Solved Why is Google Play Books taking up so much storage?

[inspiron23]

Hi there,

I have 3 books on Google Play Books downloaded that don't total more than around 100 MB. The app is using 6 GB of storage though, and I'm confused as to why. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Try clearing the app cache and app data, Force Stop it, then open it again and sign back in. Then keep an eye on User Data over the next few days and see if it builds up that high again.

 

[inspiron23]

Thank you.

 

[B. Diddy]

"It's a lot! Empty the cache, my friend, and you'll see that the size will decrease."

The tricky thing here is that the cache is showing only 1.98 MB. The user data is what's showing the huge amount. It's still worth trying a cache clear, but that probably won't affect the user data. Clearing the app data is probably more effective, but would require signing back in (which is automatic upon reopening the app), and any downloaded books will probably be removed, and would have to be re-downloaded if desired.

 

[inspiron23]

The tricky thing here is that the cache is showing only 1.98 MB. The user data is what's showing the huge amount. It's still worth trying a cache clear, but that probably won't affect the user data. Clearing the app data is probably more effective, but would require signing back in (which is automatic upon reopening the app), and any downloaded books will probably be removed, and would have to be re-downloaded if desired.

I'm not sure why, but I think it had something to do with 2 of the e-books that were on there. One book was purchased on Google Play; while the other 2 were PDF uploads from my phone. Now the app is using less than 100 MB total. Maybe it has something to do with piracy protection?

 

[inspiron23]

How (and when) to clear app cache or data on Android

Apps save a lot of stuff on your phone and it could cause conflicts

www.androidcentral.com

Thank you for the article.

 

[inspiron23]

"It's a lot! Empty the cache, my friend, and you'll see that the size will decrease."

Thank you for getting back to me.

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm not sure why, but I think it had something to do with 2 of the e-books that were on there. One book was purchased on Google Play; while the other 2 were PDF uploads from my phone. Now the app is using less than 100 MB total. Maybe it has something to do with piracy protection?

So did you clear the app data to result in this? It's hard to say exactly why User Data would've been so high with only a few books downloaded -- might just be a glitch.

 

[inspiron23]

So did you clear the app data to result in this? It's hard to say exactly why User Data would've been so high with only a few books downloaded -- might just be a glitch.

Yes, I did exactly what you recommended. When I went to download the book I'd purchased on the app, it took less than a minute, but for the other two, it took much longer. I repeated the process again, but this time I removed the two PDF uploads from my library, and just downloaded the book I had purchased from Google Play, and now it's using about 75 MB total. I already have the two other e-books saved on my desktop, so it's not a big deal. Thank you again for your help.