What do I do to fix this?

[AC Question]

After I downloaded an app on a bad Wifi connection my phone has constantly been telling me that I have no space left on my phone. I even tried uninstalling 3 large apps and it is still telling it to me. Because it thinks that I have no storage left I can't download anything and its really annoying. What do I do to fix it so that it stops telling me that I have no storage when I have plenty?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Which phone do you have?

 

[Kyle Greenwood]

I have an LG K7

 

[chanchan05]

How much space is left anyway? Go to settings>storage.

 

[Kyle Greenwood]

When I go to settings>storage, it shows that I have 134MB left and it still gives me the notification telling me that I have none and treats me like I don't have any by not letting me download anything from Google Play Store.

 

[anon(632115)]

You need about 300mb free before Android OS will allow further apps to be downloaded

 

[chanchan05]

I see that there is no problem. 134MB is not enough free space, and the phone is correct in saying you do not have enough. It's way below the needed free space for a device to function normally. That is not plenty. You've went beyond the typically allowed storage.
Androids typically need 300mb free to function as a temp overflow memory. Apps are kept compact in a mobile environment via compression. Whenever you open apps, files sre decompressed and it uses up more storage during the course of its operation. These files are deleted upon closing the app. It's also used as temporary cache when RAM is being used by an active process. Apps that are cached to RAM are moved to disk as RAM is needed, and moved back to RAM when it is free. That's what the overflow memory is for. Some Samsungs actually ask thr phone to have 500mb free.
Forcing the phone to go much more beyond id just asking for crashes, increased lag, and possibly you may not be able to open apps anymore.
For a side note, even PC's need a part of the memory free for optimal performance. All computers do. Android is basically similar to a PC OS in how it runs.
What you do is basically, move everything you can to SD card. Pictures, media files, apps that allow you to do so. Then uninstall more apps that you do not use often, or you have an option of using an internet browser for. Facebook alone for example can eat up 300mb.

 

[Kyle Greenwood]

When I go into storage, it tells me that the cached data is using up 427MB. I tried to remove it multiple times but every time a minute later it comes back, and the low storage notification doesn't even go away during that minute.

I removed the app too that I was downloading on the bad Wifi connection in addition to another app, and nothing changed.

Also, I'm certain that I am not out of storage because when I tried to download an app off of the internet that the Google Play Store told me was too big, it downloaded just fine.

 

[chanchan05]

Doesn't matter. You have less than 200mb off. Google Play Store will detect your current storage and see you haven't got enough hence it protects you. The internet app isn't as smart. It just does what you tell it to do, doesn't matter if it may hurt you. Over the years I've seen any number of people force their phones beyond this capability before it was enforced by the Play Store app. With the phone crashing on unlock because there's no space left for the unpacking of memory, and the only way to fix is a forced factory reset via recovery menu and lose everything on the phone.

Keep the phone with at leadt 300mb free. And that's the only thing that's being problematic here.

 

[Kyle Greenwood]

But to get that I would have to remove all of the apps that I have on my phone that I originally got from the Google Play Store. It let me download them originally. Its just that now its telling me that they are too much.

 

[chanchan05]

Yes, because apps downloaded from the Play Store grow over time. And not all of them. Just a really big one. Facebook for example grows from the 50mb you download from Play Store to 500mb. Uninstall it and use a browser or thr Facebook Lite app. And remove anything you don't often use. You can also disable system apps that you don't use because their updates take up space. For example, if you have a different music player from Google Play Music and don't use it, disable it. Games also often have huge files. This is the reality of buying a cheaper phone with less than 16GB onboard memory. You'll really have to deal with it. I have a Galaxy Tab with 8GB memory, only over 4GB of which is user available for installations. I usually have 1GB free on it because it's only use is an ebook reader and video player (all ebooks and videos on SD card). It's not that hard. Just limit the apps you install.

 

[Kyle Greenwood]

I FOUND OUT THE PROBLEM! It turns out that the appthat I downloaded on the bad Wifi connection was corrupt so it created a HUGE file, and when I tried to remove it it turns out that I wasn't removing the whole thing. I had to go into storage and manually remove the file. So now my phone is fine again . Thank you so much for helping me.

 

[B. Diddy]

Great! That's a strange glitch -- I'm glad you were able to figure it out!