Phone storage full? Free up Android space without deleting photos

"Storage almost full" is the message that stops a camera mid-video and an app mid-update. On a 64 GB or 128 GB phone it arrives sooner than you expect, and the first instinct is to delete photos. You usually do not need to.

Start by seeing where the space has gone: open Settings › Storage. On most phones the culprits are the same three, in this order.

1. WhatsApp: the forwards add up

Every good-morning image, video forward and voice note in your groups is saved to your phone. Over a year that can run to tens of gigabytes.

1. Open WhatsApp › Settings › Storage and data › Manage storage.
2. Look at Larger than 5 MB first. Old videos you have already watched are the quickest win.
3. Then sort your chats by size and clear media from busy groups.
4. To stop the problem returning, go back to Storage and data and set Media auto-download to Wi-Fi only, or switch off auto-download for videos.

Clearing media from a chat does not delete the messages themselves, only the files.

2. Photos: keep them, remove the duplicate copies

If you back up to Google Photos, every picture exists twice: once in the cloud and once on your phone.

1. Open Google Photos and make sure backup is complete (your profile picture shows a tick or "Backup complete").
2. Tap your profile picture › Free up space on this device.
3. Google Photos shows how much space you will get back; confirm.

Your photos stay in Google Photos and at photos.google.com, and you can still view, share and download them. They just stop taking space on the phone. Note two limits: very recent photos may stay on the device for a while, and you will not see the removed pictures in your phone's own gallery app or while offline. Your free Google storage is also limited, so check how much is left before relying on it.

3. App caches and downloads

Apps store temporary files called cache to load faster. Streaming, shopping and social apps can build up gigabytes of it.

• Open Settings › Apps, pick a heavy app, tap Storage and choose Clear cache. This is safe; the app will rebuild what it needs.
• Avoid Clear data / Clear storage unless you are happy to sign in again and lose the app's settings.
• In streaming and music apps, check the downloads section for films or playlists you downloaded for a trip and forgot.

4. The Downloads folder and forgotten apps

Open the Files app and look at Downloads. Old PDFs, APK installer files and videos often sit there for years. Sort by size and delete what you do not need. If you have an APK of an app you already installed, the installer file can go.

Finally, go through the list of apps and uninstall the ones you have not opened in months. Many Android phones show "unused apps" in Settings › Storage or in the Play Store's Manage apps & device screen.

How much to aim for

Phones slow down when they are almost full. Try to keep at least 10% of storage free: about 6 GB on a 64 GB phone or 12 GB on a 128 GB one. If you are clearing space every month, it may be time to move old videos to a computer or a memory card, or to choose a bigger storage option on your next phone.