Now that on-device AI is gaining momentum, storage has become more important than it has ever been.
In addition to system files, you now have AI models that eat up your storage, leaving less space for your photos, videos, and apps.
As a consumer, you can’t change the growing trend of AI adoption, but you can make adjustments to ensure you have enough space on your phone for it to function smoothly.
I’ve recently started using a new trick to manage the storage on my phone better, and it blew my mind. It helps me clear up storage space in a way I never had before.
I didn’t need to dig deep into settings for this. Instead, I only needed to download a single Google app from the Google Play Store.
The app not only helped me quickly free up my storage space, but also made me realize how much storage I was wasting.
Although I have three Android phones, I still use my five-year-old Galaxy S21 as my primary phone, which has its own default app for file management.
I couldn’t care less because I barely needed to open it, not more than 10 times in the entire five years of using the S21.
So, why would I care about an app that I rarely need to use?
This mindset is the reason I showed no interest in trying out more file management apps on my phone.
I finally came out of it and tried a new file app, and I was thoroughly impressed with what it can do while maintaining simplicity.
The Files by Google app not only acts as a hub for your photos, videos, and downloads, where you can organize and delete items, but it can also free up your storage quickly.
You won’t see the handy cleanup tools on the home page of the Files by Google app. To get there, tap the hamburger menu in the upper-left corner and select the Clean option.
After tapping it, the first thing I saw was the option to clean junk files, and it quickly turned me off, as I was expecting something smarter than that.
However, it changed my perception as I scrolled down the page and found some seriously powerful storage cleaner options.
How I use the Files by Google app to free up storage on my phone
In addition to the option to delete junk files, the Files by Google app does an incredible job of motivating you to delete unnecessary files.
It categorizes them into duplicates, memes, old screenshots, blurry photos, unused apps, large files, and downloaded files.
My Samsung Galaxy S21 had over 2,000 old screenshots, occupying almost 1.5GB of space.
The Files by Google app detected them all and displayed them together in the Delete old screenshots option, along with the option to select and delete.
I selected the All items option and deleted all my old screenshots with a single tap in the Files by Google app.
I freed up 500MB of storage by deleting duplicate photos, videos, and PDFs. I’ve also deleted all the blurry photos on my phone to make 50MB of space available.
The biggest culprit was unused apps. I wouldn’t have known I had unused apps on my phone that were occupying almost 20GB of space.
I quickly skimmed the list of apps that Files by Google marked as unused and realized it was absolutely spot on with its judgment.
I couldn’t remember the last time I opened them, so I selected the All items option and freed up close to 20GB of space.
I also deleted some large files and freed up 1GB of space.
Although 100 meme files occupied only 5MB of space, I deleted them all to reduce the clutter, which, in turn, makes it easier to spot files that matter.
I haven’t done the math, but if you sum them up, it’s almost 25GB of space I never would have realized I had wasted without the help of the Files by Google app.
I’ll always trust Google’s Files app to decide for me what I no longer need
I wouldn’t say I can’t do it all by myself, from identifying unnecessary files I no longer need to deleting them. But it’ll take several days to free this much space on my phone.
The biggest challenge for me was deciding which files were worth keeping and which no longer deserved to occupy my storage.
It’s tough to spot them because important and unnecessary files are scattered together.
There is also a psychological barrier that keeps reminding you that you may delete something important.
The Files by Google app tackles this problem by doing exactly the opposite: it organizes files that are safe for deletion.
So, it only makes sense for me to trust Google to quickly free up my storage.
