Fix – ‘Insufficient Space on the Device’ Error on Android

Android phones many times show weird messages of “Insufficient storage” when downloading apps from Google Play Store even though your device has a good amount of storage left. These is not any technical glitch but is system requirement for running of apps.

Even though the smartphone has storage space left, the apps after installation require additional space for smooth running which cannot be accomplished with low storage space hence system asks for cleaning the data for more free storage.

Here I have come up with some solutions to fix the problem of low storage. Off course their is no permanent fix.

Fix the Insufficient storage available error

1. Disable useless apps to free more space

Almost all smartphones come with pre-installed apps called bloatware. These apps may not be of your interest or use but makers install them based on their agreement with the developers. Moreover, these apps are set as system apps which actually cannot be uninstalled and also these apps eat up RAM space from background even if not in use. If you have any such system app which you find of no use then disable the app under settings of your Android device. Here is the process to do so.

1. Open settings of your Android device
2. Look for option called Apps or Manage apps
3. Now under All look for the bloatware apps
4. Click on the app and Disable the app
5. After you disable all the unwanted apps just reboot the device and you are done

2. Uninstall Google Play Services updates

Many times even though the device has ample amount of space available it asks for more space. In such conditions, you can perform the following operation which worked on many devices.

Uninstall Google Play Services Update

• Just uninstall the updates of Google Play Services under settings. Settings > Apps or App Manager > Google Play Services>Uninstal update
• Download the app from Play Store. The app will download and install successfully.
• Again update the Google Play Services

3. Use any cleaner app to free up space

The device on regular use builds up junk, ad data, system cache and app cache which get stored on your device. This obsolete junk is of  no use for smartphone hence you can remove them to make more free space in your storage. In general, the junk and cache eat upto 1GB of storage which can be freed just by using any phone cleaner app, popularly Clean Master is used but you can try any other app based on your preferences.

4. Delete thumbnails to increase storage space

Thumbnails can be said as image data stored in the device which help in loading up of the photo quickly in the gallery. Thumbnails can eat very much of device storage so if you wish to delete it then you can find the file (usually here: /mnt/sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails) in your system that is storing thumbnails, erase that. You will get more free space.

Delete thumbnails in android

If you have rooted device you can  move /data/media/obb to SD card and save storage.

5. Use Hidden Menu to clean the dump

Fortunately, their is a very simple method to clean up junk without any third party app but this tricky method mostly works on Samsung and its associated phones only.

1. Just dial *#9900# on your phones dialer pad and wait for the process.
2. You will see a menu by the name SysDump.
3. Tap on the option by the name “Delete Dumpstate/logcat”
   

   Delete LogCat

4. Just OK Delete Dump and system will automatically clean the junk files.
   

   Confirm the operation by hitting OK

6. Move apps and big files to SD card

Android is so customisable  and has given us option to move apps to external storage of the device. If you have space available on your SD card then move all the apps which are able, to your external storage. This will not only free up space but also stores app data in SD card which will keep the device storage with more space. To do So.

1. Open setting of your device
2. Look for option Apps or Manage Apps
3. Now under Installed apps/Downloaded Apps look for all those apps which can be moved to SD card and move them.
4. Then just reboot the device if you wish

You can also move big files and all other media to SD card and make more space for you to download apps from Google Play Store as apps installed from Google Play are directly stored in phone storage. You can use file explorer or file manager to do so. (Download one from Play Store if not pre-installed in your device)

Note & Conclusion: I hope the post was helpful in creating more space for you to download apps from Play Store and fix the problem of ‘Insufficient storage available’. Do comment below for any assistance required.