How to free up space with Google Files

Google Files was born as a utility to free up space in Android Go, but over time lost the last name Go and is emerging as an essential tool in Android phones of all ranges.

Google Files takes over from Clean Master and company, allowing you to free space in your mobile in various ways, from deleting junk files to searching for duplicates or those that occupy the most space. The obvious difference is that, in this case, you do not have advertising or tell you lies.

Eliminate useless files

Deleting unusable files is in some way the main function of Files Go. This card usually comes out all the way, although sometimes it may take a few seconds to appear because the application needs to do a storage analysis.

It is the fastest and safest way to free space

The good thing about this type of cleaning is that it is totally safe, because the application automatically chooses files that can be deleted without any repercussions. Hence, they are called “garbage”. If you’re in a hurry, you can tap Confirm and release and then confirm, but you can also tap View junk files to see the full list.

If you chose to see the details, you are shown a list with everything that you are going to erase. Under each item is indicated the reason why they will be eliminated, which in most cases is that they are temporary files. If you prefer to keep those of a specific app, you can avoid deleting it by unchecking its box.

Delete the photos that are in Google Photos

Another way to free up space on your mobile is by deleting the local copy of the photos that have already been backed up in Google Photos. Touching on Release on the corresponding card opens Google Photos, where you will see the confirmation window.

Google Photos suggests you delete the photos of more than 30 days that have already been saved in Google Photos, because you can always retrieve them and view them by uploading them from the Internet, with the Google Photos app.

Now, keep in mind that if you use the high quality backup, not the original quality, you will lose the original photos at a higher quality. The high quality of Google Photos limits the photos to 16 megapixels (about 4920 x 3264 pixels).

Finish duplicate files

Another way to free space without commitment in Android is to delete duplicate files, that is, of which you have several identical copies in the mobile. Google Files checks the size and date of the file to determine that two files are the same, even if they have different file names.

To delete duplicate files, tap Select and release, on the Duplicate Files card. The good news is that Google Files takes the trouble for you to choose one of the copies as highlighted, so you can erase the other.

In this case, it is you who must select what you want to delete. If you do not have it clear, with a long touch the file or video in question opens. And, if none of the copies interests you, you can always select both.

Files from WhatsApp, Telegram and other apps

Google Files will show you several more cards suggesting you delete multimedia files from different applications such as Telegram or WhatsApp. In this case there are no recommendations on what you should delete or not, but it depends entirely on your criteria. Moreover, it is better that you contain the desire to mark All the elements and it’s over, because some files might interest you.

This is especially important in WhatsApp, because the images and videos that you delete will be broken in the chats that contain them. In Telegram it does not really matter, because the photos are saved in the cloud and are downloaded again as soon as they are shown again in the chat.

Large and downloaded files

Remember when you downloaded a lot of game APKs because they still came up on Google Play? Well, they’re probably there, in the download folder. Google Files gives you quick access to the files downloaded from the same name card, so you can review them and eliminate those you no longer need.

A deeper cleaning needs that you choose manually what you want to erase

Similarly, it never hurts to take a look at the heavier files, such as the time you recorded a 30-minute video and then you forgot about it. Eye, because a file is heavy and comes out on this list does not mean that you can and should delete it just for sure.

The truth is that in this section Files Go just gives you information about the files, so the best thing is that in case of doubt, do not erase. As in the other apps, you can see a preview of photos, videos and other files with a long touch, but other “big files” that appear here can be useful, such as WhatsApp backups (msgstore.db files), so it’s better that you do not erase them.

Uninstall the apps that you no longer use

The last way to free space that Files Go proposes is to uninstall applications, although before activating it you need to grant the necessary permissions. Specifically, the permission to obtain the data of use of applications and be able to determine which apps do not open much.

After granting the permission you will be able to see the list, which is sorted according to the last time you used each app. Once again, the last decision is yours, so mark only those apps you want to uninstall. The process is not entirely automatic, but it will be you who have to press Uninstall in the pop-up window before each uninstall.

File Browser

Google Files gives you a hand to make it easier to free up space on the mobile, but sometimes there is no choice but to roll up and do the cleaning by hand. For this it has a fairly complete file explorer, available in the Explore tab.

This file browser allows you to show the files according to their type (images, videos, audio, documents, applications) regardless of where they are located, or if you prefer you can go to the bottom of the screen to see the folders and files , both of the internal memory as of the SD memory, if it exists.

Here it is especially important that you be careful with what you erase, as there is no recycling bin or anything that resembles it. If you find a file or folder that you’re sure you want to delete (for example, Allo’s in the screenshot above), tap the arrow to its right and choose Delete.

How much space can you free with Google Files?

How much space you can free with Google Files depends on how much trash your phone has at the moment and how many apps and old files you can do without? In our test, we started with used space of 29.31 GB and finished with 26.96 GB, so we released 2.35 gigabytes, which is not bad.