The phone says that the internal memory is full. “There is not enough space in the device’s memory” - we solve the problem

FAQ 19.09.2019
FAQ

What can prevent you from installing a new app from Google Play? Just a lack of memory. Suddenly, your Android smartphone writes “Not enough memory”, although there is space.
What to do? You can see that there are enough free megabytes both on the Micro SD card and in the internal memory. But how to explain this to a smartphone?

1. When memory is really low

In fairness, it must be said that sometimes a smartphone is right. For example, if you focus only on the space on the map, and the installation of the application is not provided there. Or if the application needs additional space to work.

Then like it or not, you have to free up space. There are several proven ways to do this:

  • Remove unnecessary applications. This question is already exclusively for you: perhaps the old games are no longer so interesting? Or do you have several applications installed that duplicate each other?
  • Move apps to Micro SD card when possible. On this topic, we have.
  • Clear the cache using special utilities (for example, CCleaner). Sometimes it takes up surprisingly much space, being, in fact, unnecessary.
  • Clear memory manually using Root Explorer or another file manager. This approach is very effective, but requires knowledge. Deleting the wrong files will make your smartphone inoperable. Therefore, before manual cleaning, be sure to make a backup.
  • Reset the entire system and reinstall applications via Titanium Backup. This is a slightly more complicated way. For it, you also need to have the Titanium Backup application installed. Make backup copies of all applications with settings. Reset the system completely. Install Titanium Backup again and restore applications from backups. This method does a good job of cleaning the system of garbage and often adds several hundred megabytes to free memory.

2. When there seems to be enough memory

There are situations when a smartphone or tablet refuses to install an application not only on a memory card, but also in internal memory. At the same time, there is enough free space. How to force Android to face the truth and still install the application?

There are several ways that might work:

  • Clear cache of Google Play apps and Google Service Framework. Open the Settings menu, select these two apps and clear their cache. After that, restart your smartphone. If there is free space, the device will now be able to use it.
  • Uninstall Play Update. To do this, go to Settings, find the Applications item there, and Google Play in the list. Tap on it and in the page that opens, select the "Uninstall updates" button. It is recommended to do in case clearing the cache did not help.
  • Clear Dalvik cache. Turn off your smartphone and turn it on in Recovery mode (usually you need to hold the power button and the volume button to do this). Select Wipe cache partition from the menu. If you have not encountered this before, then we will tell you: the touch screen does not work in this mode, you need to select it with the volume buttons. In this item, select the Advanced Options sub-item, and in it - Wipe Dalvik Cache. This action will flush the Dalvik cache and not only free up some space, but also help the system work efficiently with the existing one.

To avoid such problems in the future, you can use the Link2SD or Folder Mount utilities, which will help you virtually merge the Micro SD and internal memory into a single array. Remember that in this case the memory card becomes virtually non-removable, so before this operation, get a sufficiently voluminous Micro SD.

Freeing up memory on Android is not such a difficult task if done correctly. And this article is designed to teach you exactly that.

Before deleting something from the device, it is necessary to revise what is stored in the device and how much memory each element occupies. To do this, go to the “Settings” section, then “Device memory”. Here you can see detailed statistics on how much memory space is occupied by applications, pictures, audio, video downloads and other components.

By clicking on each element, you can go to the screen for managing these elements. For example, by clicking on the "Photo" section, you will be taken to your photo gallery.

Note that if you click on "clear device cache data" this will free up memory on Android, however this may slow down apps a bit as they have to fetch that cache data again. In addition, clearing the cache may cause some of your applications to have to re-enter your username and password in order to enter them.

It is also worth noting that if you manually moved music or video files to other directories, then Android will count them in the "Advanced" column.

If you have an SD card in your smartphone or tablet, then in the same section you can also view the data located on it.

Now that we have studied what our memory is clogged with, it's time to move on to freeing it.

2. Manage your applications

Look at the application icons on the desktops of your devices and honestly answer yourself the question of how many of them you use regularly. Surely there are some that have not been opened for several months. It's time to remove them to free up Android memory.

If you cannot decide which of the installed applications can and should be removed, go to the settings section and select the "Applications" or "Application Manager" item. Select "Downloaded".

Here you can see a list of applications that you have downloaded in the past, as well as how much memory space they take up. This will help you make an informed decision about which applications you can safely uninstall.

