how to solve insufficient storage problem in vivo

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6 Ways to Fix "Insufficient Storage Available" on an Android

Last Updated: September 22, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Darlene Antonelli, MA . Darlene Antonelli is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. Darlene has experience teaching college courses, writing technology-related articles, and working hands-on in the technology field. She earned an MA in Writing from Rowan University in 2012 and wrote her thesis on online communities and the personalities curated in such communities. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 900,214 times. Learn more...

If you're seeing an "Insufficient storage available" message on your Android, chances are that you've used up most of your device's available memory. To fix this, you'll need to make some space by deleting apps and/or media; you can also add external storage, such as a Micro SD card, to your phone. In some cases, however, this error shows up even when you have plenty of space. This wikiHow article teaches you how to fix the insufficient storage available error on your Android.

Things You Should Know

• Free up space in multiple ways.
• Your free space might actually be occupied by your operating system, so you may need to uninstall more apps to make more room.
• Use a cleaner app to free up space on your Android after you've done what you can but are still unable to make room.

Resetting Your Apps' Caches

• Some Androids allow you to clear all apps' caches at once from the Storage section of the Settings app. If this option is available, you'll see a Cached option here; tapping it will give you the option of clearing all cached data. [4] X Research source

Uninstall Unwanted Apps

• Repeat this process to delete all the apps that you don't want or don't use.
• If the app in question is a system app, you may not be able to uninstall it. You can, instead, disable it and reclaim your data space. To disable the app, tap and hold it's app icon in the App Drawer, then tap Disable . [5] X Research source

Clearing the Play Store Cache and Data and Uninstalling Updates

• Open the Google Play Store and see if you can download the app you want. If you can, you're done and can skip the rest of this section. If, however, you are still getting the "Insufficient storage" error, try the next step.

• You shouldn't get the message in error again; if you do get the error message, you don't have enough space (your OS may be using all the free space) on your phone and need to free up space.

Transfer Photos and Videos to a Computer

Save Photos and Videos to an External SD or Cloud Storage

• If you don't have Google Photos set up, that's a pretty nice cloud service that you could be using if you don't have the ability to install an external SD card. Once you have it set up and all your photos and videos are backed up, your photos and videos will save in both your phone's local storage and in the cloud. You can delete them from your phone's local storage to free up space. [13] X Research source

General Tips and Tricks

• You can check your Android's storage from within the "Storage" section of the Settings app.
• If your phone has more than 15 megabytes of storage, you may be encountering an error not related to your storage.
• Most of your storage may be part of your operating system, so it's not actually available for you to use.

• Restarting your phone will reset your system's RAM. Doing so will both speed up your phone and potentially solve the "insufficient storage available" error if the error is unrelated to your phone's memory.
• Some Androids (like the Samsung s22) have a feature that lets you reclaim memory while your phone is powered on. Go to Settings > Battery and device care > Memory > Clean now . [16] X Research source

• If you don't want to delete certain photos or videos, you can back them up to Google Drive instead.
• To see how much storage you have as each media type, like videos or audio files, go to Settings > Battery and device care > Storage . Tap each section to see suggestions on how to free up space.

• If you do have an SD card but you're not using it, consider transferring your apps and data over to it. You can do this by tapping an app in the Application Manager and then tapping Move to SD Card .

Community Q&A

• If you free up enough space to download an app or two, consider downloading a cache cleaner to speed up the cache clearing process. "CCleaner" and "Clean Master" are both reputable options. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00077611/
• ↑ https://support.google.com/android/answer/7431795
• ↑ https://support.google.com/android/answer/2521768?hl=en
• ↑ https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/9037938
• ↑ https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/7513003?hl=en#zippy=%2Cuninstall-reinstall-play-store-updates
• ↑ https://support.google.com/android/answer/7431795?hl=en#zippy=%2Cdelete-or-move-files
• ↑ https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6128843?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
• ↑ https://support.google.com/photos/answer/9921876?hl=en&ref_topic=6131427#zippy=%2Csamsung-devices
• ↑ https://support.google.com/android/answer/7667018?hl=en
• ↑ https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/mobile-devices/how-do-i-clear-up-memory-space-on-my-device/
• ↑ https://support.google.com/android/answer/7431795?hl=en

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• Android File Recovery

How to Fix Insufficient Storage Available (Android)

Is your Android device displaying the " insufficient storage available " message while in use? How to address this issue? Here MiniTool provides the most effective solutions for resolving Android insufficient storage error.

