How to empty trash files on Android phone.
While new Android devices come with ever-increasing storage capacity, that doesn’t mean your device can’t be filled with junk. Long forgotten downloads, corrupted cache files, duplicate images – your Android device has all sorts of junk files that can start filling up your storage without regular maintenance.
Fortunately, there are several ways to delete these files and clear storage for important apps and files. If you want to know how to empty the Trash from files on Android, here’s what you need to do.
Clearing App Cache Files on Android
When you run apps on your Android device, they accumulate cache files. These are temporary files that applications use in the background. These files grow and grow in size over time, especially in web browsers, social media apps, and other internet-connected apps.
Cleaning up these files can restore a significant portion of the storage you are using. This will not stop the applications, but some of them may require you to log in again.
- To clear the application cache files, open the settings menu of your device. You can do this by scrolling down the notification bar and selecting the Settings option.
- The settings menu for Android devices may vary depending on the device manufacturer and Android version. Select the Applications option from the list to view installed applications.
- In the Applications menu, you will see a list of installed applications. However, for some versions of Android, you may need to tap Installed Apps to view this list. To clear cache files from specific applications, select an application from the list.
- From the Application Information menu for this application, select the Storage option.
- From the Storage menu, click the Clear Cache button at the bottom. This will clear all cache files for this application.
If you are having trouble clearing your app cache files, you can also clear the caches of all installed apps using the Android recovery menu. However, this is not recommended for most users, as the risk of knocking the device out and out of action is quite high.
If the application cache cannot be cleared, it is best to uninstall the application and reinstall it, as this will clear the cache files.
Deleting Downloaded Files Using Google Files
Who among us is trying to delete the files we download? The likelihood of success on a desktop or Mac may be higher, but probably less for our smartphones and tablets. However, deleting downloads on Android can delete a number of long-forgotten files and free up space for more important photos and documents.
- Open your application’s file manager app, or install Google Files from the Google Play Store and open that app. You may need to give Google Files access to your files the first time you open them.
- In the Files app, select Browse> Downloads. In the Downloads menu, you will see a list of all downloaded files to your device. To select all of them, click the three-dot menu icon in the upper right corner, then select the Select All option.
- With all files selected in the Downloads menu, click the Delete icon in the upper left corner.
- The Files application will ask you to confirm your choice. To do this, select “Delete” and delete all files.
After confirming the deletion, all files in your device’s download folder will be deleted. You will need to repeat these steps on a regular basis to empty the Trash on your Android device of files so as not to fill your storage with forgotten downloaded files.
Clearing Temporary Files Using Google Files
Android cleaning apps have been popular since the early days of the Google operating system. While some have questioned their usefulness, the combination of low-power devices, small storage capacity, and less optimized systems has forced users to try to find ways to clean up junk files and free up active memory.
Today, we don’t necessarily recommend any of these apps, but if you’re worried about these junk files on your Android device, you can use Google’s native Files app to uninstall them for you.
- You need to install Google Files first, if you haven’t already, and give it the necessary permissions to access your files on first launch. Once opened, select the Purge tab (if not already displayed), then select the Purge option from the Junk Files card at the top.
- The files will ask you for permission to clear some temporary files from your device. To do this, select “Clear”.
After cleaning these files, the space occupied by the temporary recycle bin files on Android will be reclaimed so you can use it elsewhere.
Clearing Browser Cache in Google Chrome on Android
One of the biggest sources of junk junk on an Android device is your web browser. Chrome, which is the default browser for many Android users, stores cache files for the sites you visit to speed up their loading on future visits and reduce data usage.
You can use the steps above to directly clear the cache files of the Chrome app, but this may result in some settings and personalization changes being lost. Instead of trying to do this, you can use Chrome’s own garbage disposal system to clean up unneeded cache files.
- To do this, open Google Chrome on your Android device, then select the three-dot menu icon at the top right. Select the Settings option from the drop-down menu.
- From the Settings menu, select Site Settings.
- From the Site Settings menu, select the Saved Data option.
- You will see a list of data saved for each individual site you visited in the Saved Data menu. To erase this data, click the Clear All Data button at the bottom of the menu.
- Chrome will ask you to confirm that you want to delete the cache files. To do this, select “Clear”.
After deleting browser data, your Chrome storage usage will decrease significantly. You will need to repeat these steps regularly so that your Chrome storage does not grow too much in the future.
Maintaining Your Android Devices
The above steps should help you empty Trash on Android. However, after you empty the junk files in the recycle bin, you will need to do regular maintenance to avoid running into problems later. For example, you might start moving some apps to external storage, or store some files in the cloud instead.
Emptying the Trash regularly on Android is a good idea, but not a miracle on a slow smartphone or tablet. If it’s time to update, you can easily transfer your data to your new Android device. You can also switch from Android to iPhone, although the process will take a little longer.
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How to empty trash files on Android phone
How to empty trash files on Android phone