Start with the apps you no longer use, take a look at the biggest space consuming apps and see if you need them. To remove an application, simply click on its name, and then on the "Delete" button.

Please note that some of the applications you will not be able to uninstall due to the fact that they are built into Android or the software of the smartphone or tablet manufacturer. But if you select the "All" tab and click on any of these applications, you will find a "Force stop" button there, then this application will no longer work and waste Android memory. In addition, you can remove updates to these applications, which will also offload the device's memory.

It also makes sense to transfer some applications to an SD card, but, unfortunately, not all Android devices support this feature. In addition, if you format the SD card, your applications on it will become inaccessible.

3. Clean up your photos

Review your photos in the gallery and make sure that there are no random or unnecessary ones among them. You know, photographs of the floor, ceiling and sky are of little artistic value. In addition, the desired photos can be placed on an SD card, your computer, or, finally, on one of the cloud services, such as Dropbox or Picasa.

4. Stream music and movies

If you have a really big music library, you don't have to keep it on your device. Services such as Google Play Music and Amazon Music can store large amounts of music files and stream them to you whenever you want.

Five feature-length movies in HD quality can take 15 or more gigabytes of memory. A dozen 1-2 minute videos you shoot will add a couple more gigabytes to this. So storing all this on your gadget is impractical.

If you purchased a movie using Google Play or Amazon, you can always find them in the cloud services of these companies. Do not forget about services where you can watch the video online, without having to download it to your tablet or smartphone.

5. Cloud services

We have already mentioned cloud services for music streaming, video and photo storage, but we will name a few more such services.

For example, Google Drive is an obvious choice for Android users, which makes it very convenient for them to work together.

Google Drive along with Google Play, Google Music and other Google services like Gmail and Google Docs gives you 15 GB of storage space to store your data.

If the phone's memory is full, you need to free up some space. Removing space-filling cached data will help keep Android from slowing down. You can clean Android from garbage manually or using special cleaning applications.

Manual cleaning

If the phone has not been cleaned for a long time, then the user faces a number of tasks:

  1. How to free up system memory.
  2. How to free up RAM.
  3. How to clear SD card.

If free space runs out, then the first question to be solved is how to clear the cache on Android. Deleting the cache allows you to free up system memory quickly and for free. If you do not understand where the free space goes, clearing the cache will give the answer - the memory on the phone is running out due to the large amount of temporary files. To get rid of them, you need to clean your Android.

  1. Open Settings, Applications section.
  2. Go to the settings of applications that create a lot of temporary files - Play Market, games, browser, instant messengers, social network clients. Don't forget about the built-in apps like "Galleries". Even if you delete photos and videos from your phone, information about them will remain in the cache.
  3. Click Clear Cache.

Manually clearing the internal memory of an Android device is not limited to deleting the app cache. To completely clear the memory of an Android phone, you need to examine the contents of system folders. This can be done manually through file managers. Let's see how you can free up memory on Android by deleting temporary files through File Manager (Explorer).

You can also clean the folders of individual applications - VKontakte, Viber, WhatsApp. You won’t clean the RAM on Android like that, but you will understand how to clear the phone’s internal memory. In addition, by knowing how to clean your phone, you can get rid of viruses that periodically enter the system.

After deleting the cache and unnecessary files, it will become clear where the memory of the Android phone or tablet has gone. The memory is gone because a full set of temporary data has accumulated in the system. The storage device cannot delete them on its own, which causes lag and other problems. Knowing how to clear memory and freeing up system memory, the user extends the device's operating time.

Using Cleaning Applications

We figured out how to clear the internal memory of Android on our own. Now let's see how to completely clean your phone using dedicated apps. In the Play Market you can find a large number of programs in Russian and English. Take a look at the following applications:

  • cleanmaster.
  • Cleanup Master.
  • History Eraser.
  • Smart Booster.
  • 1Tap Cleaner, etc.

They work on the same principle: you run the program, choose which files to delete, and wait for the optimization procedure to complete.

If you know how to manually clear memory on Android, then this will not be enough to completely delete unnecessary files. Using 2 methods, manual cleaning and optimization through applications, will help you figure out how to remove all the extra data that takes up space.

RAM cleaning

We figured out how to quickly clear system memory on Android, but the question remains, how to clear RAM? RAM on Android is also filled with data, the release of which allows you to answer the question of how to increase the speed of the phone.

