It can be frustrating when you keep getting notifications that the storage on your Samsung device is full. There are a few common reasons why this happens and several ways to try and resolve the issue.
Reasons Your Samsung May Say Storage is Full
Here are some of the most common culprits for the “storage full” error message:
- Too many apps installed – The more apps you download, the more storage they take up. Games and video streaming apps tend to be storage hogs.
- Large app cache files – Apps create temporary cache files that can build up over time and take up space.
- Lots of photos and videos – The camera photos and videos recorded on your Samsung device quickly eat up storage.
- Software and app updates – Major operating system and app updates often require free space to download and install.
- Syncing content from cloud – If you have auto sync enabled for cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive, those synced files use up storage.
- Podcast and music downloads – Downloading podcast episodes, Spotify playlists, and other audio content to listen offline fills up storage.
- Device software issue – In some rare cases, a software bug or glitch may incorrectly report the storage as full.
How to Check What’s Using up Storage
To find out exactly what’s taking up all the storage space on your Samsung, you’ll need to view the storage usage breakdown:
- Open the Settings app.
- Select Battery and Device Care.
- Tap Storage.
- Review the pie chart or bar graph breakdowns showing used space by category.
This will show you the overall storage usage and percentages for apps, images, videos, audio, and files. You can tap any category to get more details on which apps, videos, etc are using the most space. This information will help point you towards areas to clear space.
Ways to Free Up Storage Space on Samsung
Once you’ve identified some likely storage hogs, here are some ways to free up space on your device:
Remove Unneeded Apps
Deleting apps you no longer use is an easy way to get back gigabytes of space. Make sure to only remove apps you are certain you don’t need anymore. You can always reinstall them later if needed.
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap the app you want to delete.
- Tap Uninstall/Disable and confirm removing the app.
Clear App Caches
The temporary files stored by apps can often be safely deleted to recover space.
- Go to Settings > Battery and Device Care.
- Tap Storage.
- Tap Clean Now to clear all temporary app files.
Offload Unused Apps
Instead of fully deleting apps, you can “offload” them to free up space while keeping the core app data intact in case you want to restore them later:
- Go to Settings > Apps.
- Tap the app you want to offload.
- Tap Storage used and choose Offload app.
Remove Files from Device Storage
Directly managing files stored on the device is another approach. You can browse files and delete anything unneeded.
- Open the My Files app.
- Navigate to categories like Images, Video, Audio, Documents, etc.
- Tap and hold files to select them.
- Tap Delete at the bottom and confirm file removal.
Manage Photos and Videos
Photos and videos tend to consume more storage than anything else on mobile devices. Here are smart ways to reduce their footprint:
- Use the Gallery app’s free up space tool to find blurry photos and large videos to remove.
- Back up photos to cloud storage like Google Photos to auto-remove from device.
- Manually sort through albums and remove unwanted photos and videos.
Clear Browser Cache and Data
Large browser caches can build up from frequent web browsing. Here’s how to wipe that data:
- Open the Chrome app.
- Tap the three dot menu.
- Go to Settings > Privacy > Clear browsing data.
- Select cached images and files and clear data.
Uninstall and Reinstall Problem Apps
If an app behaves erratically or takes up way more storage than seems normal, try uninstalling and reinstalling it. This gives you a clean slate for the app.
Check and Manage Cloud Sync Settings
Services like iCloud, Google Drive and Dropbox can automatically sync content from the cloud which uses up local storage. Review sync settings and turn off anything not needed.
Enable Storage Manager
Samsung devices running Android 9.0 or later have a Storage Manager tool that can automatically free up space by:
- Deleting unused apps and files
- Compressing rarely used apps
- Removing duplicate images and files
To enable:
- Go to Settings > Battery and Device Care > Storage
- Turn on Storage Manager
Delete Cached Data from Samsung Apps
Many Samsung apps create cached data files that can safely be removed to recover storage. Go to Settings > Apps > Samsung app > Storage used > Clear cache.
Check Third-Party App Cleanup Tools
Some free tools on the Play Store like Files by Google and CCleaner can help find more areas to delete junk files and temporarily free up space.
Reasons Not Everything May Be Removed
In some cases even after removing unnecessary apps and files, the storage reading may still show completely full. Some possible reasons for this:
- Device storage readings don’t update instantly. Reboot device to see latest storage free space.
- Preinstalled system apps and files cannot normally be deleted.
- Reserved storage space system tools and future updates.
So don’t be alarmed if not everything can be removed and freed up. The key is focusing on clearing the obvious problem items.
Ways to Upgrade Storage Capacity
If your Samsung is consistently running out of storage, even after removing items, then it may be time to upgrade its capacity. Some options to add more storage:
- Use a microSD card – Insert an SD card up to 512GB to add removable storage.
- Change to a higher capacity model – Upgrade to a new Samsung model with more internal storage.
- Use cloud storage – Store files in the cloud instead of locally on the device.
- Use a USB OTG flash drive – Plug in a USB flash drive for extra storage.
- Use wireless storage – Connect to a NAS via WiFi for media storage and playback.
Conclusion
Managing storage on modern feature-packed smartphones is an ongoing task. Hopefully by using the storage analysis tools and cleanup options covered here, you can reclaim enough space on your Samsung to stop those annoying “storage full” messages from popping up.
With a little proactive maintenance and moving unused files to the cloud or external storage, you can take back control of your device’s limited internal storage capacity.