What Is “Other” Storage on Android And How to Clean It Up ?

What Is “Other” Storage on Android (And How to Clean It Up)?.Android has greatly improved its file management system and application efficiency. However, with large operating system files, heavier apps, and resource-intensive games, Android devices can quickly fill up despite their large storage capacity. In addition to easily identifiable files such as photos, videos, apps, and games, there is an “Other” category that includes unidentified storage files.In this article, we will show you how to get rid of files from the Other category and free up more space on your Android.

What is “other” storage on Android?

On Android devices, the “Other” category refers to storage space that is not specifically categorized as identifiable files, such as photos, videos, apps, or games. It includes various types of files that are difficult to recognize by the system and fall into different or unclassified groups.These files may include:

• Private Application Data. Some Android apps and games generate data that doesn’t fit into standard categories, such as additional downloaded files, cloud sync data, and temporary files from streaming services.
• Backup failed. Cloud backup services may encounter problems during backups, resulting in incomplete or failed backups that end up in the “Other” section.
• OTA update failed. Over-the-air updates can sometimes fail due to poor network conditions or other reasons, leaving temporary installer files in the “Other” storage.
• Hidden cache files and temporary data. Apps and games load temporary data files such as images, videos, and text that cannot always be cleared properly, causing them to accumulate in the Other category.
• Miscellaneous system files. Some system files and data that do not fit into the standard categories may also end up in the “Other” storage.

“Other” storage is often a mixture of different files that are not clearly differentiated, making them difficult to identify and manage individually. As a result, this category can grow over time, taking up valuable device space. Clearing “Other” storage can help free up space and improve the overall performance of your Android device.

How to clear other storage and free up space on Android

There are various methods to clear the Other section in the internal memory of your Android device. You can try the following methods one by one until you are happy with the freed up internal memory of your Android phone.

1. Use the cleanup feature on your Android

Most Android devices now offer a handy Cleanup feature in the Settings app to easily free up your phone’s internal storage.To use the Clean feature on your smartphone, follow these steps. Please note that the appearance and location of the Cleanup feature may vary slightly depending on your device manufacturer and Android version.

1. On your smartphone, open Settings.
2. In the Settings app, scroll down until you find the Storage option. On Samsung devices, your phone memory may be marked as Device Care. If you’re having trouble finding it, just use the search bar at the top and type Storage.
3. Select Storage and you will be presented with a breakdown into various categories such as photos, videos, other media, applications. , games and much more. You can select any of these categories to view more information about its contents.

4. In each category, you can identify files that are taking up space and decide which ones to delete. Click on individual files or select multiple files to remove them from your device.
5. Although the Cleanup feature doesn’t allow you to delete files specifically from the Other category, you can use it to deep clean your phone and free up a lot of space on your Android.

The Clean option helps you manage your Android storage efficiently by identifying and deleting unnecessary files.Some Android phone models also have a Clear storage feature that can be accessed by swiping down on the home screen. You’ll see this feature in the drop-down menu above the notification panel.

2. Clearing data used by proprietary applications

Your Android device’s memory may become full due to app data such as hidden cached data, temporary files, and additional downloaded files. Luckily, Android devices have another built-in feature that can help you manage those large files – a memory scanner that can help you clear the cache.To clear this data, follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings application on your phone.
2. Go to Storage Settings, if applicable, or go to Storage. span> > Applications.
3. If your device allows it, sort apps by size. If not, manually check each application to find applications with large amounts of data.

4. Open the app you want to manage (which takes up a lot of space) and select the Clear cache option.

If clearing the app cache doesn’t free up enough space, try clicking Clear data.Please note that selecting Clear data will remove all application data and you may have to sign in again and download additional data that was needed during initial installation. This option should be used with caution as it may result in loss of application settings and preferences.

3. Clean up the Android/obb and Android/data

directoriesWhen you delete apps from your device, sometimes their files are not completely removed from the system. This can happen due to certain issues with updates that are incompatible with the app, or due to third-party launchers that are not fully optimized for your specific device. As a result, some application files may remain in your device’s memory even after you delete the application.If you have already tried the previous methods to clean up other storage and it didn’t work, you can try this method to manually clean up the remaining app files from deleted apps in your local storage.

