A common occurrence on most Android device is for you to be downloading an App from the Play Store and get the error: There is insufficient space on the device. Most users cannot understand this as in most cases they believe they have more than enough space but every time they try to install a new App they get the error again and again. I see this happening allot on phones with a very small amount of internal storage especially, I had this happen to a work colleague recently and he was very frustrated not being able to figure it out. So don’t worry just like him I will be helping you in fixing the issue.
What does this Error mean?
Its always good to know whats happening on your device as it goes a long way to correcting it. Well what the error is indicating is that the internal storage on your Smartphone is used up and there is no more space especially for the App that you are trying to install. Now even if you have a memory card or SD card this is treated differently from your phones internal memory which most likely everything is set to install on by default.
What does the error look like?
On screen you will see: Error downloading “???” .There is insufficient space on the device. With the ??? being the name of the App that you were trying to download which may be any App in the Play store.
How to I check to verify the actual space that’s Available on my devices storage.
To see your devices Available storage go to settings and then storage. From here you can see the total Space and available space directly on the phone. If there is very little space compared to the file being installed then you now know why you are getting the error,read on for the fix.
What devices will I get this error on?
This error is native to Android and can appear on Phones and Tablets that are running the Android operating system. So this can virtually happen to any device running Android especially those affordable Androids that come with just enough space on them internally to hold the Android OS and very little else. The small storage that’s built in is one of the ways these manufacturers make those devices affordable as you will most likely use a SD card with it. Other devices too may have large internal storage but if you download allot of files and games this can be filled up quickly and result in the error.
How to fix this Problem or Error?
So to fix the there is insufficient space on the device error try the following to free up space or fix the issue and have your Apps installing once again:
Method 1:Uninstall unnecessary Apps
1. Go to settings ,Application Manager.
2. Now scroll over to All and look for any unnecessary Apps that you know.
3. Old Games that you do not play anymore is also a good start or Apps you can do without.
4. When you find one click on it and choose uninstall. Also check the Tab beside All that says SD card to make sure it’s not on the SD card as you want Apps that are on your phone directly.
This should free up some valuable space, after which you can try installing the App once more. As a side note you can use a cleaning App such as clean master in the future to free up space been held up by junk files which should help in making additional space.
Also try backing up or deleting unnecessary picture from your phone for additional space and set pictures to be automatically saved to your SD card in the future.
Method 2:Move Apps to SD Card to free up space
This method is one thing that you can do to actually fix the problem but be warned that some smartphones do not support this feature.
1. As above go into settings, Application manager and move over to All.
2. Find an App that’s taking up lots of space such as a Game and click on it.
3. There should be an option to Move to Sd card, click on it.
By doing this you will free up space on the phone and move your Apps to your memory card especially if you have all the space on there. You can also use an App to move Apps to your SD card easier in the future if you wish. If all else fails try method 3:
Method 3: Reinstalling The Play Store
1. Go to settings and then application manager and go to all .
2. Now look for Google play and click on it and choose uninstall updates and confirm. It will uninstall.
3. Download and install the following Play Store installer: Download or this one for Android Lollipop users: Updated Version.
4.Now go to settings and security and check the option unknown sources. After this install the App that you just downloaded, if it’s not on your phone connect it to the computer and place the file on your phone or Sd card and install.
5. Next remove your Google account by going to settings ,accounts and select your account and remove, after this reboot.
6. After rebooting launch the Play Store and add your Google account again. You should be able to install any App you choose now.
So that how you fix the there is insufficient space on the device error on Android. If you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments section.
