If you look To free up space on your phone, one of the recommendations that is often put forward is to remove applications that you do not use much. You save on the space they take up and the bandwidth needed to keep them updated, and you prevent them from collecting data about you as well.
However, if you don’t want to completely remove your least used apps—just in case you need them—there is another option. Both Android and iOS allow you to delete a good portion of the data and files associated with the application, without uninstalling it. The app icon and other data stay on your phone. If you need it again, all the necessary data is downloaded from the web, and the application is fully restored.
Android calls it archiving apps, and on iPhone it’s called offloading apps. Once you enable the feature, you can have everything automatically handled for you—meaning your least-used apps don’t take up a lot of space on your device, but are still easily accessible when needed.
Archiving Apps on Android
You can archive any app on Android.David Nield
Starting with Google’s mobile operating system, archiving an app “deletes its software, permissions, temporary files, and disables notifications, but retains the app’s icon and data” in Google’s words. You can manually choose which apps to archive, or let Android make that decision based on which apps you use the least.
To manually archive an app, open Settings and select Applicationsand select the app you want to archive (tap See all applications if the one you are looking for is not visible). Tap Archive to archive: The app icon in the app drawer—and on the home screen, if there is one—will have an archive icon next to it (the arrow inside the cloud symbol). To restore an archived app back to its normal state, simply tap its icon. After a quick restore, the app will start as normal.
To have this all done for you automatically, open the Google Play Store app: Tap your profile picture (top right), then select Settings again Generaland open Archive applications. Google doesn’t specify the method it uses to determine when an app should be archived, but you’ll see the same archive symbol next to the name of any archived apps as it appears when you start the process manually.
If you’ve turned on automatic app archiving, you can still archive apps manually if you need to. You can also prevent certain apps from being saved automatically: From the main Android Settings screen, select Applications and select the app you want to protect. (Tap See all applications if you don’t see it.) Turn off i Manage the application when not in use flip the switch, and it will be left alone.
Loads apps on iOS
iOS will automatically download apps for you.David Nield
If you use an iPhone, iOS gives you the option to uninstall apps. As with Android, a lot of app data is deleted to free up space, with important pieces of information stored on your phone. For example, if you decide to restore an app, you won’t have to go through the sign-in process and set preferences again.
To find the option, open Settings on iOS, and select App Store. You will see a toggle switch labeled Load Unused Appsand little information about what it does. Uploaded apps still appear on the home screen and in your app library, but they have a cloud icon on them.
Apple doesn’t say much about the process it uses to choose which apps are loaded—like how long an app must be left idle before an action is taken, for example—but you can quickly restore an app by tapping an icon. The necessary data will be downloaded again, and the application will start normally.
You can also unlock it by creating an app, if you need it. In settings, select Generalthen iPhone Storage. You will see a list of all installed apps (you can sort them by size using the filter at the top, if needed): Tap an app to find Download the app option. That button then changes to Reinstall the appwhich will restore the application again.
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