Summary :

The other method to fix storage space running out problem on Android is to clean the device of junk files. This can be done by factory restore the smartphone or use an App to clean up unwanted junks. Here are 4 of the best free apps when it comes to finding, cleaning and deleting junk files. At this point, the operating system can try to free some space by removing some internal files, which are contained under the 'other' section (settings - phone storage - phone). After, you can just delete the created temporary files or delete them the next time you open the application. The process may differ between types of phones and Android versions. But the point is to access the “Storage” feature in mobile settings. If your android phone is not equipped with a cache cleaning tool, you can search and download it on Google Play with the keywords ” junk cleaner” or “cache cleaner”.

You can clear an iCloud account's storage in several ways to free up space and avoid having to pay for extra storage. Apple gives you 5 GB of iCloud storage with the purchase of one of its devices.

Is your Android phone giving you the insufficient storage available error when you are using it? When this issue happens, do you know how to deal with it? Here, you can read this post from MiniTool to learn how to handle it effectively.

My Phone Says Insufficient Storage But I Have Space

Now, let’s start with a real-life example as follows:

The total space of my app is 10 MB, and after installation, it will take less than 20 MB. In Galaxy Note I, while updating my app, it's saying Insufficient Storage Available, where there is 214 MB of free space in device memory (internal). It happens even trying to download a new app.stackoverflow

This is definitely an error relating to Insufficient Storage Available. What do you think about it?

As it is well known, the internal memory of an Android device is never as ample as it appears. For a device with 32GB of storage, a lot of storage is occupied by the operating system, preinstalled apps, as well as the wasted space based on how the OS formats the storage medium.

As a result, when trying to install or update an app on your Android, you could be told that there is insufficient storage available even though the app takes less space than what is actually available on your Android device. (Sometimes an alternative version of a similar error such as 'this device doesn't have enough space to download' may appear when downloading an app.)

However, there is actually enough storage space available to update or install your required app but not enough space to execute the process.

This is also the answer to the question – “why does my phone say memory full when it isn't”.

Have you encountered this issue: SD card not full but says full and nothing on it in a camera? Now try to recover data from the target SD card and fix it.

Is your Android phone also suffering from insufficient storage error? If yes, don't worry! You are not the only one and we also receive many feedbacks saying Android storage space running out but it's not. Here, we will walk you through 7 simple solutions to quick fix this issue.

Insufficient Storage Android Fix

Solution 1: Clear App Cache to Free up Space on Android

In general, the lack of working space is probably the main cause of having insufficient storage available for Android users. Usually, any Android app uses three sets of storage for the app itself, the app's data files and the app's cache.

If the cache is too large in size, it will occupy a huge part of the space although it is reported that the occupied space is the free space on Android device. In this case, emptying your app cache is a useful way to fix the Android insufficient storage error.

How to clear the app cache? Follow the steps:

1. Open Settings firstly from the home screen and then go to the Applications or Applications manager
2. Then you can see all the downloaded apps on your Android device are listed as well as how much storage space they are taking up.
3. Tap Menu or More to sort these apps by size so as to check which one takes up the most storage.
4. Tap the specific app to see the storage space occupied by the app, its data (the Storage section) and cache (Cache section).
5. Tap Clear Cache to empty cache to free up some space.
6. Repeat the same process for each app.

Additionally, you can also delete all the cache files for all your Android apps together. To do this, navigate to Settings > Storage > Device Memory. Then tap Cache data and Delete to wipe all cached data from all your apps.

After finishing the operations above, you won't complain to us 'my phone says insufficient storage but I have space'.

Solution 2: Transfer Photos/Videos from Android to Computer

If you find that your Android device is having insufficient storage available, one of the best solutions is to move some large files including photos, videos, audios, etc. to your computer so as to free up Android storage. To do this, you need a piece of third-party data transfer tool.

Luckily, this free Android data recovery software - MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android which is developed by MiniTool Team is worthy of being recommended. This free tool can be not only the Android data recovery software to recover deleted files but also the data transfer tool to save the existing files to a computer.

Besides, it can be used in all Windows OSs including Windows 10/8/7 and supports multiple Android phones and tablets, for example, Samsung, Huawei, Sony, LG, Google, etc. Now, it's up to you to download this freeware for data transferring to fix the insufficient storage available issue.

Step 1: Open MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android Free on your computer.

Which one module you need to choose from the main interface, Recover from Phone or Recover from SD-Card? Both of them are OK. If your photos, videos or music files are saved to Android internal memory, please click the first section.

Step 2: Connect the phone having the Android storage space running out issue to the computer via a USB cable. Then, analysis operation to your Android device will be performed.

Step 3: To save your photos, videos or other data to a computer successfully, you need to enable USB debugging by following the instructions based on corresponding Android version.

And then you should allow USB debugging on the computer. We suggest checking the Always allow from this computer option to avoid authorization next time.

Step 4: Choose one scan method.

• Quick Scan can be used to scan your Android device in a fast way but it only allows moving contacts, short messages and call records to a computer.
• Deep Scan is designed to scan the entire device so that more files can be transferred but this way costs much time.

