I’ve a Samsung Galaxy A03 on my desk with 32GB of storage and about 31GB of it gone. I would like the telephone for a undertaking, however proper now, it might probably barely set up something.
I may repair this with a manufacturing facility reset in 10 minutes. Nonetheless, it will wipe each app already on it, together with all my native information, and setting these again up is the work I used to be attempting to keep away from.
I went by way of the same old route utilizing the file system analyzer to seek out recordsdata I may delete, and found one thing fascinating.
My images, paperwork, movies, and system recordsdata used up lower than 10GB. WhatsApp took an extra 2GB, so the place did the remainder of the storage go?
I wanted to resolve this, since my telephone needed to get lighter with out dropping something, and that is not what app bloat usually allows.
After manually deleting as a lot as I may, I made a decision to attempt a storage cleaner. I solely checked out open supply apps as a result of I’ve a telephone I could not reset. I wished to examine what a software claims in opposition to what it does.
Why the same old recommendation did not work right here
Each repair value me one thing I wanted
One UI Core’s storage display screen offers you three solutions: uninstall unused apps, clear app cache, or delete giant recordsdata.
Nonetheless, all three take one thing away. On a 32GB telephone, the apps are the storage, and the explanation I hadn’t reset the telephone within the first place.
The microSD slot would not assist both. The cardboard takes images, video, and downloads, however app information and caches keep on inside storage, and that is what was stuffed up.
What I wanted was house that did not belong to something. That is a a lot smaller class, and nothing in Settings truly seems to be for it.
The analyzers solely discovered what I could not delete
The place Disky and DiskUsage each stopped
I attempted Disky, and it is solely obtainable on F-Droid. It scans quick and splits storage by listing with apps included. Inside a minute, I had a clear ranked record of my largest folders.
The largest folders had been sorted by measurement, making them straightforward to identify. However they belonged to the apps I did not need to take away.
DiskUsage gave me the identical reply by way of an older interface. Its treemap continues to be a great way to learn a filesystem, however its final F-Droid launch is a 5.0 alpha from December 2023.
Each did their job appropriately, however they do not inform you the recordsdata which have been deserted, which was the one query that mattered to me.
However, Cache Cleaner continues to be listed on F-Droid. Its description says the developer stopped sustaining it as a result of Android 6.0 and later made it pointless.
Android 16’s built-in tools are good for anybody on a present telephone, however the A03 ended at Android 13, so it by no means bought them.
SD Maid discovered the one house that was free to take
Why Android cannot see this junk by itself
While you uninstall an app, Android deletes its sandboxed directories. Nonetheless, something the app saved outdoors these places stays precisely the place it’s.
That is particularly annoying as a result of apps create folders within the inside storage beneath names that do not determine them. The hidden OBB folder is an effective instance.
Android would not clear it as a result of it would not monitor it. The system retains no report of connecting a stray folder to a package deal eliminated two years in the past.
SD Maid 2/SE works as a result of it carries its personal reference information mapping folder names to the apps that create them. Scanning is simple, however the mapping is the precise product.
CorpseFinder listed each consequence subsequent to the app it got here from, together with just a few I would installed once, uninstalled, and forgotten. It got here to about 3GB.
On 32GB, that quantity is the distinction between a telephone that may set up issues and one that may’t.
The place the remaining house got here from
SystemCleaner cleared empty folders and previous log recordsdata. That freed little or no by itself however made the file supervisor readable once more.
AppCleaner produced the remainder. It clears hidden caches, and on trendy Android it does that by utilizing the accessibility service to faucet the clear cache button in Settings for every app in flip.
That is the identical permission the ad-driven cleaners ask for, and it is honest to be uneasy about it. The itemizing states the API shouldn’t be used to gather info, and the app is open supply on GitHub, so you possibly can examine that declare.
The majority automation is offered on the Professional tier. There aren’t any adverts, and the improve is a one-time buy.
Scanning took 5 minutes on a chip with 4GB of RAM, and each software allows you to evaluate outcomes earlier than something is deleted.
Drawback solved
The A03 has round 5GB again and sufficient room to run the undertaking I meant for it, and I did not must uninstall a single app.
What’s fascinating about this train is that the recordsdata I cleared had no proprietor, and each analyzer I attempted may see these folders with none thought of what they had been.
SD Maid 2/SE’s free construct is offered on F-Droid, so anybody going that route ought to watch what Google’s new sideloading rules break, as a result of getting it will not be this easy anymore.
