can't update apps on my tablet

[Ron Miel]

Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F

I've been having trouble installing or updating apps on my tablet. Every time I try I get a message telling me to free up space.

I have plenty of space. Internal storage, 9.41GB used out of 16GB. SD card, 4.49GB used out of 32GB. Total 13.85 GB used out of 48 GB. Over 34GB free.

It was working fine until a few weeks ago. Then it stopped. I thought it was because memory was full. I was using only the internal memory then, and it was almost all used up. It took me a while before I added the SD card a few days ago, and I'm still having problems.

I've tried all the obvious things, such as
- restarting the device
- force stop all the apps
- clear the cache
- update the system

 

[AugieTN]

Factory reset?

 

[Dannydet]

https://m.gsmarena.com/lenovo_tab_2_a10_70-7089.php
Your device is 8 years old.
Internal storage is maxed out.
Which is causing the problem.
I'd seriously recommend you getting a new device to replace this one.

 

[The_Chief]

What you're talking about is user storage. The Android Operating System, however, doesn't store apps and app data there: it stores it in RAM. Your tablet only has 2 GB of RAM to start with! Factor in the RAM used by Android to run, PLUS all your apps and data, you have scant little room left.

Depending on how much (or how little) RAM your tablet has, you may be at the limit your tablet can still run. I would suggest getting rid of unused/unneeded apps; clearing system cache; and deleting old messages on your tablet if you have any. Otherwise, as @Dannydet said, it's time for a new device capable of the newer Android versions.

 

[Dannydet]

There's a great utility app out there that I use that helps with clearing storage, called SD Maid.
I have the pro version and it works great

 

[The_Chief]

SD Maid also helps with RAM?

 

[Ron Miel]

Internal storage is maxed out..

I don't think so. There's several free GBs in internal. All my apps have been moved from internal to the SD card. Only the pre-installed, unmovable ones are still in internal. Until recently, It was working fine, with internal storage a lot fuller than it is now.

 

[Ron Miel]

There's a great utility app out there that I use that helps with clearing storage, called SD Maid.
I have the pro version and it works great

Any suggestions on how I install it, since I am having trouble installing apps?

 

[Dannydet]

Here's the lowdown on SD Maid...
https://androidforums.com/threads/sd-maid-effectiveness-and-androids-ram.1095778/

 

[ocnbrze]

What you're talking about is user storage. The Android Operating System, however, doesn't store apps and app data there: it stores it in RAM. Your tablet only has 2 GB of RAM to start with! Factor in the RAM used by Android to run, PLUS all your apps and data, you have scant little room left.

Depending on how much (or how little) RAM your tablet has, you may be at the limit your tablet can still run. I would suggest getting rid of unused/unneeded apps; clearing system cache; and deleting old messages on your tablet if you have any. Otherwise, as @Dannydet said, it's time for a new device capable of the newer Android versions.

i believe the android os is actually stored in the internal storage and not ram. ram is for cache, temp files, data from apps, cookies, etc. but you are right the android os is pretty robust even for older android os. 16gb of storage is not much and almost half of it is for the android os.

if you have an sd card, i believe your tablet can format a sd card as internal. this will free up room. just keep in mind that once you do this, you can't treat the sd card as portable any more. it will then be part of the device's internal storage. you will not be able to take the card out.

 

[Milo Williamson]

SD pro really works wonders, by killing all the corpse files, as well as doing a massive turning off factory data and resetting everything to nill.

 

[Hadron]

I don't think so. There's several free GBs in internal.

Are you sure? 16GB will be the total storage, including space used by the system (ROM, radio firmware, bootloader, system cache, recovery and the rest). That lot will take several GB, so probably only 10GB or so will be available to the user. So if that 9.41GB is your usage, rather than total usage of the storage, you are almost certainly out of space. The device will refuse to install apps when the free internal space falls below some limit, which is set by the manufacturer and varies between devices, but is likely 1-2 GB (Android needs some free space to operate, but how much needs to be reserved isn't a science and manufacturers make their own decisions). Space on a removable SD card is irrelevant to this, those things are basically media storage.

Maybe a screenshot of whatever you are using to get your estimate of usage/free space would be useful. The storage usage screens also vary between manufacturers and OS versions and are not always completely transparent to the user, so it might help if we could see the full information rather than just what you understand it to be saying.

 

[Ron Miel]

Are you sure?

Yes, I'm sure.

16GB will be the total storage, including space used by the system (ROM, radio firmware, bootloader, system cache, recovery and the rest). That lot will take several GB, so probably only 10GB or so will be available to the user. So if that 9.41GB is your usage, rather than total usage of the storage, you are almost certainly out of space.

To reiterate: I had all my apps in internal storage, about 15.9 GB. I added a SD card, and moved all my apps to the card. This reduced current usage to 9.41, which presumably already includes ROM, bootloader, and the rest.

The device will refuse to install apps when the free internal space falls below some limit, which is set by the manufacturer and varies between devices, but is likely 1-2 GB (Android needs some free space to operate, but how much needs to be reserved isn't a science and manufacturers make their own decisions). Space on a removable SD card is irrelevant to this, those things are basically media storage.

It can't be that. There is nothing left in internal storage, except the pre-installed apps which can't be moved. There is nothing left to move or delete to free up space. Space is as free as it can be.

Maybe a screenshot of whatever you are using to get your estimate of usage/free space would be useful. The storage usage screens also vary between manufacturers and OS versions and are not always completely transparent to the user, so it might help if we could see the full information rather than just what you understand it to be saying.

The information comes from Settings > Storage & USB.

 

[AugieTN]

At this point I would try a factory reset and hope for the best.