Your Android device is running out of internal storage space. What do you do? Delete apps? That doesn't usually free up much space, unless you have installed a multitude of apps. Clear your various caches? That will generally give you a gig or two of space.
Open the Messages app in iOS if you haven’t done so already, and go to the message conversation containing the picture or video you want to remove. Tap and hold on the picture (or video) Choose “More” from the pop-up menu that shows up over the picture / video. This page is dedicated for how-to guide of Moto G. All Moto G models are covered: Moto G dual SIM, Moto G with LTE, Moto G 2nd Gen (Moto G 2014) and Moto G 2nd Gen with LTE.This is a live page, so it will be regularly updated to add more and more guides for Moto G owners.
More about Mobility
Most often, you'll turn to photos and videos—that is where the majority of space is gobbled up on mobile devices. But what happens when you delete one of those photos from your device? If you check your Google Drive Photos section, you'll see the photo has been removed from the cloud as well.
Fortunately, there is a way around that, and all it takes is one tap. This isn't a setting you can adjust—it's a single button that will delete all photos from your device that are backed up to Google Photos. If none of your photos are backed up to Google, then no photos will be deleted. In other words, you first need to enable the backup.
SEE:End user data backup policy (Tech Pro Research)
Backing up to Google Photos
Before you attempt to delete anything, enable Back Up & Sync from within Google Photos. Here's how.
- Open Google Photos on your Android device.
- Slide right from the left edge of the screen to reveal the sidebar.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Back Up & Sync.
- Tap to enable Back Up & Sync (Figure A).
Be patient—it may take a while to complete the initial backup.
Figure A
Freeing up space
![Delete Delete](https://icdn2.digitaltrends.com/image/moto-x-front-home-375x375.jpg)
Once the initial backup is complete, it's time to free up space. This will delete all of the local copies of photos while retaining everything on your Google cloud account. To do this, follow these steps.
- Open Google Photos on your Android device.
- Slide right from the left edge of the screen to reveal the sidebar.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Free Up Device Storage.
- When prompted, tap REMOVE (Figure B).
Figure B
You have freed up space on your Android device without losing your photos and videos. If you need to view those photos and videos, open Google Photos, and you'll see them. If you need to get a local copy back, open the photo in Google Photos, tap the Menu button, and then tap Download—photo restored.
A full device is an unhappy device
Because smartphones deal with solid-state storage, the less space they have, the slower the device will write to the file system. So make sure you have space on your device for the system to run as smoothly as possible—Android needs at least 200-500 MB free at a minimum, though I recommend 500 MB to 1 GB.
By clearing out locally-saved copies of photos, you can gain precious free space without losing your files.
Mobile Enterprise Newsletter
BYOD, wearables, IoT, mobile security, remote support, and the latest phones, tablets, and apps IT pros need to know about are some of the topics we'll address. Delivered Tuesdays and Fridays
Sign up today Sign up todayAlso see
- What's the best cloud storage for you? (ZDNet)
- Seagate's 60TB SSD for businesses is world's largest(TechRepublic)
- 10 storage trends to watch in 2016 (TechRepublic)
- How to set up Authy on multiple devices for more convenient two-factor authentication (TechRepublic)
- How to remove Android apps from the battery optimization list (TechRepublic)
- How to manage Smart Storage on your Nextbit Robin Android device (TechRepublic)
- Gain more control over your Android notifications with Notif Log (TechRepublic)