How to free up space on Android

1. See what is using your storage

Start by finding where the space went. Menus differ between phone makers, but the storage screen is easy to find.

1. On most phones, including Pixel, open Settings → Storage.
2. On Samsung Galaxy phones, open Settings → Battery and device care → Storage. On older One UI versions it is Settings → Device care → Storage.
3. Wait for the numbers to load. You will see categories such as Apps, Images, Videos, Audio, Documents, System and Trash. Tap one to see what is inside.

If you can’t find it, type storage into the search bar at the top of Settings. For most people, images, videos and apps are the biggest blocks. The System figure is Android itself, and you can’t shrink it.

2. Clear app cache (not data)

Apps save temporary files, called cache, so they load faster. Browsers, social apps and streaming apps can build up hundreds of megabytes each.

1. Open Settings → Apps (on some phones, tap See all apps).
2. Tap an app you use a lot, such as Chrome, Instagram or TikTok.
3. Tap Storage & cache (on Samsung: Storage), then Clear cache.

Cache vs data: clearing cache is safe. The app just rebuilds it over time. The other button, Clear storage or Clear data, wipes everything the app has saved, including your login and settings. Only use it if you want to reset the app.

Older Android versions had a single button to clear all cached data at once. Newer versions removed it, so you now clear cache one app at a time. Start with the apps at the top of the list in step 1.

3. Use the Clean tab in Files by Google

Files by Google is a free app from Google. It comes pre-installed on many phones, including Pixel, and you can get it from the Play Store on others.

1. Open Files by Google and tap Clean at the bottom.
2. Look through the suggestion cards. Depending on your phone, you may see junk files, duplicate files, large files, old screenshots and photos that are already backed up.
3. Tap a card, check what is selected, and confirm. For duplicates and large files, look at each item before you delete it.

“Junk files” here means leftover temporary files, and clearing them is safe. It is the quickest single win on many phones.

4. Free up space in Google Photos

If you back up to Google Photos, your phone may still hold a full copy of every photo. You can remove those device copies and keep the backed-up versions in your Google Account.

1. Open Google Photos and tap your profile picture in the top corner.
2. Look for Free up space. On some versions it is under Photos settings → Backup instead.
3. Google Photos tells you how much it can clear. Confirm to remove the phone copies.

Only do this if your backup is complete. Check that backup is on and says it is finished before you tap the button. The photos stay in Google Photos, so you can still see them, but you need a connection to open the full versions.

Empty the Trash too. Deleted photos don’t free space straight away. In Google Photos, items in Trash (called Bin in some regions) stay for 60 days if they were backed up, or 30 days if they were not. On Samsung, the Gallery app has its own Recycle bin that keeps deleted items for 30 days. Open the Trash or Recycle bin and empty it to get the space back now. Check it first: this cannot be undone.

5. Delete duplicate, similar and blurry photos

Most photo libraries are full of near-copies: ten shots of the same dinner, a burst where one frame is sharp, the same meme saved from three chats. Add blurry photos and a few long videos, and that can be gigabytes.

Files by Google finds exact duplicate files, which is a good start. It does not group photos that look almost the same but aren’t identical files, and those similar shots are usually where most of the wasted space is. Sorting them by hand works, but it takes a long time.

Videos are the other big one. In Google Photos or your Gallery app, open the Videos album and look at the longest clips first. Save anything you want to keep to a computer or cloud storage before deleting it from the phone.

6. Empty your Downloads folder

PDFs, APK files, zip files and email attachments pile up in Downloads and are easy to forget.

1. Open Files by Google and tap Browse → Downloads. On Samsung, open My Files → Downloads.
2. Sort by size, largest first.
3. Select the files you no longer need and delete them.

7. Clear WhatsApp media

Group chats can quietly fill a phone with photos, videos, voice notes and stickers. WhatsApp has its own storage tool.

1. Open WhatsApp → Settings → Storage and data → Manage storage.
2. Review the Larger than 5 MB and Forwarded many times lists, then open the biggest chats and delete what you don’t need.
3. To stop it filling up again, go back to Storage and data and set Media auto-download to download less, or nothing, on mobile data and Wi-Fi.

Telegram, Signal and other chat apps have similar settings. It is worth a look if you use them a lot.

8. Uninstall or archive apps you don’t use

Games and big apps you opened once can take gigabytes. The Play Store shows them sorted by size.

1. Open the Play Store, tap your profile picture, then Manage apps & device.
2. Tap the Manage tab and sort the list by Size.
3. Select the apps you don’t need and tap the bin icon to uninstall them.

On supported devices, the Play Store can also archive apps you don’t use when space runs low. Archiving removes most of the app but keeps your data, so it comes back as it was when you reinstall it. Look for Automatically archive apps in the Play Store settings. If you don’t see it, your phone may not support it yet.

More places to look

• Offline maps: in Google Maps, tap your profile picture, then Offline maps, and delete areas you no longer need.
• Streaming downloads: check the Downloads section in Netflix, Spotify, YouTube Music, podcast apps and similar apps.
• SD card: if your phone has a memory card slot, you can move photos, videos and music to the card. Many camera apps also let you save new photos straight to the SD card.

A word about “cleaner” and “booster” apps

Many Android cleaner apps promise to boost RAM or speed up your phone. That doesn’t help much. Android manages memory on its own, and apps you close to “free RAM” often just reload in the background. The steps above clear app cache without any extra app.

Where an Android phone storage cleaner can help is with your own files: finding duplicates, similar shots, blurry photos and large videos you would otherwise sort by hand. That is what Decluttr AI does. It does not clear other apps’ caches or boost RAM.