App Storage

[lianhua]

Does anyone know why and how Apps take up so much space? I only have a few apps on my phone, and I don't understand why it takes up almost half of my storage.

[RobertZ]

It's the application program plus any data the program uses. If you have a mapping app that has a lot of offline maps, that'll take up space. If you have social media apps, then photos and videos that are stored/cached locally can take up a lot of space.

Tap on the right arrow at the end of the line that says "Apps". It'll list the apps on your device as well as how much storage, in total, the app consumes.

[lianhua]

I do have some offline stuff that I downloaded, which explains a lot.

I do check the right arrow from time to time, too. But it's tiring to always clear the cache. Thanks a lot for the insight!

[RedDogRabbit]

There's likely a fair amount of storage being used for Cache.

For example, Google Messages on my device, the app itself is taking ~277 Meg of storage, Data is ~360 Meg, and Cache is more than both the app & Data combined.

You can Clear the Cache, without losing any of your Data. 

It's like this for all of the apps you use. 

Android has a great reputation for how it deals with Cache, and there's a tried & true saying with Android, "unused Cache is wasted Cache". Your device will close apps & Clear Cache when needed. 

The benefit of keeping data in Cache is that your device will operate faster & smoother. 

You can Clear the Cache to free up space, but it's not really necessary.. And when you start using apps, the Cache is rebuilt immediately. 

Aside from that, I don't know why Manufacturers even make devices with 128 Gig of storage.. Especially when Samsung no longer includes the micro sd card slot!

But you can go ahead and Clear the Cache for individual apps, but, as I said it gets rebuilt as soon as you start to use the apps.  

[lianhua]

Yup, I check and clear the cache when I can! And when I go back to it, they rebuild fast!

I do kinda regret getting a 128 when so much storage is needed for this much data.

Thanks a lot for the insight!

[Urmi]

Hi lianhua,

We understand that you are concerned about the reasons applications occupy significant storage space. Kindly review and follow the steps suggested by RedDogRabbit and RobertZ to optimize your device and free up storage.