Your Android’s pre-installed apps can be convenient and offer a range of services. But you may also be concerned about how much storage space your apps are taking up, and sacrificing space for pre-installed apps you may or may not use doesn’t feel like the best use of this space.
If you’re interested in freeing up space but aren’t sure where to start, there are a few pre-installed apps that are worth a second glance. These apps can be deleted or adjusted to help provide you with more space so that you can use it for apps and setting that do interest you.
1. Google Play Services
Google Play Services takes up about 100MB to 300MB of storage space. It’s a background service that is provided by Google to help make sure your Android apps are functioning correctly, and you can’t completely delete it. However, you can disable this service and this will prevent it from using up valuable resources. Clearing the cache of this service can also help free up storage — go to Settings > Apps > Google Play Services > Storage > Clear Cache.
To disable the app, head to Settings > Apps > Google Play Services. Disable it.
2. Google Photos
Google Photos can take up a ton of storage space, and the amount of space only increases the more photos and videos you have taken and stored. You won’t want to get rid of Google Photos, of course. But here’s how you can limit the effect Google Photos has on your storage: delete all unnecessary photos and make it a priority to perform regular maintenance on this app, and use high quality storage saver instead of Original Quality, which takes up more space. Open Google Photos and go to your profile picture. Go to Photos Settings > Backup & Sync > Upload Size and select Storage Saver.
3. Samsung Bixby
If you don’t use Samsung Bixby, you can disable its components to save space. This includes Bixby Home, Bixby Voice, and Bixby Vision.
4. Google Apps
If there are any pre-installed Google Apps that you have no use for, consider deleting them to gain back storage. This can include Google Podcasts, Google News, Google Duo, Google Hangouts, and Google Keep. If it’s an app that you can delete, and you’ve never used it, feel free to delete away.
