Why Gradually Forced To Uninstall All Dozen Added Apps?

[smileyoreilley]

My phone is a ZTE Z718TL with Android 6.0.1. And I've had to become all too familiar with the app storage feature to free up space for only a few hours. Yet despite uninstalling more and more added apps, I've never, since installing them, been allowed to install another one, even a cleanup app, however helpful it would be. And the how-to articles aren't helping. Yes, my browser has eaten up space. So I'm trying to transfer my favorites, before doing a factory reset. But that can't be the main problem. Why such a crazy problem this late into the 21 century?

 

[Laura Knotek]

Your phone only has 8 GB internal storage. Nowadays, it is necessary to have at least 64 GB storage space. You are also running Android 6,and the current version is Android 12. Many apps will no longer be able to run on Android 6.

Your best option is to upgrade to a newer device with more storage space and more RAM (yours only has 1 GB RAM).

 

[B. Diddy]

It's an old budget phone running a very outdated OS version with very little internal storage, so this is not surprising. Since it only has 8 GB of total internal storage, that means probably around 3 GB are actually available to you (since 5 GB are usually taken up by the OS an any bloatware). Of those 3 GB, a certain amount of space needs to remain free for the system to keep running normally, so you can't actually use every bit of that 3 GB for apps and storage.

As Laura Knotek mentioned, it's really not going to be worth chasing your tail with this old device. There are many good affordable phones these days with much better specs that will give you a much better experience.

 

[smileyoreilley]

Oh, I will, fairly soon. Sorry for not mentioning that. Being on welfare, I got the phone for free through a government program. So, yeah; but only used it for listening to YT videos while fixing lunch, since the phone service was very spotty. I also got my old Verizon 3G flip phone for free from my dad, and the 3G service ends this year. So when I can, I will be buying a newer phone with far more space on it and far more memory.

That said, I appreciate your other point, too. Thanks. I was already well aware, increasingly all too aware, of the limited space. But while I agree it isn't worth working to free up all of the original free space again, being the curious sort, I'd still like to know why I was able to install and run a dozen or so apps for a year or more without any problem, before having to gradually and eventually uninstall all but one of them (sorry; I didn't mean to lie in the title), nor why I had to free up 194MB of space last night, by uninstalling two of the last two apps, to install a 2.5MB one (huh???), nor why it would probably take doing a factory reset to finally free it all up again.

So, again, being the curious sort, and suspecting there's more to it than my browser favorites, after clearing the browsing data, I'd still like to know why, if one of you or another would be able and willing to answer my question. I really would.

 

[B. Diddy]

There's probably more than one issue in play here. For one, apps can get larger and larger as time goes by, as they get updated (and more features are added). Another issue is that the system can build up data of its own that can be hard to track down, even after you've cleared as much cache and app data as you can.

I've seen devices require a LOT of free storage to install an app that's nowhere near that large -- I presume it has to do with a certain degree of buffer that the system needs to keep free. For example, when I try to update Asphalt 9 on my Lenovo Tab M8 FHD with 32 GB of storage, I've had to uninstall a number of apps because it keeps telling me there isn't enough space -- even though there are at least 3-4 GB free (and the Asphalt 9 update file itself is only about 1 GB or less).

 

[smileyoreilley]

Huh. What a strange design for an operating system. I don't get why you'd ever want to design it to "build up data of its own." Well, I would love to do a factory reset, then. But I want to save my favorites first. The problem now is I got no reply in ten days from Ume Browser's maker from either address, the one they offer on their website, and a gmail one I was given. They apparently have no interest in helping their browser's users, unfortunately. And the notepad I installed is cutting off the long urls of my favorites. So hopefully I'll be able to load 'em in Chrome, save 'em as favorites, and back 'em up before i lose my long, random wi-fi password again, or maybe get to where I can no longer save it. Thanks.