High-end smartphones and tablets now typically come with 16, 32, or even 64GB of internal memory to work with. While this is smaller than the hard drives on most PCs, it’s large enough to store a sizable amount of apps and a great deal of files. But having more space can also make us more inclined to fill it up. Just because you used to get by using an 8GB phone, that doesn’t mean you won’t potentially run out of space after making the jump to 32GB. So once you get a low space notification, what do you do then? While I could point you towards a number of apps that offer to clean up your phone for you, it’s safer to take this type of task into your own hands. Thankfully, the DiskUsage app by Ivan Volosyuk makes it easy to see precisely what is taking up your Android storage space.
Let’s Get Started!
First up, head over to the Play Store and download DiskUsage. It’s completely free, so you don’t have to worry about making room in your budget for this one.
When you first open DiskUsage, it will ask which storage destination you would like to view. The default option will most likely be a “storage card,” even if your device doesn’t have a MicroSD card slot. Android is designed in a way that leads many apps to view internal memory as an SD card. It’s not a problem. Just select the option and let DiskUsage do its work.
Afterwards, you will be presented with a visual report of all of the data on your device.
From here, you can select any specific app on your device. Clicking on Google Play Music shows how much space it’s consuming and how much of that is going towards app data. In this case, basically all of it. This is usually the case for most apps.
If an app is taking up too much space, you can try clearing the app’s data, emptying out its cache, or uninstalling the app entirely. You can do this by clicking on the “Show” button in the top right corner. This button it will take you to the app’s settings. From here you can clear up much of the space, if not all of it. Unfortunately, some apps cannot be uninstalled entirely unless you’ve rooted your device.
This approach can be somewhat extreme, and it may not be necessary for certain apps. If you have a podcast manager installed, read a lot of ebooks, or subscribe to digital magazines, it would be better to personally manage what content remains downloaded to your device. You can do this quickly by looking at the media section in DiskUsage’s grid. Clicking on it shows which apps and folders contain content that’s consuming the most space. You can then go to these apps and manually delete the files you no longer wish to keep on your device.
Conclusion
DiskUsage isn’t a comprehensive tool that will take care of cleaning your Android device for you. Instead, it gives you a birds-eye-view of what’s stored where and points you in the right direction. In the end, though, it’s up to you to know what to do with the visual data it presents you with. If you make a habit of firing up DiskUsage to keep a check on things, you may just find that your Android phone will be more organized and that the annoying low space warning won’t pop up nearly as much.
Bertel is a tech blogger and independent novelist who puts perhaps a tad too much trust in Google. He’s loved Android since the moment he got his eager hands on his first device – if not sooner – and has understood the Chromebook Pixel from day one.You can follow his work at bertelking.com.
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