Have you guys ever run into this situation on your Android devices? Whenever you were trying to download some Apps or videos to your phone, an “insufficient storage” message on your phone’s notification bar and. There is a large amount of data usage in your internal memory that is displayed as “other”. If you guys are reading this article, I guess it’s probably as that you guys have run into this trouble on your device or it was also performing even worse. In this article, we are going to talk about Clean up Internal Storage and Other Storage on Android. Let’s begin!
So how can you clean up your Android device, how you can clear you the “other” storage to release more space? Before looking for a third-party app, why not trying along with the Android system itself? Many times, the easiest way may also be the best way. Then check the steps below. Also please kindly note that the following tips are based on my own Huawei Android 6.0 Marshmallow, as we all know, Android devices’ features are really different from each other resulted from many versions and brands, so the operation below will be a little different along with yours.
The system basically puts any unidentified storage files that is under the ‘Other’ in your Android device’s stock memory analyzer as well. If you have been looking for a solution to this problem, and then you have landed at the right place.
Contents
- 1 What’s in the ‘Other’ category | Other Storage on Android
- 2 How to Clean up storage space and clean the ‘Other’ section in storage
- 2.1 Use a Storage Analyzer/File manager app
- 2.2 Use the ‘Clean up’ option on your device | Other Storage on Android
- 2.3 Check data used by proprietary apps
- 2.4 Check Android/obb & Android/data directories
- 2.5 Go back to stock ROM if you are using a Custom ROM
- 2.6 Move data to SD card & reset your phone | Other Storage on Android
- 2.7 Conclusion
What’s in the ‘Other’ category | Other Storage on Android
Here’s what actually is filling the storage marked as ‘Other’ on your device.
Private App Data
The most prominent reason for your storage space filling up under the ‘Other’ tag also has been identified to be Private app data actually. This could be additionally downloaded files, and also failed OTA updates, cloud sync files, and much more.
Most apps and games nowadays have smaller installation files but need heavy downloads over the Wi-Fi to be completely operational. Further, there are apps that will sync to the cloud and constantly download and upload data relying on your preferences.
Moreover, streaming services can mostly glitch out and fail in order to delete cache files which can also clog up the storage space on your Android device.
Failed OTA Updates
New devices are mostly eligible for a few major OS updates in their lifetime and regular security updates as well. From the past decade, most of these updates have been provided OTA that is easier for the consumer as the device can be updated remotely without even the need for a PC.
On the other hand, the drawback of OTA updates is that they can easily fail on a slow network or also a network that mostly resets. Higher internet ping can also lead to the failure of OTA updates and also not to mention that they are virtually impossible if you guys are traveling for long hours.
All these half downloaded updates and also temporary installer files can also show up as ‘Other’ data in your device and might need you to clean it up manually.
Failed Backups | Other Storage on Android
Google provides you the option to backup your mobile data to the cloud in Google drive. There are also many other services that permit you to do the same with attractive pricing options. keeping your device synced to the cloud has a lot of benefits, you will have a backup of all your data even if you lose it, then you can access all your files on the go in spite of having low space on the local storage of your device.
Cloud services also offer perks such as password vaults, game data backups, free storage space, file hosting, and much more. However, often these services can glitch out because of regular updates and new features.
Even though most of these issues get fixed instantaneously, and there can be failed backups on your device locally. That might not be recognized via the backup service itself. There can also be duplicate files on your device that might also be taking up extra space that will show up under the ‘Other’ category.
Your browsers, apps, and also games constantly connect to the internet and download a lot of data in the form of text, pictures, and videos. These could be consumer files, ads, content, and also much more. All of these files are mostly programmed to get cleaned upon exit in order to keep your local storage free from clutter.
However, there are instances when these files get leftover, this is a really common occurrence in the case of mobile browsers. If you guys fail to clear up your website data then your browser’s local storage could end up taking a significant amount of storage on your device as well.
All of these temporary files and cache files will show up as ‘Other’ whenever you guys analyze your filesystem via Android’s stock settings app.
How to Clean up storage space and clean the ‘Other’ section in storage
Here’s how you can clear the files and data in the ‘Other’ category of storage.
Use a Storage Analyzer/File manager app
The best way in order to get a good solution is to understand your problem completely. Having an efficient file manager will also help you get a more clear look at the larger files on your local storage.
You would be able to sort them according to their size. That will help you identify large files much more easily. Plus, you can also see system files and hidden files on your local storage. That might be the root cause for your huge ‘Other’ data. Here are few recommended file analyzers and file managers.
File Manager By Flashlight + Clock
A file manager is one of the most famous apps for managing your storage that is currently available on the play store. It gives a comprehensive look at your local storage, SD card, and also even external storage options that are actually connected via OTG.
The file manager will actually classify your files into predetermined categories. Such as images, videos, audio files, system files, downloads, etc. The File Manager also provides you the ability to sync to the cloud and remote services for on-the-go access as well as permits for a comprehensive storage analysis of your file system.
