly rooted, it voids the developer’s warranty. Is it worth the risk? Answer you.

Some applications can be transferred from the device memory to the card without special rights and applications. To do this, go to “Settings” and select the “Applications” section. There you can find a sparse set of tools for such a transfer.

There is another way to transfer applications to a memory card - the program Android Assistant. Essentially, this is a whole package of small utilities that will help you carry out all the necessary actions with your Android system.

This application can be found on the Play Market. After you install and run it, you need to go to the “Toolbox” section. Among the lists of provided tools, you need to find “App2Sd”. When you click on this item, a menu will appear. Where you need to select “Application information”, and then “To SD memory card” (if this item is active).

Using Android Assistant, you can batch remove unwanted applications. And thereby clear the memory of your device.

How to clear internal memory of Android from garbage

A very large amount of the memory of any device is occupied by garbage. In order to keep the amount of free space under control, you need to periodically clean the system of such files. The easiest way to do this is with special software - Clean Master.

By “garbage” we mean the cache of Internet pages, running applications and their remains after uninstallation. Over time, such garbage accumulates and not only causes the internal memory of Android to fill up, but also negatively affects the performance of tablets and smartphones.

Clean Master is a very convenient and multifunctional tool for cleaning Android internal memory from garbage and optimizing the device. To use it, you need to install this application and select the menu item - “Garbage”. Then click on the “Clear” button. The program's algorithms will analyze the memory and find files that can be deleted.

Storing files on cloud services

Thanks to high-speed Internet, today there is no need to download the files you need to smartphones or tablets. They can be uploaded to special services (“clouds”) and used if necessary. Almost all leading companies provide the opportunity to use cloud services for free. And if the space provided by such a tariff is not enough, then it can always be expanded at an additional cost.

The most popular cloud storages are:

Google Drive
Yandex.Disk
OneDrive
[email protected]

Each of these solutions has an application for easily syncing files with a remote service. It is enough to install such an application (or several), mark the files that need to be placed on the server and, after transferring them, delete them from the device. Then, when you need to use such a file, just go to the application and click on it.

Smartphone memory has run out of space - what to do? You can buy a memory card with a large capacity, but it is not a fact that it will be supported by the device. It will be much more effective to delete unnecessary files: then you won’t have to spend money, free space will appear, and even productivity will increase slightly.

Let's see how to clear memory on Android, what tools can be used for this, and what can be deleted in general.

What kind of memory is there?

A computer, smartphone, tablet and other smart technology has two types of memory: RAM and permanent memory. The operational one stores running applications and processes, while the permanent one stores files. This is if we recall in a very simplified way what was taught in computer science lessons. In addition to built-in permanent memory, phones usually have a slot for a memory card. On some models it is combined with a SIM card slot, so you have to choose - two numbers or a memory expansion.

When the RAM and permanent memory are completely filled, Android starts to slow down. To correct this problem, it is enough to carry out a comprehensive cleaning. But first you need to make sure that the smartphone really has problems with memory.

Open settings.
Go to the "Memory" or "Storage" section.
Wait for the count to complete.

As you can see, out of my 16 GB of internal memory, 5.56 GB was immediately filled with system files. There is nothing I can do about it, so if I have to delete something, it will be applications, videos, images and other files: content downloaded from the Internet, shared documents, etc.

At the bottom there is a “Cache Data” item. Through it you can clear cached data of all applications. In my case, this will free up 209 MB.

Below are the memory card statistics. I don't use it, so the entire workspace is available. If you click on a card, an explorer with its contents will open. A button with three dots next to it calls up an additional menu through which the card can be removed or formatted.

Yes, the memory card must be removed before being removed from the phone, just like a flash drive from a computer. If you have previously removed the card without first ejecting it, stop doing this - it is dangerous for your files.

Manual cleaning of Android

We have already figured out how to clear the cache in memory. But this may not be enough to clean your device, so let's go ahead and remove other unnecessary files. Open the "Memory" section in Android settings and go in order.

Applications – open the list, sort programs by size. For applications that take up a lot of space, you can clear data and clear the cache.
Images – select and delete unnecessary photos and pictures. Do the same with video and audio.
The system is not available for cleaning because it only contains files that are critical for Android operation.
Other - Click "Open" to access Android's internal storage. Here you can delete downloads, temporary application files, photos and videos, archived messages in instant messengers and other data.
Cache data is the first thing to clear.

To delete files from the internal storage, you can also use third-party applications - for example, ES Explorer. It has a quick device wipe feature, and a link to local storage in the side menu. Once you navigate to it, you will see the same folders as when you open the “Other” section in Android settings. In addition, through ES Explorer you can empty multimedia libraries and the Android Trash.

What else can you remove from your phone without harming its performance? Bend your fingers:

unnecessary applications;
SMS correspondence;
history in the browser.

After such cleaning, your phone should have several free gigabytes that can be safely occupied with new information.

RAM offload

All of the methods listed above related to permanent memory. But there is also RAM, filling which leads to a decrease in device performance. The easiest way to clear RAM is to close all applications that you are not using right now.

Hold down the menu button on your device or press a special key that calls up the manager for switching between running applications.
Click on the "Close" button to close all applications.

The cleaning of RAM does not end there. The fact is that even if you remove the application from the manager, its processes can be executed and continue to load RAM. To relieve this load, go to the “Applications” section in the settings and go to the “Running” tab. Open applications that Android does not depend on (all third-party programs - Instagram, VKontakte, games), and click “Stop”.

This will mean you'll have to wait a little longer the next time you launch these programs, but they won't consume your phone's resources when you're not using them.

Cleaning with apps

If you don’t want to go through all these directories and settings, download a cleaning application and give it the right to penetrate all corners of the system. If you type the query “memory cleaning” into the Play Market, Clean Master will come in first place. It is so popular that some smartphones are installed by the manufacturer - I saw it myself and even removed it on one budget Fly model. Clean Master offers a free virus scan as part of its download. However, on older phones its operation only interferes.

It won't take you long to figure out the Clean Master interface. All actions, including clearing memory, are performed in one or two clicks. But I prefer a less versatile application: CCleaner from Piriform. I use it on my computer and phone, and have had no complaints over the last 5 years.

The CCleaner interface is even simpler. There is an “Analyze” button, after clicking on which the application will scan the memory and find unnecessary files. You can view a list of this data and mark those that should be deleted. To complete the procedure, you must grant the application special rights for deep cleaning.

In addition to Clean Master and CCleaner, there are other worthy applications for cleaning Android (judging by the reviews). But I haven’t tried them, so I won’t recommend them. CCleaner has always had enough capabilities to delete temporary files.

Using a computer

You can use your computer to delete unnecessary files. This is how I usually deal with photos and videos. , threw it off, immediately deleted it from the internal memory.

Connect Android to PC.
Select MTP mode to access files through File Explorer.
Open the internal drive through "Computer".
Delete unnecessary files as you would in any other Windows folder.

Updated: March 16, 2018 by: Sergey