How to Free Up Space on Android With 'Files Go'

Google's Files Go app can come to the rescue when you're low on storage.

Is your Android phone or tablet running out of space? You may have already deleted some apps or files, but somehow your device is still low on storage. Don't despair. Google's free Files Go app can help.

Playing the role of storage manager, Files Go shows you exactly how much space is available on your primary storage and SD card. It scans your device to hunt down old photos, memes from chats, duplicate files, unused apps, and more baggage, and can remove any or all of the content it finds. And the more you run the app, the smarter it gets at offering suggestions on ways to free up space. Here's how it works.

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1 Download and Install

Download and install Files Go from Google Play. Open the app and you'll see a graph of your storage, showing the total and used space for your internal storage as well as for your SD card if your device contains one.

The first time you fire up the app, you're asked if you want to allow Files Go to access photos, media, and files on your device. Tap Allow. To see how much space is allocated to specific types of files, tap on the Files icon at the bottom of the screen.

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2 Categories

At the Files screen, tap on each of the categories—Downloads, Apps, Images, Videos, Audio, and Documents—to see each group of specific files.

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3 Open, View, or Play

From any category, you can tap on a specific file to open, view, or play it.

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4 Uninstall

Press down on a specific file to select it. To uninstall an app from here, tap on the Options icon and tap on Uninstall. With an image, document, or other type of file, tap on the Trash Can icon to delete it.

For more commands, tap on the Options icon. Now you can elect to open the file, back it up to Google Drive, copy or move it to an SD card, copy or move it to internal storage, or rename it.

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5 Free Up Space

Okay, so far we've covered the manual steps you can take with Files Go. The true power of the app lies in its ability to help you decide how to free up space. To that end, Files Go displays cards on the home screen, one after the other, each one offering a piece of advice.

Tap the Storage icon at the bottom of the screen. Tap OK to dismiss the message telling you that "Cards like this will show you how to free up space." The initial card suggests finding unused apps. Tap Get Started. The first time you do this, the app asks you to allow app usage access. Tap on the link to Go To Settings and turn on the option to allow usage access for Files Go. Return to Files Go.

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6 Unused Apps

The app then displays any apps you haven't used in a certain amount of time and shows you how much space you would free up by uninstalling them. To remove these or other apps, tap on the card. Select the apps you wish to delete, and tap on the Uninstall button at the bottom of the screen.

Return to the home screen. To dismiss the current card, swipe it to the right or left. Files Go may serve up another card or may tell you that you're caught up for now. You can also swipe down the screen to refresh the cards. If your storage starts to get low again, the app should come up with more ideas and cards to help you free up additional space.