Running out of phone storage? These 5 apps are almost always to blame

Your phone’s memory is bound to run out over time. We often blame photos and videos, but apps also use a lot of storage. However, some apps use a lot more storage than others. Here are 5 to watch.

Gmail

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Lucas Gouveia/Comment Geek | ArtHub02/Shutterstock

Gmail is an app you might not expect, but one that can easily drain your phone’s storage space, and this can apply to any email apps you might have on your device. Unlike apps like your phone’s gallery or media apps, which you can quickly erase when you sort through your photos or videos, messaging apps can be silent killers. Gmail, in particular, can take up storage space due to factors like caching, connecting and syncing multiple accounts, and “All Mail” syncing, as well as indirect factors like large attachments that are automatically downloaded locally.

To combat this, you can manually empty your Trash or Spam (for an immediate solution) and clear the app cache.

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WhatsApp

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Lucas Gouveia / How to Geek | Davide Angelini / Shutterstock

When it comes to personal messaging, WhatsApp is an important app to follow. Media is a main variable for storage issues, whether you’re receiving or sending them, but other factors like chat backup and auto-download can also cause issues. Unlike apps that you don’t use very often, it is also difficult to offload such apps. It is therefore important to keep an eye on backups and media.

If you use WhatsApp regularly and frequently receive large attachments, make sure to turn off automatic downloading on your device so that media is not saved locally on your device. For Android, tap “More options” (three dots) in WhatsApp and go to Settings > Chats, then turn off “Media Visibility”. For iPhone, tap Settings > Chats, then turn off “Save to Photos.”

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Social media apps can quickly hog your device’s storage because they store cache for loading high-resolution media. There are also factors like app size, drafts, bookmarks and discussions, frequent updates, and background data. My worst storage killers are consistently X, Instagram, and TikTok, and you may notice that apps that display high-resolution videos can have this problem.

Saving content for viewing later can also help, so it’s a good idea to regularly go through your saves and favorites to remove unnecessary media. Additionally, you can keep an eye on how long you scroll through storage-intensive social media apps to reduce video data and associated cache.

Streaming apps

Apart from social media and communication apps, streaming apps also contribute greatly to storage issues on your device. The storage used by apps like Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube only increases due to offline downloads and download quality preferences, beyond cache.

Regularly managing your offline library and download preferences can help, and you can also offload or delete streaming apps that you barely use on your phone (this is something I do for Netflix on my phone, since I use it frequently on my desktop). For music streaming apps like Spotify, I make sure to download music offline only for long-distance travel or when staying in areas with low connectivity.

Your phone’s gallery

Credit: Apple

Finally, the main reason many people experience storage issues doesn’t even involve a third-party app: your device’s photos/gallery app can often be a major reason why you’re quickly running out of storage. The format and resolution of media files can contribute to greater storage space usage. But it’s not always realistic to spend time going through your gallery to delete media or compromise media quality.

Backing up local media files to a cloud storage service (iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.) is the simplest solution to this problem, with monthly subscription options starting at just $0.99/month, with benefits like storage ranging from 50GB to over 2TB (depending on your plan) and device syncing. You may also regularly remove duplicate media and manage videos, which can take a big toll on storage.

How to manage storage on your device

To ensure that your phone’s storage isn’t entirely consumed by essential apps and features, there are steps you can take.

To start, you can clear the cache of the apps that take up the most storage. On Android, go to Settings > Apps, select the app, then tap “Storage” and choose “Clear cache.”

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On iPhone, there is no option to clear the cache, but you can reinstall the app (or unload it if you don’t use it very frequently). To offload an app on iPhone, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage and choose an app, then tap “Offload App”. This can help clear the app cache without actually deleting important app data.

Another way to manage storage is to keep an eye out for duplicate files and automatic downloads, as well as other hidden files or data you may not be aware of. If you want to upgrade your phone’s storage, also look for cloud subscriptions that fit your needs and budget.

These apps (and others) can be your biggest storage killers, but it’s also important to pay attention to how many apps you have downloaded and regularly delete apps you no longer use, as app size can also contribute to storage issues.