My Phone Says Insufficient Storage but I Have Space

The storage capacity of Android devices has always been somewhat deceiving, as a significant portion is already allocated to the operating system and pre-installed apps.

Therefore, when trying to install or update an app, sometimes you may be told that there is not enough storage space on the mobile phone. For example, errors like “This device does not have enough space to download XX” may appear while downloading apps.

Does your Android phone also suffer from insufficient storage space? If so, there’s no need for concern. Here we will walk you through a few simple solutions to fix this issue quickly.

Are you looking for a way to recover data from SD card formatted as internal memory? Get detailed instructions from this step-by-step tutorial.

Solutions to Insufficient Storage Available Android

Solution 1: clear app cache to free up space on the android.

In general, the lack of working space is probably the main reason why you have insufficient storage available. Usually, an Android app uses three sets of storage, for the app itself, the app’s data files, and the app’s cache.

Usually, the application cache takes up a large part of the space. In this case, emptying your app cache is a useful way to fix the Android insufficient storage error.

How to clear the app cache ? Follow the instructions below.

• Open  Settings  and then go to the  Applications  or  Applications Manager .
• Then you can see all the downloaded apps on your Android device as well as how much storage space they are taking up.
• Tap  Menu  or  More  to sort these apps by size to check which one takes up the most storage.
• Tap the specific app to see what is taking up the storage space. The app’s data is shown in the Storage section and its cache is shown in the Cache section.
• Tap  Clear Cache  to empty its cache so as to free up some space.
• Duplicate this process for the remaining software occupying large storage space.

After finishing the operations above, there should be a lot of free space released on your phone.

Solution 2: Move Apps From Internal Storage to SD card

Apart from app cache files, applications themselves take up a lot of Android storage space as well. To free up the internal memory, you can move some apps from the internal storage to your SD card.

• Go to the  Settings  menu on your Android device.
• Tap on  Apps .
• Arrange all apps in order by taping  Sort by size . Then, choose the target app and tap  Move to SD card .
• Repeat the operation to move other apps to the SD card .

Is your SD card corrupted after Android update? If so, you can refer to this post to use MiniTool data recovery software to get the lost data back from SD card.

Solution 3: Uninstall Unwanted Apps

Uninstalling unnecessary apps can also effectively free up Android storage space.

To uninstall an app, go to Settings on your Android phone, then go to the Application s section to get a list of all the apps you have installed on your device. Sort the apps by size, then select the ones you don’t need and click Uninstall to remove them.

Solution 4: Transfer Photos/Videos From Android to Computer

If you find that your Android phone storage is full, the better solution besides handling applications is to move some large files (including photos, videos, audio, etc.) to your computer. For this, you need a third-party professional data transfer tool.

Here, this free Android data recovery software – MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android is worth trying. It serves as more than a mobile data recovery software for recovering deleted Android files, it also functions as a data transfer tool to transfer existing files to a computer.

In addition, MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android is fully compatible with Windows 10/8/7 and supports a variety of Android phones, such as Samsung, Huawei, Sony, etc.

Now, download and install MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android for data transfer to solve the problem of “Android storage space running out”.

MiniTool Android Recovery on Windows Click to Download 100% Clean & Safe

Major steps to transfer data from your Android phone to your computer:

Step 1: Open MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android Free on your computer.

On its main interface, you can see two modules, Recover from Phone  &  Recover from SD-Card . Usually, you need to transfer your photos, videos, or music files from Android internal memory, so please click the Recover from Phone  option.

