Not Enough Free Space

[Michael1973]

I keep getting notified that there's not enough space on my phone for it to perform updates. When I connect my phone to a PC and view it through Windows Explorer, it does indeed show a huge amount of space is being used but I cannot figure out what's on there. Most folders show as empty.

Any ideas what I can do to make space? Or at least narrow down what's taking up so much room? (It's not photos.)

 

[Hadron]

The PC can only see part of the phone's storage (the virtual partition that is treated as if it's a internal SD card). Your phone's own storage menu can probably tell you more than your PC can. Maybe if you give us the numbers someone may be able to help you work out what you can do.

Be aware that depending on what model you have something between 4-10GB will be taken up by the system partitions. There is nothing you can do about these, and since they contain the operating system, baseband firmware etc that the phone needs to operate at all you wouldn't really want to

 

[Michael1973]

Thanks for this info. My next question, then, would be what's the procedure for removing apps from the phone to free up space? I'm not completely sure how to do that.

 

[svim]

Your profile indicates you have a Moto E3 or E3 G, is that still the case?
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/motorola-moto-e3-3637-vs-motorola-moto-g-gen-3-2817
If yes, with only 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage it's going to have some general performance issues. With 8GBs of storage, once you account for the operating system itself that doesn't leave you with much free storage space. I'd recommend getting a new or at least newer phone rather than spend time every few days trying to clear up some working space on that phone. Because that's what you'll be doing as any measures you take free up space will be temporary ones -- you can clear app caches but the apps need them and will just rebuild what you delete; and you can remove apps and you can limit yourself from adding any new ones, but at some point you're just denying yourself the benefit of even having a smartphone.
But if you get a phone that has adequate resources to begin with, you won't need to do all that temporary maintenance stuff. You can just use your phone as is, And you don't have to spend a lot getting a flagship model, if you have realistic expectations there are a number of phones available these days that are perfectly suitable for daily usage and don't cost that much.
https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-budget-android-phone/

 

[Hadron]

Thanks for this info. My next question, then, would be what's the procedure for removing apps from the phone to free up space? I'm not completely sure how to do that.

You go into Settings > Apps, select the app you want to remove and press "uninstall" (I usually clear its storage first, but that's probably an old, unnecessary, paranoid habit). Or you can uninstall from the Play Store.

If you meant pre-installed apps, you can't without rooting. And if you did it wouldn't help because it would only free space in the /system partition, which doesn't provide any more space in the partition your apps and data live in. If you disable unwanted pre-installed apps that removes their data and any updates to them, which will free up some space, and if you could uninstall them it wouldn't free up any more (i.e. it's not worth the effort of rooting if that was your only reason to do it). The system should not let you disable anything vital (it might also stop you disabling stuff that's not vital, but that's down to the manufacturer).

As said above, there's really only so much you can do if the phone only has 8GB storage (which means about 4GB accessible to you). Phones with that little storage are only adequate for people who barely use them at all, and if I had my way they'd either be banned from sale or required to have warning labels on them. If you can't afford better, does it offer the option to format an SD card as internal storage? That will allow you to make better use of the sd card for storing apps, but at the cost of the card no longer being readable by any other device (i.e. you really do have to think of it as internal rather than removable storage). And as that involves reformatting the card, you must back up any data on it first or they will be lost.

 

[KBU2]

As both members above has given you good information for your circumstances, It wouldn't hurt to use an good old fashioned file cleaner to remove residuals from uninstalled apps and unwanted thumbnails that may be lurking and cuddling up your storage. I can almost guarantee that will clear up some of your storage space but I can't guarantee how much.

 

[Wendell Gee]

I have been deleting stuff all day from my LG stylo 3 including several apps,videos,and pictures .When I drag down and click on the icon for running out of space,it doesn't look like I've done anything .I've read all kinds of mumbo jumbo about clearing space and at this point I don't have a cleaner app and probably couldn't load one .Can ANYBODY tell me something that might actually work?

 

[svim]

Can ANYBODY tell me something that might actually work?

With only 8GB of internal storage, that simply isn't enough space to begin with. Having to frequently free up storage space is a standard (and temporary) practice for low-end, low-spec phones.
Again, either opt to get a newer, better phone where constantly needing to free up basic storage space won't be an issue, or just learn to accept the limitations of your current phone.

 

[Davdi]

My current phone is a HomTom HT17 (Cheap as chips on EBay), but with 1GB/16GB it struggles with Android 6.
I'm looking now at Chinese phones with 3 or 4GB RAM and a minimum of 32GB storage, and SD support up to 256GB.
there's a huge variety for not much money (I've set a maximum budget of £200, but may well spend less) for a phone with Oreo 8.0 or 8.1. Whether Project Treble will make updating a reality I'm not sure about.

 

[Wendell Gee]

With only 8GB of internal storage, that simply isn't enough space to begin with. Having to frequently free up storage space is a standard (and temporary) practice for low-end, low-spec phones.
Again, either opt to get a newer, better phone where constantly needing to free up basic storage space won't be an issue, or just learn to accept the limitations of your current phone.

Thanks for the response. I did find a file manager that gave me the ability to get rid of some garbage,but I get the impression that there's still stuff there I don't need but can't get rid of. When I click on the low storage space icon there's a file marked "other" that I can't do anything with .I know the phone doesn't have enough memory,but I like it and will just have to deal with it the best I can.

 

[Hadron]

"Other" isn't a file, it's a catch-all category for "everything that isn't one of the other categories we've listed" ("Miscellaneous" is another useless name that some manufacturers use for this). It's likely that most if not all of that is your system software, which is why there is nothing you can do with it, and nothing you should do with it.

 

[Wendell Gee]

"Other" isn't a file, it's a catch-all category for "everything that isn't one of the other categories we've listed" ("Miscellaneous" is another useless name that some manufacturers use for this). It's likely that most if not all of that is your system software, which is why there is nothing you can do with it, and nothing you should do with it.

Thanks