Memory full on Android, but there is nothing there: how to clear memory

Almost every Android smartphone user has faced the problem when the phone’s memory is full, seeing a corresponding warning in the notification shade. This problem can manifest itself on any smartphone, be it Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi, no one is insured, but especially in the risk zone for devices with 8 and 16 GB of internal memory. It happens that the memory is full, although there is nothing there, this confuses users. Therefore, there are so many people who are looking for information on how to clear the memory on the phone and what needs to be done for this.

Why is the phone memory full when there is nothing there?

When the smartphone says “memory is full”, everyone starts looking for personal files and deleting them. Photos, music, videos fall under the distribution. But even after deleting hundreds of photos, it turns out that the internal memory of the phone is full and very little free. This is a common problem, everyone needs to know how to clean the phone memory and what you need to have for this. But initially you need to understand the most common reasons for its appearance.

These include:

• files in the downloads folder;
• huge application cache;
• many installed programs;
• using software from unknown sources;
• browser download files;
• system failure;
• hidden files;
• files are stored on internal memory, not on the card.

Sometimes users do not even know that the files have been downloaded in the system, they click on the download from the site, several gigabytes are downloaded and all these files are placed in the Downloads folder. The user can forget about these files, and finding them without a file manager is not so easy, they are not displayed in the gallery.

A common reason for the warning is that the phone has a small read-only memory. The user installs a memory card, but the files are still stored in the smartphone. You need to learn how to transfer your files from your phone to a memory card and thereby solve the problem.

How to find out what is occupying memory space on Android

To determine what to do with the full memory, you first need to determine the cause of the problem. In this case, study the data that will consume space in the system. The first thing the user thinks about is to go into the smartphone settings and open the built-in space analysis tool. This is the right decision, if you enter this setting, you can see which files take up the most space. If this tool shows that most of the memory space is occupied by photos and videos, then the reader can quickly guess how to free up memory on the phone – you just need to delete unnecessary photos and videos.

But it happens that this tool shows incorrect data or does not display the memory load at all. In this case, most of the free space is occupied by “Other”, which is included in this section, the user does not know. Here it will not be possible to do without specialized software. For example, you can use the free app DiskUsagewhich is freely downloadable from Google Play. There are already many more features and tools here.

In the application, the user will see a convenient diagram of files, and will also be able to look at information about how much space a particular file occupies in memory. In a matter of seconds, you will be able to find out which files are taking up the most space. This will give the most complete idea why the phone’s memory is full and will give an impetus to fix the problem. Depending on the type of files, and, as a rule, this is the cache of certain applications, you can delete them and free up space. The program even sees hidden files, so you can see everything in the memory.

Important: the program does not display system files, the deletion of which can harm the system, the user cannot do any harm to his smartphone.

How do I clear the memory on my phone?

To clear the memory on the phone, you can use both firmware and download specialized software. For a start, you should try to perform this procedure automatically. For a more detailed analysis, a manual method of enumerating the data may also be needed. There is nothing complicated in the procedure for clearing the smartphone’s memory, at least if the memory is occupied by simple user files, such as photos, videos, downloaded data.

If the gallery is empty, there are no large files in the Downloads folder either, but the memory is full, then this already indicates more complex problems. It is necessary to use special software or perform a reset at all. But you should study in detail each individual case, look for files in the system and delete them, in one way or another.

Solution 1: clean up unnecessary files

It should be remembered that today smartphones can shoot videos in 4K resolution, and such files take up a lot of memory space. Therefore, first of all, you should pay attention to exactly what is in the gallery. There may be a huge number of photos that you do not need at all: there may be 25 similar images, many unsuccessful photos, blurry images, duplicates

Remember that after deleting photos and videos, they don’t disappear or free up memory, but go to the trash. A special album called “Basket” is located in the same gallery. Such a folder is needed for protection, so that the user cannot accidentally lose important photos and videos, they can always be restored from the trash. To free up memory here and now, you must also delete the photos and videos that have been moved to the trash in the trash.

It is also recommended to open the built-in file manager, and then go to the “Downloads” folder. This place stores all those files that you downloaded from various sites, through your browser or received these files via email, wireless connection with another smartphone. Check if you really need all the downloaded files, perhaps most of them can be permanently deleted. There may also be files that were accidentally downloaded.