Step 2: Connect your phone that has low Android storage space to the computer via a USB cable. Then MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android will automatically detect and analyze the connected Android device.

Step 3: Now you are required to enable USB debugging. You can follow the corresponding on-screen instructions according to your Android version.

During this process, it is suggested to check the  Always allow from this computer option on your phone screen to avoid authorization next time. 

If your phone is not rooted, now you will be prompted to root your device. This document –  How to Root Your Android Device  shows you the details.

Step 4: After rooting the Android phone, you come to the Device Ready to Scan section. Here, you need to choose a scan method.

• Quick Scan  scans your Android device in a fast way but it only allows moving contacts, short messages, and call records to a computer.
• Deep Scan  is designed to deeply scan the entire phone device so that more files can be transferred, but this way takes longer.

Since you need to transfer large photos, videos, and audio to your computer to free up storage space, you should choose the Deep Scan option. After that, click the Next button to continue.

Step 5: Then, MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android will start analyzing the data and scanning your device.

Once the scan has finished, you can see several data types listed on the left side. Some data types are marked in blue, which means the software found files of such types. Conversely, a gray icon indicates that no useful data was found.

Since you want to extract existing photos, videos, and audio from your Android phone, it’s important for you to focus on the following suggestions:

• Switch the button next to Only display the deleted items to OFF .
• Focus on specific file types such as Camera , Screenshot , and App Picture under Photos & Videos , Picture under RAW & Document , and so on.

Choose all the files you want to extract, and then click  Recover .

Step 6: Keep the selected default location or click  Browse  to specify a storage path for the extracted files. Finally, click Recover .

MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android Free Edition has a limitation: it only allows saving 10 files of each type each time. Therefore, we suggest you upgrade the software to an advanced edition to transfer more files at once.

After finishing all the steps above, remove and open your Android phone, then delete all the files you have saved to the computer. After that, the Android insufficient storage error should be solved.

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Do you want to recover deleted files Android? This powerful and professional software, MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android, can be used to solve such an issue.

Solution 5: Save Pictures & Videos to SD Card

In addition to moving photos and videos to your computer, you can also solve Android’s low storage space problems by moving or saving pictures or videos to an SD card.

Besides, you can change the default storage of pictures and videos to an SD card to avoid moving files repeatedly.

To do this, go to Settings > Camera Settings . Then, select “ Storage Location “. If the default storage path is “ Device “, change it to “ SD Card ” or “ Memory Card “.

Solution 6: Free up Android Space With a Cleaner App

The junk files occupy much Android memory, causing insufficient space on the device. In this case, you can use a cleaning app for Android to clean some junk files and optimize your device.

MobileGo, CCleaner, Clean Master, etc. are the popular Android cleaner applications. Just download one from Google Play Store to remove junk or unwanted files.

Solution 7: Factory Reset Your Device

If you have tried all the solutions above but still encounter the insufficient storage available error, you may consider factory resetting your Android phone.

Follow the guide below to factory reset your phone.

• Go to  Settings .
• Tap  System  >  Reset  or  Backup & reset .
• Tap on  Factory data reset  and  Reset phone  or  Reset tablet . During this process, you may be required to input the password, just do as told.
• Finally, tap on  Erase everything .

Factory reset will delete all files on Android. There are 3 ways to recover data after factory reset Android that can meet your different situations.

Are you encountering the insufficient storage available issue on the Android phone when installing an app? Now, it is time to try the ways above to free up the space and optimize the performance.

Should you have any problems when using MiniTool Mobile Recovery for Android to move files or recover data, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected] .

About The Author

Position: Columnist

• How to Troubleshoot Insufficient Storage Space on vivo Y71
• Storage and Memory Issues
• Insufficient storage space

Comes with a 6.0 inches, 92.9 cm2 (~78.7% screen-to-body ratio) Display Size and a Li-Ion 3360 mAh, non-removable battery

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• How to Use Camera Modes and Settings on vivo Y71

How to Troubleshoot Insufficient Storage Space on your vivo Y71 Android Device

Method 1: check storage usage.