Most cleaning programs are able to optimize the RAM on Android and increase performance. If you don’t understand where the speed has gone, then after the application for cleaning RAM on Android is running, you can again use it to the fullest.

Every user at least once faces the problem of downloading files to mobile devices. You are trying to download an application on Android, for example, from the official Google store, but the system notifies you that this is not possible because there is not enough memory on your smartphone or tablet. But you know for sure that there is free space. What to do in this case? Correct the situation by using one of the following methods.
We will start with simple options (they are the most reliable and effective), and in the end we will look at complex methods (their use may be unsafe for the device).

I would like to start the article-instruction with important notes:

  • First note. If you are sure that the internal memory is not exhausted, do not forget that it will never be used to the end. There must always be space on the device, otherwise the software will not be able to work. Therefore, when downloading files, you receive such a notification.
  • Second note. If the file is downloaded to the SD card, this does not mean that the memory inside the mobile device may be full. It must have enough free space to download, as it is also used.
  • Third note. Do not clear the internal memory of your smartphone or tablet using special utilities. If you are promised to free up space, get rid of unnecessary applications, etc., and even in automatic mode, do not be fooled. All you will achieve is to slow down the smartphone and “land” the battery.

How to quickly clear Android memory (the easiest way)

For unprepared users who first saw such a notification when downloading an apk file, we recommend that you use the simplest and most effective way - clear the cache. Just like in the browser, these files take up a lot of disk space (in our case, internal memory).

The cache is easy to clean, even if the day before yesterday you picked up a smartphone or tablet for the first time. From your mobile device's Settings, go to "Storage and USB drives" or the "Storage" section. A little lower you will see "Cache Data".


Confirm cache deletion.


As you can see, the cache takes up a lot of space. Click on the item and delete all this data. Now download the file again. Did it help?

In the same way that we cleared the general cache, you can also delete application files individually. A lot of space is occupied by the cache of web browsers, applications for storing and editing photos, and others. If you see a notification about insufficient memory after you have updated an already installed application, delete its data and try again.

How to clear the application cache separately? From the Settings, go to Applications, select the one you need and click on the "Storage" item. A corresponding button will appear, which you need to click on. It is recommended, among other things, to "Clear data" of the "problem" application.


When you open the Applications, you will see the size opposite each of them. The indicated size is always less than the amount of occupied memory, which is why it seems that there is a lot of free space.

Removing unnecessary applications, moving to SD card

Getting rid of unnecessary applications from time to time is a useful exercise. If we use devices - smartphone, tablet, computer and others - in internal memory for a long time, a lot of garbage accumulates on the disks. From the Device Settings, go to Applications and make a revision by deleting what has not been used for a long time, does not start.

If you are using flash memory, transfer some of the applications there. You can transfer only those files that were downloaded from an external source (and even then not all), and not those that are preinstalled. Click on an individual application and press the corresponding button to move. In this way, you can free up enough memory space inside your tablet or smartphone.

Additional ways to fix the error "Not enough memory on the device"

The methods that we list below are effective, but may come with consequences. It won't necessarily happen, but we can't help but warn you. By using them, you take responsibility.

Deleting updates and data "Google Play Services" and "Play Store"


When everything is finished, try downloading the app. You may need to update Google Play Services beforehand.

Clearing Dalvik Cache

This method is not suitable for all mobile devices on the Android platform. Follow these three steps:
  1. Open the Recovery mode menu (search the web for information on how to enter this mode, as the options differ on each device).
    To select a specific action in recovery mode, you need to press the volume button, and to confirm it - click on the power button (shortly).
  2. We need Wipe cache partition (clearing the cache). Don't even look in the direction of Wipe Data Factory Reset. Clicking this item will erase all user information and reset the mobile device to its original settings.
  3. After selecting Wipe cache partition, click Advanced and Wipe Dalvik Cache alternately.
Once the cache is cleared, boot up your smartphone or tablet as usual.

Cleaning the folder in data (requires Root)

Root rights are required to use this option.
  1. Open the app folder and go to /data/app-lib/its_name/. The "lib" folder must be removed. Check if it helped.
  2. If you still receive a notification about insufficient memory on your smartphone / tablet, delete the folder with the application completely ( /data/app-lib/its_name/).
If you have access rights, open the file manager, go to data/log and empty the folder.

Unverified ways to fix the error

And finally, we left options that were not tested by us. We found them on Stack Overflow. This is a popular question and answer system from British programmers.

