Thursday, May 17, 2012

Free Up Android Internal Memory Without Rooting

I'm a technophile, but complicated explanations on getting my phones to work are tough for me to understand and do.  That's why I so love Michael James Williams' post on how to free memory up on your Android without rooting.  You can find it here:


Basically:
1.  Check your free space - Settings - Applications -  Manage Applications.  You should know what you have before you start.

2.  Eliminate wasted space due to the bloated Contacts Bug.  This got me 30MB!  He has a great explanation on how to do this on the link above.

3. Move Applications to the SD Card. To do it in an automated way download Android Assistant, and use Tools, App2SD.  It will automatically tell you if any apps can be moved to the SD card.  This saves you a lot of time vs. checking each application one by one. Still, if you want to do it manually:   In step 1, Manage Applications, you can click on an App and select move to SD Card.  If "Move to SD Card" is greyed out, or it says "Move to Phone", you can't move it to the SD Card.
3b. Delete unwanted applications.  Remember that apps that are on your phone take up valuable space.  Make choices!

4.  Clean your Cache and System.
a.  Download Android Assistant (which includes App2SD).  (if you didn't already do this in Step 3). Once downloaded:
b.  Go to App 2 SD (Android Assistant - Tools - App2SD - it is the last app on the bottom right corner for me). It will tell you what you can move to the SD card automatically.
c. Under tools, run the Cache Cleaner
d. Under tools, run the System Clean

Two additional steps that were not in Michael James Williams' post, but worked for me very well:
5. Delete the Trash on your email folders on your Desktop - I can't believe it, but this got me almost 20MB alone.  Apparently, deleted messages on your web inboxes clog your Android mailbox.  Set the defaults on your Desktop (if you are willing) to automatically empty your trash.  This will keep more memory free on your Android.

6.  Delete old text message strings - Again, this was very effective.  I don't clear out old text messages, and often people send me photographs.  Long text strings can take a lot of memory.

Steps 1-6 got me 60 MB alone!  If that isn't enough for you, continue at step 5:

7. Force Applications to allow moving without rooting - I didn't do this, but you can read how here:


If all this doesn't work, consider rooting.  I have been looking into this, and it is not simple (from what I have read), but it will give you valuable memory by allowing you to move applications to the SD card that otherwise cannot be moved (without rooting) and delete pre-loaded programs from HTC/Android you don't want to use.  To read about rooting:


 Have other ideas?  Please share!