1. Open your preferred File Manager application.
2. Go to Settings File Manager and enable Show system files and folders or Show hidden files.

3. Go to the /Android/obb directory in the file manager. In this directory, most files will have names like com.ABC.XYZ, where ABC represents the developer name and XYZ represents the application name.
4. Browse this section to find the names of applications that you previously deleted. If you find them, remove them.
5. After you are done with the /Android/obb directory, go to the /Android/data.

6. Follow the same steps as before to identify remaining data from deleted applications. Delete all files related to applications that you no longer use.

Finally, check Other Storage to see if space has freed up.By manually emptying these directories, you can free up storage space occupied by leftover files from previously uninstalled applications.

4. Clear Android Cache in Recovery Mode

You can also try clearing the Other Storage category by clearing the User Interface (UI) cache in Recovery Mode. You can use our detailed guide on How to Boot into and Use Recovery Mode on Android to learn how to do this.Please note that Recovery Mode is a sensitive menu and making the wrong changes could potentially harm your Android device. Be careful and only proceed if you are confident in your technical abilities. If you’re not sure, try the following solution instead.

5. Revert to original stock ROM

If you have installed a custom ROM on your rooted device, there is a possibility that it might have some glitches. Some major custom ROMs such as Lineage OS, Pixel OS and others had issues with file system duplication resulting in hogging up disk space and causing unidentified files to appear in the Other section of the memory scanner.If the previously mentioned solutions do not work, a good option to solve this problem is to go back to the stock ROM, which is the original operating system that came with your device. You can wait for an update from the custom ROM developer to resolve the issue.Additionally, you can also seek help by submitting a request to the developer’s Github account, especially if they are actively contributing and responding to bug reports.

6. Reset your Android smartphone to factory settings

If all else fails, consider resetting your device to its original factory settings. This can help speed up your phone and give you a fresh start by fixing storage issues.Before proceeding with the reset, be sure to back up your device. You can back up your data to Google Drive, and Samsung devices have a Smart Switch feature for backup.Here’s how to reset your Android.

1. Open the Settings app on your device.
2. Use the search bar at the top to find Reset settings or Reset phone settings. option.
3. Select this option to confirm.

Follow the onscreen instructions to perform a factory reset, which may vary depending on your phone’s user interface. After the reset, selectively restore data back to the device and keep an eye on your device’s storage.

7. Use an external storage device

If the previous methods did not clear the Other Storage partition on your device, you may need to take more drastic measures to resolve the problem. One option is to move the data to the SD card and then restart the phone. Before doing this, we recommend backing up your data to Google Drive or another cloud storage service to avoid losing important information.To move data to an SD card, follow these steps.

1. Insert a high-capacity SD card into the device. If your device does not have an SD card slot, you can use an OTG card reader.
2. Manually create a backup copy of all important data files.
3. Back up your contacts and saved passwords to an SD card.
4. Reset your device to factory settings.

Set up your device as new and restore backed up files and local contacts from SD card. By following these steps, your Other storage should be cleared and your device should be back to normal.

8. Use a third-party app to clean up other storage

Finally, if you don’t want to try different storage cleanup methods, try using Storage Analyzer or File Manager app to better understand how your storage and disk are being used. With an efficient file manager, you can easily view larger files stored on your device.These applications allow you to sort files by size, making it easier to identify large files that may be contributing to other data. Additionally, you can view system files and hidden files in your local storage, which may be the root cause of a lot of other data. You can check our comparison article “Best File Managers for Android” and select the app from the Google Play Store.

Take a smarter approach to Android storage management

Managing other storage on your Android device is critical to optimizing performance and freeing up space. By regularly clearing your cache, app data, and using storage analyzer apps, you can identify and remove unnecessary files.Be careful when using more drastic measures such as a factory reset, as they may result in data loss. Taking preventive measures to clean up Other Storage will result in a smoother, more efficient Android experience, as well as more free space for your needs.

What Is “Other” Storage on Android (And How to Clean It Up)?

What Is “Other” Storage on Android (And How to Clean It Up)?