Check the storage usage on your vivo Y71 Android device to identify which files or apps are taking up the most space:

Access the device settings and find the "Storage" or "Storage & USB" section.

Review the storage usage breakdown to identify large files, apps, or media that can be removed or moved to external storage.

Method 2: Clear App Cache and Data

Clearing app cache and data can free up space occupied by temporary files and unnecessary data:

Access the device settings and find the "Apps" or "Applications" section.

Select an app from the list and tap on "Storage".

Choose the "Clear Cache" or "Clear Data" option to remove the cached files or app data.

Method 3: Uninstall Unused Apps

Uninstalling unused apps can help free up storage space on your vivo Y71 Android device:

Select an app from the list and tap on "Uninstall" or "Remove".

Repeat this process for other unused apps that you no longer need.

Method 4: Move Files to External Storage

If your vivo Y71 Android device supports expandable storage, consider moving files to an external SD card:

Select "Files" or "Explore" to access the file manager.

Locate the files you want to move, tap and hold on them, then select the "Move" or "Copy" option.

Choose the external SD card as the destination to free up space on the internal storage.

Method 5: Use Cloud Storage Services

Utilize cloud storage services to offload files and free up space on your vivo Y71 Android device:

Install a cloud storage app, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, from the Play Store.

Upload files or media to the cloud storage service and access them whenever needed, reducing the reliance on local storage.

Method 6: Factory Reset (Caution)

Note: Performing a factory reset will erase all data on your vivo Y71 Android device. Make sure to back up your important data before proceeding.

If all else fails, you can try performing a factory reset to reclaim storage space:

Access the device settings and find the "Backup & Reset" or "System" section.

Select "Factory Data Reset" or a similar option.

Follow the on-screen prompts to confirm the reset process.

After the reset is complete, set up your device again and monitor the storage space.

By following these methods, you can troubleshoot and address insufficient storage space issues on your vivo Y71 Android device. If the problem persists, it's advisable to seek professional assistance or contact the device manufacturer for further support.

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How to clear the data and cache of the apps, what are mtp mode and u mode, what should i do when phone space is not enough, how to clear all data on my phone, what app data will "clear data" delete, how to check the available space of my phone, can i delete the bbklog or mtklog file, why does my phone automatically generate files, why can i not delete the files stored on phone storage, why is the number of available space not changed after i delete files on vivo phone, what should i do if the storage is not enough after turning on the log switch, why is the actual use of space less than the official propaganda space, why does the bbklog or mtklog folder always appear on my phone, why are the date of some files on my vivo phone earlier than the date of production.

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How to fix the 'insufficient storage' error in Android and iOS

Learn how to fix 'insufficient storage' errors in android and ios, and get all your os and app updates asap.

By Galen Gruman

Computerworld |

When Android shows the "Insufficient Storage Available" error

When ios won't install an os update for lack of space.

We all know that storage is never much as to appears to be. A device with 32GB of storage, of example, will have a lot less because of the operating system and preinstalled apps, as well as from the wasted space caused by how OSes format the storage medium.

Most of us know that, but we still get angrily mystified when we try to install apps or OS updates onto our Android or iOS device, only be told there's insufficient room -- though the update or app takes far less space than what is available.

Blame it on poor UI: In most cases, what's really going on is that the OS has insufficient working space to perform the installation. There's enough room at the end of process for the update or app, but not enough to execute the process. If only the error message simply said so!

Lack of working space is the cause of the "Insufficient Storage Available" error that periodically bedevils Android users. Adding insult to injury, there are several possible causes for the lack of sufficient working storage.

Android apps use three sets of storage space: for the apps themselves, for the apps' data files, and for the apps' cache. Those caches can grow quite large, yet they are reported as free space by Android -- though in fact that space is not available as a working space for app installation.

