Recording videos at a high resolution and shooting lots of photos is a surefire way to fill up your phone’s storage fast. Of course, you could always move some elements to the cloud, but they will be unavailable if you don’t have mobile data. But there is another solution to free up much-needed space. Read on to see how you can increase storage by updating a single app.
Here’s the backstory
Google includes many tools in the Android mobile operating system for you to tinker with. One of these is called Files by Google and is meant to be one app where you can organize and access all kinds of documents, photos, and data on your device. But the biggest issue that many Android users experience is that Files by Google can be clunky sometimes, and it’s not always clear how to utilize. However, Google has made some changes over the last few months. For example, it added a Favorites folder to quickly navigate and better incorporate Google Photos so that you can delete images on your device after backing up to the cloud. For some, that might not be enough free space. As mentioned, apps and mobile games have become more prominent and can easily make up the bulk of your device’s storage. A recent update to Files by Google makes it easier to see which apps are hogging the most space.
What you can do about it
While you could navigate to the Play Store and manage the installed apps, the updated Files app does that effectively. When you open the Files app and navigate to the “Apps” tab, you’ll notice the addition of chips intelligent filtering options. By tapping on “Large apps,” Files by Google will show you applications of significant size. This makes it easy to see which apps take up the most space. Combining that with the “Unused apps” chip gives you an instant view of the most prominent apps you have never used. There is also a chip that will only show you games, and you can combine multiple chips to search better. Android Police says you’ll only see a list of large, unplayed games when you activate all three chips. This new filtering in Files by Google makes it incredibly easy to quickly and efficiently remove applications that take up valuable space. Don’t be alarmed when you open the updated Files by Google app for the first time and a notification pops up. After the update, it might request renewed permission to access your data, including your apps, photos and other files.
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