Disk Usage By Ivan Volosyuk
Disk usage is also a comprehensive file manager that focuses on privacy. It is actually an open-source code project that displays visual data on all of your files for easy cleaning.
It also has detail diagrams to identify the largest files and directories on your filesystem that can then clean manually.
Storage Analyzer & Disk Usage By Anton Patapovich
The Storage Analyzer & Disk Usage focuses more on the cleaning aspect of your local storage as well. It also comes along with an interactive and also detailed UI as well as an inbuilt cache cleaner for your device.
It also has virtualization parameters that will show graphs, pie charts, and more according to different variables such as storage size, date created, last opened and much more. Also, it comes along with a widget that can directly place on your home screen. As well as a Top 10 feature that will show your largest files for easy cleaning.
Ghost Commander By Ghost Squared
Ghost commander is also another privacy-focused dual-panel file manager that is also a dropbox client. It permits for easy sorting of files based on name, size, extension, and date as well.
The file manager also has the ability to modify partitions and also supports compressing and decompressing of files as well. The ghost commander also has an FTP client built-in and has its own text editor and image viewer
Amaze File Manager By Team Amaze
The amaze file manager is also another open-source file manager that basically comes along with its own basic material design and support for AES encryption as well. The file manager also has support for major cloud services and has its own database reader.
It also has .zip and .rar support and comes along with an in-built APK reader. It is one of the few file managers on our list that does not really have in-built ads which is a huge plus.
Use the ‘Clean up’ option on your device | Other Storage on Android
Almost all Android devices these days provide you an option to clean up the storage of your device in the Settings app itself. Here’s how you can use it:
- First, open the Settings app on your device.
- Now scroll down and find the Storage option. On Samsung devices, it’s under Device Care. Just like that, you can also simply search for ‘storage’ via using the search bar at the top.
- Under Storage, the UI may be really different for different Android phones. However, you can tap on any item to find more info about its content, and then can selectively delete stuff as well.
Check data used by proprietary apps
Android’s in-built stock memory scanner can also be a really huge help if your app data is clogging up your local storage. In order to make use of this feature follow this simple guide.
- First, open your ‘Settings’ app.
- Now navigate to ‘Storage Options’ and open it.
- If your manufacturer permits, then sort the apps according to their size. If not, then manually scan the apps to find the ones along with exorbitant data sizes.
- Open the app and tap on clear cache.
- If that does not help, and then tap on clear all data.
Check Android/obb & Android/data directories
Deleted apps are mostly leftover in your filesystem because of certain glitches of incompatible updates. These leftover app files are also caused because of third party launchers that also have not been optimized for your device.
If you guys are unable to clear your ‘other’ storage via the above-stated methods then you should resort to this method. There might be leftover app files from your deleted apps in your local store that you guys might have to clean manually.
- Open your File Manager you want.
- Navigate to settings and turn on ‘Show System Files & Folders’.
- Then Navigate to ‘/Android/obb’ in your file manager.
- Most files in this section of your local storage will be actually named in the following format ‘com.ABC.XYZ’. ABC being the developer name and also XYZ being the App name.
- Just scan this section for names of deleted apps and delete the ones that you find.
- When you are done in ‘/Android/obb’ navigate to ‘/Android/data’.
- Follow the same steps as the previous folder in order to identify left-over data from deleted apps. Delete the ones that you guys find and then check your ‘Other’ storage.
Go back to stock ROM if you are using a Custom ROM
If your device is rooted and also you have been using a custom ROM. Then there is a high chance that your custom ROM has glitched out. A few major custom ROMS also including the likes of Lineage OS, Pixel OS. And more have experienced bugs where the file system ends up duplicating itself many times.
This can clog up the memory on your local storage that could end up as unidentified files in the ‘Other’ section of your memory scanner. A good idea in order to solve this problem if the above-mentioned methods do not really work is to revert back to your Stock’s latest ROM. And wait for an update from your Custom ROM’s developer as well.
Plus, you could also raise a help request on the developer’s Github account in case he/she is regularly active and also responsive to bug reports.
Move data to SD card & reset your phone | Other Storage on Android
If the above-mentioned methods fail in order to help clear the ‘Other’ storage section on your local storage. Then it might be time to adopt severe solutions in order to solve this problem.
You should start via using the SD card method because it’s faster, easier and does not need a full backup of your device. Just follow these steps.
- Insert a high-capacity SD card into your device. If your device does not really have an SD card slot then just consider using an OTG card reader.
- Now create a manual local backup of all your essential data files.
- Locally backup your contacts and saved passwords onto the SD card as well.
- Now just reset your device to its factory settings.
- Just set up your device as new and restore your files and also local contacts backup from your SD card.
Your ‘Other’ storage should also have cleared up and things should be back to normal via now.
Conclusion
Alright, That was all Folks! I hope you guys like this “Other Storage on Android” article and also find it helpful to you. Give us your feedback on it. Also if you guys have further queries and issues related to this article. Then let us know in the comments section below. We will get back to you shortly.
Have a Great Day!
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