If you get the "Insufficient Storage Available" error, empty your app cache to see if that clears up enough working space for the installation. How to do so depends on what version of Android you are running, as well as from what device maker. (The screens here are for Android Lollipop running on a Samsung Galaxy S6.)

In most cases:

• Open the Settings app, tap Apps, Applications, or Applications Manager option. (Applications Manager might be an option after either Apps or Applications.)
• Scroll sideways to the Downloaded section. You'll see a list of all apps and how much storage space they're taking.
• Tap the Menu or More button and choose Sort By Size to arrange the apps by which take the most storage. 
• Tap an app to see how much storage it is taking, both for the app and its data (the Storage section) and for its cache (the Cache section).
• Tap Clear Cache to remove its cache and free up that space. You could also tap Clear data, but that removes your files, which is probably a bad idea.
• Repeat for each app.

The Android Settings app shows the storage used by each app and lets you purge each app's cache.

In some devices, there's a faster way to clear all the apps' cache in one fell swoop:

• Open the Settings app, tap Storage (it should be in the System tab or section). You'll see how much storage is used, with details for cached data broken out.
• Tap Cached Data. In the confirmation form that appears, tap Delete to free up that cache for working space, or tap Cancel to leave the cache alone.

In some cases, Android can purge all apps' caches in one fell swoop, using the Storage screen in the Settings app.

Be warned that clearing the cache may not do the trick in all cases. Android devices that use external storage (SD cards, basically) often have much less usable storage than is reported. That's because many system resources and some apps must be installed on the device's built-in core storage, not on a removable storage medium. 

There are security and stability reasons for this requirement, but they've varied from one Android version to the next, and in some versions app makers get to decide the rules for what can be stored where. As a result, Android devices with removable storage may need to have apps and data removed to make room for updates and new apps -- not only the cache.

But what taketh also can giveth: If an app can removed from internal storage to external storage, do so to free up the internal storage for use as working space for your app installation. If an app can be moved to external storage, you'll see the Move to SD Card button in the Applications Manager for that app.

Most Android devices that support external storage usually have too little internal storage (to get to a cheaper price). Thus, you may not be able to install what you think you have room for, even after cleaning up the internal space. Next time, get a device with at least 32GB of internal storage.

iOS is much less prone to running out of room for app updates than Android, since apps' cache is contained in the same sandbox as the app itself and its data. iOS walls off each app for security reasons, so there is no purported free space where cache actually resides. Thus, iOS knows if it has enough memory to install an app before it even tries.

Well, most of the time -- you might remember the frustration when iOS 7 came out in fall 2013, as many users who tried to download the OS update over the air either got an error message saying they had insufficient space or saw the update get stuck in Update Requested status. Basically, their update never progressed.

These users had enough space for iOS 7 itself, but not enough working space to install it while iOS 6 was also running. Apple slimmed the space requirements for the iOS 8 updates, but some people still did not have enough space.

There are two solutions for this issue in iOS:

Delete apps and/or their data until there's enough room for the over-the-air update (you need about 6GB of free space). To delete an app:

• Tap and hold on one in the home screen; the app icons will start wiggling.
• Tap the X icon on each app you want to remove, then tap OK in the confirmation form. The app and all its files and other data are removed.
• Press the Home button when done. The wiggling will stop.

To remove files in apps' sandboxes, such as storage-intensive videos:

• Open the Settings app.
• Tap General, then tap Usage.
• In the Usage screen, tap Manage Storage and wait a few seconds for a list of apps and their storage usage to appear.
• If you see the > icon to the right of an app name, you can delete its files. Tap > to open a screen showing those files.
• Tap Edit in the upper right, then tap the Delete icon (the red circle with a minus sign in it) for each file you want to delete. Keep in mind that if you hadn't backed up that file to iTunes, it's likely gone -- iCloud Backup doesn't preserve apps' files, though iTunes purchases like videos and e-books can be redownloaded at no charge.
• Tap Done when done.

The iOS Settings app lets you delete individual files from many apps, using the Manage Storage screens in the General section.

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