Your Android phone or tablet needs free space to work properly, and so do your backups. When storage runs low, a backup can stop before it finishes, and clearing some space usually resolves the issue.
If you would prefer to watch rather than read, this short video walks through freeing up space on an Android phone with the Files by Google app. The steps below cover the same ground, along with a few other ways to clear space.
Before you delete anything from your phone or tablet, remember that once the Trash is emptied, deleted files cannot be recovered from the phone. If your last backup did not finish, your newest photos and videos may not be on your Picture Keeper yet. The simple rule: if you are not sure a photo or video is backed up, leave it on the phone. The steps below free up space without deleting any of your photos, and you can tidy up after the backup finishes. If you would also like a second copy of what is already on the drive, you can copy the files from your Picture Keeper to a computer.
Step 1: See what is using your storage
Start here, so you clear the things that are actually taking up the room:
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- On a Samsung phone, tap Battery and device care, then Storage. On other Android phones, tap Storage.
- You will see how much space is free, and a breakdown by category — Images, Videos, Apps, Documents, and so on. Apps and Documents are the easiest places to free space. If Images or Videos is the biggest, do not start deleting photos — the steps below free space without touching them.
Step 2: Free up space
Any of these will help. Do as many as you need — freeing up one or two gigabytes (GB) is a comfortable target.
Remove apps you no longer use
Open Settings, tap Apps, and use the sort or filter option near the top of the list to sort by Size (where it sits varies a little by phone). Tap an app you no longer use, then tap Uninstall. Leave Picture Keeper, Gallery, Photos and your messaging apps alone — stick to games and apps you know you do not use. Removing one or two large apps often frees more space than deleting hundreds of photos.
Delete duplicate files
- Open the Play Store, tap the search bar at the top, type Files by Google, and tap Files by Google in the results (or tap that link to go straight to it):
- Tap Install if you do not have the app yet, then tap Open:
- Open the Files by Google app you just installed — its icon is labelled Files (not My Files, which is Samsung's own app) — and tap Clean at the bottom left. If Clean is not along the bottom on your phone, tap the Menu button (three lines) in the top left and look for it there:
- Tap the box that says Delete duplicates. If you do not see it, the app found no duplicates — skip to the next section.
- On the list of duplicates it found, tap All duplicates near the top to select them all. The Files app keeps one copy of each file and only selects the extra copies, so you will not lose the photo itself.
- Tap Move files to Trash at the bottom of the screen (the button shows how many files), and confirm.
- Important — empty the Trash, or the space does not come back. Files moved to Trash stay on your phone for 30 days before they are deleted automatically. To reclaim the space now: tap the Menu button (three lines) in the top left, tap Trash, select the files (there is a Select all option — if you see older files there that you might want back, tick only the ones you just moved), tap Delete, and confirm when the phone asks.
While you are in Clean, the Junk files and Unused apps suggestions are safe to work through as well. Be careful with Large files, Downloaded files and Screenshots: because your last backup may not have finished, some of these may not be on your Picture Keeper yet. Look at each file, and if you are not sure, leave it. Each suggestion ends the same way — the files go to Trash, so empty the Trash afterwards.
Clear out downloads
In the Files by Google app (Files, not My Files), tap Browse at the bottom, then Downloads. Things like old attachments, statements you have already printed, and files you downloaded once and no longer need can usually go. If a photo or video in Downloads matters to you and you are not sure it is backed up, leave it. Empty the Trash afterwards.
Step 3: Check the space and run the backup again
- Go back to Settings and open Storage the same way you did in Step 1. Aim for at least 1 GB free.
- Connect your Picture Keeper, open the Picture Keeper app again, and start your backup.
If your phone still shows very little free space after all of this, a Trash (sometimes called Bin or Recycle bin) that has not been emptied is the usual reason — most often in Gallery or Google Photos. Deleted files stay on the phone until that Trash is emptied. Before you empty it, look through it: if you see a photo or video you still want and are not sure is backed up, tap Restore on it first. Emptying the Trash removes it for good, and in Google Photos that also removes it from your Google account.
If you need any additional assistance, please contact Picture Keeper support.