Here you should choose Deep Scan to scan and save photos, videos, and audios to your computer in case of insufficient storage available.

Step 5: Then, MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android will start scanning your device. Afterwards, you can see all the found file types are marked in blue. Just choose the file type you want to extract, check all items and click Recover.

MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android Free Edition has a limitation: it only allows saving 10 files of each type each time. When phone storage is full, we suggest using its advanced edition to transfer more files.

After getting the license, click register in the scan result interface and register this freeware.

Step 6: Click Browse to specify a storage path or directly save your selected files to the default place in your computer by hitting Recover.

After finishing all the above steps, enter the Android phone and delete all the files you have saved to the computer. Then, the insufficient storage error can be solved.

If lots of pictures or videos are stored on the SD card, causing insufficient space on external storage, you can also use the Recover from SD-Card feature to save deleted and existing files to your computer.

1. Connect the Android SD card to your computer.
2. Select the target card to scan.
3. Choose the pictures or videos to save them to the specified path.

Or you can connect your SD card to a computer and directly move files on the SD card to it.

Solution 3: Save Pictures & Videos to External SD Card Instead of Internal Memory

Photos and videos consume a lot of storage on the Android device. In addition to moving them to a computer, you can fix the issue of Android storage space running out by saving your pictures or videos to an SD card.

Is it possible to recover deleted Instagram photos? Now, in this post, we will tell you how to use MiniTool software as well as other two ways to do this job.

If you have already stored photos and videos on the phone's internal storage, you should firstly remove them to the SD card. After that, change the default storage for the pictures and videos to the SD card.

To do this, go to Settings > Camera Settings. Then, select Storage location to change it to SD card or Memory card if the default storage path is Device.

Solution 4: Uninstall Unwanted Apps

Sometimes the 'Android storage space running out but it's not' issue is caused by the overwhelming amount of data stored on your phone’s internal memory. If you have many apps on your Android device and use them simultaneously, cache memory on your phone can be blocked, which leads to Android insufficient storage.

In this case, you can choose to uninstall some unwanted or unused apps to free up storage space. This operation is very simple.

To uninstall an app, go to Settings in your Android phone, and enter the Apps section to get a list of all apps that have been installed on your device. Also, you can sort them by size. Then choose the app you don't need and click Uninstall to remove it.

If you have many apps need to be deleted, repeat the above steps to free up some space to fix insufficient space.

Solution 5: Move Apps from Internal Storage to SD card

Some of you may not want to uninstall any app and would rather search for insufficient storage available Android fix without root. Here, simply moving some apps from the internal storage to your SD card is a good option. This can add space to the internal memory of your phone and solve the “can’t install app insufficient storage available” problem.

1. Go to the Settings menu on your Android device.
2. Tap on Apps.
3. You can still arrange all apps in order by taping Sort by size. Then, choose the app and tap Move to SD card.
4. Repeat the operation to remove the apps which are taking up much storage space.

How To Clean Your Iphone Internal Storage

Solution 6: Use an Cleaning App to Free up Android Space

Sometimes some junk files occupy much Android space, causing insufficient space on the device. In this case, you can use a cleaning app for Android to clean some junk files and optimize your device.

The app can be MobileGo, CCleaner, etc. Just download one from Google Play Store to remove some cache, junk or unwanted files.

Solution 7: Factory Reset Your Device

If you have tried all the above solutions but still encounter the insufficient storage available error, you may fix the problem by factory resetting.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap System > Reset or Backup & reset.
3. Tap on Factory data reset and Reset phone or Reset tablet. If there is a need, input your PIN, pattern, or password.
4. At last, tap on Erase everything.

Note that this method can wipe all data stored on your Android device. Thus, you had better back up your important data firstly. If you forget to make a backup beforehand and lost many important files after factory resetting, what should you do?

MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android can still be your good assistant. As professional Android data recovery software, it can help to effectively recover deleted files including contacts, messages, videos, photos, music files and more to your computer.

How can you recover deleted videos Android? This post will introduce you different ways to get deleted Android videos back with third-party software.

Verdict

Are you encountering the insufficient storage available issue on the Android phone or tablet when installing an app? Now, it is the time to try the above seven simple ways to fix Android storage space running out and optimize the performance.

Have some problems when using MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android to move files or recover data? Or have any suggestions to fix the insufficient storage error? Please let us know by sending an email to [email protected] or leaving your idea below.

How to empty trash on an android phone? Follow the following tutorials.

Trash on Android Phone

Android-based phones don’t have the feature to recycle trash like on a computer or laptop device. Limitations capacity storage space becomes the main reason why you can’t keep debris on android phone.

If you delete a file, the file will not be lost entirely from your Android phone. Your android phone will store the file in the storage space until a new file comes or overwrites it. If the original file has overwritten the old file, then the initial file that you deleted will be lost entirely from your android phone.

Can you access this temporary storage area? Unfortunately, the Android operating system will hide it from you. So if you are a regular user of an Android phone, you cannot access it without special treatment.

