Tip of the Week: Implement Android Archiving to Free Up Storage Space

In April 2023, Google made a statement claiming that the Android platform would be able to archive unused applications with the intention of preserving storage space on the device. This came with a caveat: it would only do so if the device was almost out of available space. This auto-archiving feature, however, was released to a pleasant little surprise; it is available to all users, regardless of how much storage space is left on the device.

Let’s discuss what this feature does and why you might consider using it.

Save Space Without Deleting Apps

While it would be nice to have a device with unlimited storage, this simply is not possible at this time. If you download too many applications, you might find your available storage slowly diminishing over time as more and more data and programs pile up on your device. This is where the auto-archive feature comes in handy—especially since we doubt you use all of your applications at any given time.

Auto-archive is a setting you can toggle in the Google Play Store, and it will remove unused apps from your device when it reaches a specific storage space threshold. You can find this toggle easily by opening up the Play Store and tapping your Profile. From here, you can select Settings, go to the General section, and activate the option for Automatically archive apps. Now, you can view any archived apps in the Play Store with an archived filter enabled.

With this tip in place, you shouldn’t have to delete your apps any longer, allowing you to quickly reuse any apps that you use infrequently without having to reinstall them. Pretty handy!