Unwanted Applications and Low space

[wthompson]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to the forum but I've read up on some past threads that touched on my topic but I never really found a straight answer. I'm hoping this thread will help, but in my experiences with technology...We may never get a straight answer/ solution

OK...I've followed some threads on the "low on space" icon. I've gone through and deleted lots unused apps and I've cleared many of my caches.

While deleting apps i noticed that more then half of the apps on my eris are apps that i haven't downloaded and/or came pre-loaded on the phone. I understand that some are essential to the functioning of the phone (like being able to sync with your pc, download apps, etc). But i've noticed apps like "footprints" and the amazon "mp3 store" that I really have no use for. While managing apps there is no option to delete or get rid of these apps...is there a way to safely do so? or do i really have to live with having very few apps on my phone? (because i really don't have many that I have actually downloaded myself)

Sorry for the lengthy post...i want to answer as many questions as i know how before i start getting responses.

And thanks in advance for any advice any of you offer.

-Wes

 

[TTupa]

Unfortunately you can only get rid of the "stock" apps if you're rooted. You can check the Eris root sub-forum if you want details.

Just out of curiosity, are you using the HTC Mail application? If so, sort the applications list (Settings > Applications > Manage Applications) by size and see if Mail is gobbling up all that space. I have an open case with HTC (as I believe many others do) about the ballooning size of that app with certain settings.

 

[wthompson]

Yes i am using the HTC Mail app (68.81 MB) which appears to be quite a lot....

I am now able to receive txt and emails but still have the "low on space" notification.

Any suggestions on the HTC Mail app?

Thanks.

-Wes

 

[ChyeaRookum251]

clear the cache, that should free up alot of space.

 

[TeaArra]

I was having the "low on space" icon (8MB) even after clearing all the caches, a bunch of apps, mail, messages and the phone log so I brought it to Verizon. The guy mumbled to me that my sd card had never been fomatted so my pictures were going to the internal phone storage and clogging things up. I sent the photos to picasa, formatted the card and then did a factory reset. After loading back my apps, I'm at 94MB. I guess he was right. Hope this helps someone.

 

[TTupa]

I am up to 68mb on the Mail app too. The best suggestion I can give (which I was too late to follow) is to go into the mail app, click on Menu > Folders > Trash. There you should see all the mail you've deleted from the phone (does not account for mail on the server.)

Delete these messages. If you have the "Delete mail on server" setting in the Send/Receive settings checked, the message will be removed from the server (I believe this is the behavior for that checkbox.) If you don't, then you've likely been maintaining the email both places (have to delete it from the server and from your phone.)

The big problem is that the Trash folder keeps building up and it's all stored on the internal phone storage. I removed my account before I found out, but the emails are floating on internal storage still (with no email account in the app.)

If you haven't already done it, remove all messages in the Trash folder, and your Mail app size should decrease a TON.

I basically demanded HTC support tell me the location on internal storage where the emails are stored. I won't accept that I have to factory reset to fix the problem. While they're hmmming/hawwing about it, I get by with about 18mb free. They really should fix the app, or at least point emails to external storage, I know you can set attachments to external storage, but that's not the problem here.

 

[wthompson]

I have it set to only keep mail on the phone for 7 days.

I've never emptied my trash folder but when i did there were only 8 emails in there (and if it had kept all of my deleted emails, i'm sure there would have been hundreds....)

 

[TTupa]

Interesting. From what I've read, synching other than 3 days seems to trigger the problem. For me it didn't crop up until I changed to 7 days.

I wonder where all that 68mb is hiding then. Obviously no stock application should take up 25% of internal space. If it's mostly data, and not cache, then you probably can't clear it from Manage Applications. At least, in my case, Clear Data has never been available from that area. The button is greyed out.

Anything in the other folders? Sent items maybe?

The most active forum about the problem is here:
HTC Mail Memory Leak/Bug ("Phone Storage Getting Low") - Android Central Forums

 

[wthompson]

TTupa...thanks for the direct, i think this is what my problem is.

 

[DDustiNN]

Just out of curiosity, are you using accounts other than your Gmail? If they're Gmail, I recommend just using the Gmail app. But if you are not using Gmail then maybe try finding a different mail app (not sure what's available as I've never really looked).

 

[TTupa]

I have one Hotmail account that I use in the HTC mail app. Otherwise, I use the GMail app for my gmail. I could use other programs for Hotmail, or even forward, but I would rather not unless I have to. I've heard of people switching to K9 Mail with success. I guess it's a bigger issue for those using Exchange on their phones.

 

[Hoosier406]

I'm totally new too and I'm sure you've all thought of it, but what happens if I plug my phone into my computer as a disc drive & just delete the file? (I'm assuming the file called .footprints is for that program that nobody seems to use & the other useless apps would be similarly easy to identify.)

 

[metlcat]

I'm totally new too and I'm sure you've all thought of it, but what happens if I plug my phone into my computer as a disc drive & just delete the file? (I'm assuming the file called .footprints is for that program that nobody seems to use & the other useless apps would be similarly easy to identify.)

When you plug your phone into your computer you only gain access to the sdcard, not the internal storage, which is where system apps such as footprints are located. To remove the bloatware that verizon and htc put on the phone, you have to be rooted.