How to clean up junk files on your Android

How to clean up junk files on your Android
© Lukman Azis | Dreamstime.com

Unless you’re a professional photographer, there’s not much need to carry a camera. Your smartphone is quite advanced and can be used for anything from point-and-shoot images to full-on photoshoots. That said, the pros can work wonders with a phone camera.

As smartphones advance, so do the onboard cameras. And this means the file sizes of your images are growing.

As fun as it is to take pics of every meal, your phone has a limit. For every beautiful shot, you are likely saving a bunch of junk. Getting rid of this excess will improve your overall smartphone experience. We’ll show you an easy way to do this.

Slow your roll

You may pride yourself on your photographer’s eye, but not every image is a masterpiece. You can delete the bad photos and keep the gems, but do you do that whenever you take a screenshot of something you need to remember temporarily? What about memes? Are you holding onto old photos that you don’t care for?

All this clutter, plus duplicate files, unused apps, audiobook files you’ve already gone through and useless downloaded files, take up space. They slow down your phone and make finding what you want or need more difficult. Who wants to scroll through hundreds or thousands of files to locate one important one?

Android phones have a trick to clear up space you might not know. It takes just a few taps.

Taking out the trash

Rather than manually locating and deleting everything you don’t need, you can open your Android device and select the Files by Google app, then Clean. If you don’t have it, head over to the Google Play Store and get it for free.

Tap Confirm and free up > See junk files and select what you want to clear. When you’re ready, tap Clear > Clear.

Speed up your smartphone

Clearing out files, images and apps from your smartphone helps it run faster and smoother. It improves your battery’s performance and extends its life. Plus, you will cut down on the time you spend scrolling, leaving more time for other idle but fulfilling phone activities. Tap or click here for ways to speed up your phone.

While cleaning out your phone, you might want to toss your cookies. These tiny files slow down your phone and help companies track your online activities. Though this is usually harmless and used to target you with ads, you may want to clear them out now and then. Tap or click here to read more about the implications and how it’s done.

Tags: activities, Android, apps, battery, camera, clean up, cleaning, clutter, cookies, files, Files by Google, Google, Images, junk files, smartphones, speed up