Cleaning Out My Smart Phone

[BlueOvalFitter]

I own a Samsung Galaxy J7V smart phone. It came loaded with 16 GB of storage. When I transferred my data from my old SM to this one, it was 7 GB. I'm currently at 10.4 GB of storage. In 2 years it has crept up to this from 7 GB. I have an 8 GB SD card. It hardly has anything on it. I only have the factory installed apps and just a few more I added. I have tried to remove some of the factory installed apps, but it reads I could cause the phone not to work correctly without them.
I know my phone is not in front of you, but how can I delete items, junk, garbage, etc., to get it back down to 7-8 GB? Can items be moved to the SD card, and if so, how? I'm probably asking a lot, but I'm illiterate to this stuff, sort of. HELP?

https://www.verizonwireless.com/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-j7-v/#specsHeading

 

[tony1679]

I'd say it's worth doing a basic look through your phone. Start by going to settings->storage and clearing all cache. Beyond that it's all stuff you've added such as photos, videos, memos, etc. Most likely the rest of it (and likely the largest chunk of the increase in space) is from system/app updates. They are relentless about chewing what little space you have on older/cheaper phones. I finally upgraded from my Galaxy On5 last week (stellar phone btw). I like a lot of the features the S9 (the On5's replacement) has, but so far the reception is complete garbage. I've compared to several low-end phones and it's noticeably worse (verified by dBm and asu in identical locations). Oops. I'm rambling. I guess I'm trying to say keep the phone if it's working to your standards, as an upgrade may not actually be one. Good luck!

 

[MoneyJohn]

Your phone has expandable memory upto 256GB. So I suggest you get a 64GB decent microSD card (Sandisk from Amazon, free replacement lifetime if it fails, gotten 2 replaced like that) and transfer all files you produced or copied, like photos for example or any other files to the microSD card. It may be worth doing a factory reset once after backing up all the data. You will need a file manager app, like https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/es-gl...e-explorer-3-2-5-5-android-apk-download/ and do not update it. The newer one has a ton of garbage/advertisements.

I doubt you will be able to remove factory installed apps as you need a root access. Rooting Samsung phone is usually a piece of cake, check XDA forum and Youtube. Thoroughly understand before you do anything. Once rooted you can remove ALL junk from the phone and keep the apps that you regularly use. Not only that, you can also update the OS if anyone has built it. XDA forum should have all the information. This looks rather complicated but it is not, esp with Samsung phone.

I have Galaxy S4 Play Edition, way older than your phone. Its now running Android 8.0 when Google stopped providing updates at Android 5.1 The phone started working like new after I removed all unnecessary apps from my S4.

 

[RooflessVW]

Going from 7 to 10gb could easily be just your web browser cache and photos.

Why is it a concern?

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Make sure in settings you have new apps and all photos directed to the additional 8GB storage.

I don't use android since the file management is so cryptic. My aging Nokia Lumia Microsoft windows phone is getting on and I dont know what I'm going to do for another phone.

 

[JTK]

Have you deleted the cache like suggested, temp internet files, etc. from your browsers? I know those can take up some space. My last phone was a J7 V. Great inexpensive Samsung. I kept it as a spare.

 

[willbur]

Originally Posted by MoneyJohn
Your phone has expandable memory upto 256GB. So I suggest you get a 64GB decent microSD card (Sandisk from Amazon, free replacement lifetime if it fails, gotten 2 replaced like that) and transfer all files you produced or copied, like photos for example or any other files to the microSD card. It may be worth doing a factory reset once after backing up all the data. You will need a file manager app, like https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/es-gl...e-explorer-3-2-5-5-android-apk-download/ and do not update it. The newer one has a ton of garbage/advertisements.

I doubt you will be able to remove factory installed apps as you need a root access. Rooting Samsung phone is usually a piece of cake, check XDA forum and Youtube. Thoroughly understand before you do anything. Once rooted you can remove ALL junk from the phone and keep the apps that you regularly use. Not only that, you can also update the OS if anyone has built it. XDA forum should have all the information. This looks rather complicated but it is not, esp with Samsung phone.

I have Galaxy S4 Play Edition, way older than your phone. Its now running Android 8.0 when Google stopped providing updates at Android 5.1 The phone started working like new after I removed all unnecessary apps from my S4.



Greetings MoneyJohn-

You make it sound so easy to root my S4! Went to the XDA forum you mentioned. It was full of incomprehensible computer talk. Made no sense to me. Can you provide a link to a "easy as cake" root instruction you have used and like?

 

[KrisZ]

S4 might be different, but I was able to get rid of junk carrier apps on my S8 without root access. But technically they were not uninstalled, just disabled for my user. Still, they don't create cache files or run updates and in the background, thus this method still frees up resources.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by BlueOvalFitter
I have tried to remove some of the factory installed apps, but it reads I could cause the phone not to work correctly without them.
If the app has an icon that you can open and run, it's not a mission-critical program that can't be removed. That's just the carrier or the phone manufacturer trying to scare you. If it's absolutely mandatory for the phone to operate, Android itself won't let you remove it (without root access). If you don't use the app, remove it. Plain and simple.

Things like temporary internet files, caches, etc won't amount to anything so don't spend much effort there. This isn't the 90s with Windows 95 and 320mb hard drives.

Personally, I'd wipe the phone (reset to factory setup). Never hurts to get a fresh start....

 

[KrisZ]

Here is a good method to get rid of bloatware from an S4 without root access. Good rule of thumb is that any carrier related app can safely be removed. Lots of Samsung apps are also useless and can safely be removed.

I would go through the app drawer, not app list found in settings, as this list contains system apps too, and make note of the apps that you never use. Then get rid of them.

S4 remove apps without root access

 

[Hall]

I always replaced most carrier apps with the Google equivalents, if available, so no need to for (2) contacts apps, (2) calendar apps, and so on. I didn't do it to save or gain space either as I think you'll find removing them doesn't amount to anything to get excited over.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson
I always replaced most carrier apps with the Google equivalents, if available, so no need to for (2) contacts apps, (2) calendar apps, and so on. I didn't do it to save or gain space either as I think you'll find removing them doesn't amount to anything to get excited over.


As far as saving space, a agree, although all these apps, even if unused create cache file and eventually it all adds up, especially on phones with little storage.

But the performance gain by removing these apps is definitely real, as well as increased battery life. My s8 definitely benefitted from getting rid of bloatware apps, I would imagine an older phone like an s4, would benefit even more.

 

[BlueOvalFitter]

Originally Posted by rooflessVW
Going from 7 to 10gb could easily be just your web browser cache and photos.

Why is it a concern?

At 7 GB it ran faster then with 10.4 GB.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by BlueOvalFitter
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
Going from 7 to 10gb could easily be just your web browser cache and photos.

Why is it a concern?

At 7 GB it ran faster then with 10.4 GB.
Using more storage space does NOT impact the speed of the phone. Apps are stored on internal storage while the phone uses RAM (Random Access Memory) for operating. They are two, entirely separate things.