Many of us, at some point, will experience insufficient disk space issues on our phones. This affects future app downloads and even the performance of our phone. There may be an application that we use daily that stores too many cache files. The media we download through our messaging apps can also accumulate and take up a lot of space. However, the only way to find out what’s taking up so much space on your phone is to check.
There are several ways to check the size of your applications on a Android smartphone. We may use the built-in options on your phone or use third-party applications. Either way, you can easily perform this process yourself.
Using the built-in options to check the size of the application
Using the built-in options, our Android smartphones allow you to verify that the size of the application is the safest way. It significantly reduces the risk of viruses, hacking and information leakage.
1. Application manager
Application Manager is a tool added by Android to facilitate the resolution of such problems. With it you can see the data usage, battery usage, storage and memory of each application. Although all Android devices have the application manager, it can appear as storage or applications in some smartphones.
- Go to Settings> Application manager.
- Here you will have three display options: downloaded, running, everything. The size of each application will appear next to their name.
- You can also press on each application and choose Storage to see its complete information. You will be able to move them to your external storage, delete cache files, etc.
2. App Store Library
Another safe and easy way to check the size of your app is to use the App Store on your phone. You can either use Google Play Store, Which can be found in most Android smartphones, Galaxy Essentials for Galaxy smartphones or Huawei App Gallery for Huawei smartphones.
- First, open your App Store. Choose Plus or the three lines in the upper left corner of your screen.
- Tap My apps and games.
- Here you will see three options run at the top of the screen: Updates, installed and library.
- Choose Installed to see the applications currently installed on your phone and their size.
3. Device maintenance
You can check the size of the apps on your smartphone by going to device maintenance. Device maintenance is a simple and straightforward way to check sizes, similar to how the application manager works.
- First, go to your phone’s settings and search for Device Maintenance. Tap it to open it.
- You will have four options: battery, storage, memory, device security.
- Tap Storage. You will see a new page with all the information about your phone’s storage and what is taking up space. Documents, images, audio and applications will be listed.
- Select Applications. There you can see a list of your apps and their sizes.
Third party apps that can check app size
There are many third-party applications on the Internet that you may find useful. However, the security of installing and using these applications on your phone is not guaranteed. The safest and most popular apps that you can download are recommended below.
1. AppMgr III application
AppMgr III is a third-party application manager with many functions identical to those of the application manager. It displays the size of the application and can move your application from internal storage to external storage in a second. It can even hide your apps in a secure folder for new Android phones.
2. Storage analyzer and disk usage application
Another good and above all safe third party application that you can download is the Storage Analyzer and Disk Usage application. When you install this app, it scans your storage and files, then gives you full access to the files and information from the apps you have installed on your phone. Storage Analyzer does not require an Internet connection to be used, which increases its security.
Tracking with great apps
Once you’ve found the culprit – or the most space-consuming app – you need to decide what you want to do. You can either empty the cache files, delete the app from your smartphone, move them to external storage, or make room by getting rid of smaller, unused photos, documents, and files.
Empty the cache
Caching is the process by which a device stores bits of information to speed up the loading of an application or browser screen. These data bits can add up and eventually cancel the performance quality caching that is expected to increase.
- To empty your cache, go to Settings> Application manager.
- Select Other applications.
- Select the application for which you want to clear the cache.
- Tap Clear cache.
Delete the application
- To remove or uninstall apps on your smartphone, go to Settings> Application manager.
- Select View all apps.
- Choose the application you want to uninstall.
- Tap Uninstall.
Move apps to external storage
- Using the application manager, you can move large applications to an SD card.
- Go to Settings> Application manager.
- Select the application you want to move to external storage.
- Tap Storage and select Edit. If you don’t see the Edit option, you can’t move this app.
- Select Move. This will move your app to your SD card.
You may be surprised at how much space an app can take up on your smartphone. Sometimes users don’t even realize there are unnecessary apps. Do not hesitate to uninstall these applications. As long as they are available for download on your App Store, you can always recover them. But my recommendation is that if you don’t use it or haven’t used it in the past month, get rid of it.
Conclusion
These five methods can help you access information in your applications and the space they occupy on your phone. You can now manage them better, as well as your phone storage. Always consider security and be careful when downloading third-party applications. These applications have access to your personal information and may end up passing it on to unknown locations. If this is the case, low storage will not be the only thing that affects the performance of your smartphone!