Phone and Messaging Storage app eating over 8 GB of storage memory?

[Android Central Question]

Blackberry Priv keeps running low on internal storage. I used to think it was for having too many photos and videos, but turns out something taking over 8 GB of memory out of 23 GB is an app called Phone and Messaging Storage, version 6.0.1. I find it hard to believe text messages and phone logs are taking that much memory, if they are even indeed what this app manages. I've tried looking up everythinag I could on this app, but it seems no one talks about it anywhere. How is this thing eating so much memory?? If anyone knows what this app is or does, or how I can get some storage space from it, I would be very grateful. I can no longer do many things on the phone and constantly have to clear out pics and videos and can't download new apps thanks to memory shortage.

 

[Rukbat]

When did this start? After an update? If so, take it to your carrier and ask if they can reflash the update. (Not the firmware, only the update).

If it started after you added or changed something, that would be the cause, so delete it, uninstall it or change it back.

 

[Foleipho]

Thank you for the response! Sorry, I'm not very tech savvy and am not familiar with terms like "reflashing." Unfortunately, I do not know when exactly it started happening, as it could have been weeks after performing an update or adding/changing something before the phone memory finally began running out, which really is what caught my attention. I have updated at least once or twice since I found out about the app and it's memory usage, but still have the same issue, so not sure if that means anything. I am not given the option to disable the app, but could force stop it. Is that inadvisable or would it make any difference? You mentioned the possibility that undoing whatever change might have caused this (like uninstalling an app, for example) might get things back on track, but if the Phone and Messaging Storage app already has eaten over 8 GB of memory, I'm wondering if that would magically get reversed. What would happen to whatever is taking all that memory? Gets deleted? Hope that stuff's not important. I am extremely thankful for your time and any and all insight you have and may continue to provide, by the way.

 

[Lorkanov]

I am having the very same problem.
What I noticed is that removing my Google account from the phone and restarting it reduces the Phone and Messaging Storage size to 2 mb only.
I also noticed that this case however is unique to Android Marshmallow only. It doesn't matter whether your phone has 1gb or 64gb internal phone storage memory. The phone and Messaging Storage app will fill it up from 1 day to 2 weeks at the most.

The only way I know on how to avoid this is not having 500 or more entries on your phone book. It doesn't matter whether the entries are inside or outside of your of your Google account.

Edit:
It seems like Marshmallow is keeping additional duplicates of all data stored in your SMS and Contacts plus call history and every available bit of data regarding your contacts in a database called "Phone and Messaging Storage" for easy access to each contact details related to it.
So the more contacts you have, the faster this app will grow in sizes. It will only stop growing when there's no more free space left on your phone or it has collected and compiled all data available for all your contacts.
Meaning, the less individual separate contact entries you have, the smaller Phone and Messaging Storage app size you will have.

(E.g. try creating a single contact entry with name, number, email, address, etc. ...and watch the size grow.) It doesn't matter whether it's the same contact duplicated over and over or different entries, the size will still grow.

...and NO, I don't know how to resolve this problem. All I know is a work around to avoid it.
But I still want my 3k contacts in my phone. And this infernal Phone and Messaging Storage app issue is preventing me from having that.