Try the following:

  • Using Root Explorer, file manager, transfer some applications from data/app to the /system/app/ folder.
  • If your smartphone is from Samsung, type the command *#9900# to clear the log files.
This is how you can fix a common problem when there is not enough space in the internal memory of smartphones or tablets on the Android platform to download new applications or update previously installed ones. If you know another effective way, please share with us.

The internal memory of a phone on android 4.4.2, 6.0 and so on, in smartphones: samsung galaxy, lenovo, lg, htc, explay fly, sony xperia, asus, zte, explay and any other is never enough, but you can free it if you follow some of the tips provided below.

Most Google Android brand smartphones have 16 GB of internal system memory and 2 GB of RAM.

Phones that were released a few years ago in their range tend to have 4GB of internal storage and 512MB or 1GB of RAM.

This amount will not be enough in case of intensive use of a smartphone or tablet.

You should not be fooled by the presence of a microSD memory card slot, as many programs cannot be moved to it.

This often happens because the android operating system in most cases takes up more than half of the internal memory of the device.

Also, with some minor exceptions, many phone manufacturers install their own files that take up space and consume most of the RAM.

Thus, you may find that you have no space left on your phone. In such a situation, you must resort to some tricks to free up system memory.

I'll explain exactly how to follow the steps. In addition, these tips are useful even if you have more than 16 GB of internal memory, as it has been proven that there is never too much free space.

Step one to clear the built-in memory in the android phone - delete unnecessary applications

I agree that this tip is not rocket science wisdom, but it's one of the first things you should do.


Check the list of installed programs (usually in Settings - Applications - Application Management) and I guarantee you will find at least five that you do not use for a long time. The solution is simple: it's time to delete.

This way, you can get rid of tens or hundreds of megabytes of occupied memory (maybe even a few GB in case of complex games) and additionally free up RAM if the files had a bad habit of running in the background. By the way, you can also delete it through a computer.

Step two to free up the memory of an android phone - moving applications to a memory card

Theoretically, a MicroSD card is used to store photos, videos, or documents.

However, the limited internal memory forces some programs to be moved to the MicroSD card from the internal storage.

You can do this manually using one of the menus Settings - Applications - Application management - Name - Move to SD card.

However, remember that all files cannot be moved to the MicroSD card.

Moving files to a microSD card will free up a few dozen internal memory, but the downside is that programs will run slower - the speed of the SD card is less than the speed of the system memory.

Step three to clear the memory of the android phone - clear the application cache

Applications that connect to the Internet store a lot of unnecessary data in cache memory on all smartphones, including Fly, Alcatel, Lenovo, Sony Xperia, LG, Lenovo A5000, Samsung C3, which can reach several hundred megabytes during several days of intensive use.

Probably the best example of this is chrome, which accumulates around 100MB every few days, depending on how heavily you use it.

No other program is an exception, a good example is the UEFA sports app which adds MB even if rarely used.

The solution is very simple: use a program that has, among other things, an automation function that clears the cache from time to time without your intervention.

In addition, you can manually select applications (Settings - Applications - Application management - Application name) and click the clear cache button.

The important thing is that clearing the cache does not have any effect on the operation of programs, even in the data register. You can clear the cache using a third party application or manually.

Step Four in Freeing Up Memory on Android Devices – Disable Dynamic Widgets and Wallpapers

We know it's nice to have a favorite widget or wallpaper to impress your friends with, but please note that these fireworks consume a lot of RAM (each widget/wallpaper up to hundreds of MB).

In other words, the fewer dynamic widgets and wallpapers, the more RAM and applications will run faster.

Step five to increase the memory of android - close the services you do not need

Most applications running in the background consume tens of MB of RAM.

Some of them are essential for the functioning of the operating system, others are simply necessary, but some of them work in vain, especially if you are using a particular application.

An example is the Facebook program, which runs in the background - it eats about 50 MB.


It used to be a fashionable feature to quickly close unnecessary services, but its popularity has fallen recently.

The reason for this is low efficiency. One problem is that many applications automatically restart after a short period of inactivity.

CONCLUSION: Even if you are using an Android smartphone with a small amount of built-in and RAM, there are various solutions to save free memory.

Whichever method you choose, you should keep your phone more or less "clean" at all times to avoid overflowing the memory with apps and services you hardly ever use. Good luck.



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