Let’s admit it. When we purchase a brand new phone, we’re super confident that its storage will be more than adequate for our daily usage. However, one day, panic sets in. We receive a daunting notification that we’ll need to free up some storage to continue using our phone. Your phone starts behaving in strange ways. Your apps, photos and files take longer than usual to open. Your phone freezes, crashes or randomly restarts without any reason. Did this happen to you as well? If yes, what do you do in such a situation?

The mere thought of deleting some of your precious memories can make you go cringe and panic. Don’t worry, we’ve compiled this guide for an average phone user like you to free-up storage without sacrificing your digital items. 

Delete Google Photos from Device

You can recover significant phone storage by deleting local copies of your Google Photos. Since your photos are already synced on Google's servers, these local copies are really not necessary. They do nothing but consume your phone’s storage and contribute to low storage problems.

Remember, the procedure mentioned in this article will only delete local copies of the Google Photos that have previously been uploaded to Google’s servers. It will NOT delete any photos from your Google Photos cloud account. Your online photos will remain intact. You can continue to access them from any device, or re-download them again later, if you ever wish.

What will happen to my Google Photos already synced with other devices?

It’s a common practice among Google Photos users to connect a single Google Photos account on multiple smartphones or tablets. If you've synced Google Photos with other devices at home, the local copies of your synced photos on those devices will still remain intact. In other words, you will not lose local copies of the synced photos from your other devices.

Steps

Method 1: Delete Backed Up Photos

Google Photos provides you a one-click option to automatically delete synced local copies.

Android & iOS:

1. Open the Google Photos app.
2. Tap on your profile picture.
3. Tap Photos Settings > Back up & Sync.
4. Move the Back up & Sync toggle switch to the left to disable it.
5. Press the Back button of your phone.
6. Tap on Manage Device Storage.
7. Tap the Delete option.

Method 2: Delete Google Photos App Data

Alternatively, you can also delete the Google Photos app data to accomplish the same task. Keep in mind, you’ll need to sign-in to your Google Photos account again.

Android:

1. Open the Main Menu.
2. Tap on the Settings icon.
3. Scroll down to the Apps category. (For some phones, it will be “Applications” category)
4. Look for Google Photos and tap on it.
5. Tap on the Storage button.
6. Tap on Clear Data.
7. When you’re prompted to confirm, tap on OK.
8. After your Google Photos data is deleted, open Google Photos and sign-in to your account again.

iOS:

1. Go to the Settings page.
2. Tap on the General category.
3. Tap on iPhone Storage or iPad Storage depending on the device you use.
4. Scroll down and tap on the Google Photos app.
5. Tap on Offload App.
6. When you’re prompted to confirm, tap on OK.
7. You’ll need to sign-in to your Google Photos account again.

Method 3: Reinstall Google Photos

You can also uninstall the Google Photos app and reinstall it again.

Android:

1. Open the Main Menu.
2. Tap and hold the Google Photos icon for a few moments.
3. A new drop-down menu will appear.
4. Tap the Uninstall option.
5. When you’re prompted to confirm, tap on OK.
6. After the Google Photos app is uninstalled, open the main menu again.
7. Tap on the PlayStore icon.
8. Search for “Google Photos” and install it.
9. Sign-in to your Google Photos account.

iOS:

1. Locate the Google Photos app in your Home screen.
2. Tap and hold on it for a moment.
3. Once the Google Photos app icon starts to jiggle, tap on the “X” (Delete) icon.
4. A confirmation prompt will appear. Tap on the Uninstall option.
5. Go to the App Store and reinstall Google Photos app again.
6. Sign-in to your Google Photos account.