Empty Trash on Android with Clear Cached App Data

The cache is a file created to store data temporarily in your Android phone. The primary function of the supply is essential to help speed up loading on a web page or data transfer performance in an application.

How To Clean Up Storage On Iphone

However, the cache will continue to accumulate along with the number of applications you have and visited via the browser.

Examples of the use of cache for example, when the application requires the same data as before, android phones do not need to re-download the same data so that it can work faster.

This cache is handy, but if you don’t clean it for too long, it will accumulate in storage space and hinder the performance of your android phone.

Then, How to empty trash on android phone with Clear Cached App Data on android? Follow the steps below:

How To Clean Your Phone Storage Iphone

• Open your Android phone’s settings.
• Scroll down, tap “Additional Settings.”
• Select “Storage”
• Tap “File Cleanup”
• Wait for the trash scanning process to finish.
• Tap “Clean”
• Wait for the process to finish.

The process may differ between types of phones and Android versions. But the point is to access the “Storage” feature in mobile settings.

If your android phone is not equipped with a cache cleaning tool, you can search and download it on Google Play with the keywords ” junk cleaner” or “cache cleaner”. Don’t forget to look at the ratings and reviews of users of the application, make sure you use the best.

Read also: How To Fix Delayed Text Messages Android

How to Empty Trash on Android Phone with Google Files App

Google Files is a file management application for Android phone. By using this application, you can save storage space on smartphones up to 1 GB or even more.

Google Files can be used to clean file storage on smartphones. Google Files will automatically provide recommendations for files that can be deleted from your android phones, such as applications that haven’t been used for a long time, a collection of similar photos, or large videos. As a result, you can expand the storage space on android phone, especially those that are almost gone.

Delete Duplicate Files

Duplicate Files is useless for you. You must make more storage available for the same file. To delete duplicate files with Google Files, follow the following steps:

• Download and install the Google Files application on Google Play
• Open the Google Files application
• Tap the “Clean” icon at the bottom
• Google Files will display phone cleaning recommendations
• On the “Duplicate Files” card, tap “Select and free up …”
• Select the file you want to delete or check “All Duplicates” to delete all duplicate files
• Tap “Delete”

Monitor and Uninstall Least-Used Apps

Google Files has a feature to find applications that we rarely use. This will help us to select and uninstall these applications. To activate this feature, follow these steps:

• Open the Google FIles application.
• Tap the “Clean” icon at the bottom
• Scroll down
• On the “Free up more space” card, tap “Continue.”
• Follow the instructions to give Google Files access in the phone’s settings.
• Return to the “Your unused apps” card
• Tap “Select and free up…”
• Select the app that you want to Uninstall or check “All items ” to uninstall all Unused app
• Tap “Uninstall”

Delete Downloaded Files

We usually download a file to try to use it and forget about it later. We forget the files and will accumulate in our download folder and fill the storage space. It also has the opportunity to slow down the performance of our android phones.

Then how to delete downloaded files on android? Follow the steps below:

• Open the Google FIles application.
• Tap the “Clean” icon at the bottom
• Scroll down
• On the “Downloaded files” card, tap ” Select and free up … “
• Select the file you want to delete or check “All items ” to delete all downloaded files

Many other features of Google Files are quite impressive, such as file sharing and others. You can do your exploration in this application.

Read also: How To Delete Downloads On Android

How to Empty Trash on Some Google Android Applications

The following applications store files in a different place with android phone storage space. They keep it in the cloud so you can open it from any device.

But if you synchronise automatically, these applications will download all the files stored in the cloud (sometimes also junk files) to the storage space of your Android phone. This happens so the files are available offline or you don’t need to download them from the beginning.

You can delete files that are in the trash folder to maximise the work of your Android phone and save your storage capacity in the cloud.

Google Drive

How to empty trash on Google Drive? Follow the steps below:

• Open the Google Drive application on your Android phone
• Tap the menu button (three lines) in the top left corner to bring up the left bar
• Tap “Trash”
• A list of deleted files will be displayed
• Press and hold a few seconds one file
• Tap the box icon at the top (position in the middle) to select all files
• Tap the three-dot icon in the top right corner
• The selection window will appear below, like “Delete forever.”

Google Photos

How to empty trash on Google Photos? Follow the steps below:

• Open the Google Photos application on your Android phone
• Tap the menu button (three lines) in the top left corner to bring up the left bar
• Tap “Trash”
• Tap the three-dot icon in the top right corner
• Select Empty Trash.

Gmail

How to empty trash on Gmail? Follow the steps below:

• Open the Gmail application on your Android phone
• Tap the menu button (three lines) in the top left corner to bring up the left bar
• Scroll down, tap “Trash.”
• Press and hold the e-mail to select by selecting
• Or Tap “Empty trash now” to empty the Trash folder in one step

Read also: How to Delete All Gmail Emails at Once on Android.

How To Clean Mobile Phone Storage Space

That’s all, How to empty trash on android phone. I hope this helps.