Solution 2: delete the cache

Each application installed on the phone creates its own cache folder. This is how any software works, because then the program works much faster, the files are always downloaded and unpacked. But it happens that updating the application cache does not delete old files. This leads to the accumulation of a huge number of files in the system, which, in fact, are completely unnecessary. The user does not see them and will never use them, the program also does not use the outdated cache. It makes sense to delete the entire application cache. This will free up memory, and the program will create new files, only relevant to it now.

How to remove cache:

1. Go to smartphone settings.
2. Select “Applications”.
3. Sort all apps by size.
4. Open the first app.
5. Select the item “Delete cache”.
6. Confirm your action.

Also there you will see another item called “Delete all data”. If after deleting the cache, the memory is not freed, then you should select it. But you should remember that personal information (correspondence, chats, passwords, etc.) will be deleted.

Solution 3: formatting the .thumbnails folder

Any smartphone has a file system, it has both open and hidden files. As a rule, hidden files are created for the simple reason that inexperienced users can delete them and harm the normal operation of the operating system. However, the system has a .thumbnails folder, which contains unnecessary files that can accumulate there and take up a lot of space. This folder is hidden for the user and simply cannot be seen.

To format .thumbnails, you need to use a custom application. You can use the same program called DiskUsage, it is able to see the hidden folder and clean it up. The folder is not protected from deletion, it is a system folder, but you can format it without any consequences. The program will independently find the .thumbnails folder and offer to clean it, the user just needs to agree.

Solution 4: delete all temporary files

Temporary files are created by various applications and accumulate in the system. The system should work in such a way that obsolete temporary files are deleted or updated with new ones. But, in fact, not all programs work like that, as a result, the memory on the phone fills up very quickly. Even maps from navigation will be loaded into the cache, after which they will remain there, even if you do not use them.

To quickly clean up all temporary files, do the following:

1. Go to smartphone settings.
2. Open the item “Storage” or “Data and memory”.
3. In this section, find the “Cache Data” section.
4. By clicking on this item, you will see an offer to clear it, which you need to agree to.

All temporary files will be removed from the system, which can free up a huge amount of space. Sometimes it is the temporary files that cause the free memory on the phone to run out and a warning appears in the notification curtain.

Solution 5: transfer apps and data to a memory card

Programs are one of the most common reasons for the congestion of the internal memory of a smartphone. Even if it is small and takes up several tens of megabytes during download, after installation the application will increase in size, moreover, at times. After the first launch, the application can download the necessary data to work from its server, and this will make the program 50 MB in size, several hundred megabytes, and sometimes the volume reaches a gigabyte or more. You cannot, and it is not necessary, to abandon some applications. You can transfer the application to a memory card and thereby free up the internal space of the smartphone.

How to transfer apps:

1. Go to smartphone settings.
2. Select “Applications”.
3. Select from the list the program that you want to transfer to the card.
4. At the bottom there will be an item “Transfer to a memory card”.

Not all smartphones support this function, not all applications can work on the memory card. But, as a rule, this works and all program data will be transferred to the card, and the phone’s memory will be cleared.

The user can find programs in the branded application store that transfer data to a memory card, including programs. But you need to understand that for their effective operation, Root rights are required, which are not so easy to obtain, and this is not the safest procedure. Therefore, if the program cannot work on the memory card, then it will not work to transfer it.

What if the memory is full even though there is nothing there?

If the user checks the file system and sees that the memory is completely full, but he cannot find any files, a reset must be done. This procedure is in any smartphone, it is created in order to completely return the smartphone to its original state. All user files, all third-party applications, all data are deleted, so in advance you need to transfer all the most important to a USB flash drive or computer.

This procedure is quite simple:

1. Open settings.
2. Enter “reset” in the search.
3. Select “full reset”.
4. Confirm the reset with the password set on the phone earlier.

After the reset is complete, you will need to re-configure the smartphone, sign in to your Google account, download all the necessary applications and set the operating parameters for them. But this will clear the phone memory and the problem will be solved.