Google Photos shows my "Photos on Device" taking up 3GB

[Android Central Question]

Hi,

Google Photos shows my "Photos on Device" taking up 3GB but I literally have 2 pictures on my device and have deleted all the rest from my device. Does anyone have an idea why this might be showing as 3GB?

 

[mustang7757]

Which phone ?

I'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here as a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply

https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[samjonhson]

oh, sorry. didn't realize that. Thanks, Mustang7757!

I have a Pixel 4XL

 

[stevenjb2020]

If you haven't done so, go to Settings, and Storage - this may help determine what is where.

 

[samjonhson]

Thanks, Steven. Yeah, that's what I have been doing; I went to Settings --> Storage --> Photos and Videos and then Images. Images shows 3GB but there are literally 2 pictures in there. Everything else is backed up to the cloud and removed from my device.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Try clearing the Google Photos cache in Settings>Apps​.

 

[mustang7757]

oh, sorry. didn't realize that. Thanks, Mustang7757!

I have a Pixel 4XL

Your welcome!

Welcome to AC!

 

[samjonhson]

Hi B. Diddy, yes I did that as well.

 

[B. Diddy]

In the Settings>Apps menu, when you select Photos and look at its Storage information, is most of that 3 GB under User Data? (Mine is currently 1.8 GB.) If so, I think that's just a consequence of having a lot of photos in your cloud. You could try clearing both cache and storage from the Photos app, then open it again. The storage might build up slowly as you continue to use it over time, though.

 

[mustang7757]

[Moved this to the pixel 4 Forum for specific traffic]

 

[samjonhson]

No, the Photos app has a total of 290MB (App size is 102 MB and User data is 188 MB).

When I go to Settings>Storage>Photos and Videos, I get 3 options to view: Photos, Camera and Images. Photos and Camera data is less than 300MB each but the "Images" shows 3 GB even though it has 2 pictures.

 

[B. Diddy]

Using a file manager, go to the /DCIM/.thumbnails directory and look at its properties. The thumbnail directory can sometimes build up a huge number of files.

Also, were you using the Free Up Storage feature in Google Photos?

 

[samjonhson]

I think you just figured it out! Yes, I regularly use the Free Up Storage feature, but I just installed a File Manager and discovered tons and tons of media files in WhatsApp and Telegram Sent Items. The storage is down to 800MB now. Thank you!!

 

[B. Diddy]

Great! Yeah, social media and messaging apps can build up a gigantic cache. Telegram is a known culprit, as well as kik.

 

[Rukbat]

Images includes all images on the phone - cache and data of all apps, including browsers and any other apps that access web pages (like the Android Central forums app). They download the images so you can see the page (otherwise you get those little boxes that indicate "an image goes here), and they stay on the phone if you don't allow the app to clear its cache (back out of it until you're at the home page - hitting the Home button leaves the app running, and the cache data still there - when you turn the phone off, the cache doesn't get cleared).

Old problem in Android, but the whole idea behind a faster response.