Android help please.

Takedap

Hi. I'm running a cheap chinese tablet (Kocaso M776) with ver 4.1.2 on it. It's got 1GB RAM & 2GB of "internal memory" & a slot with a 32GB micro SD card. I keep getting a message for running out of storage space so I want to delete as much bloatware as I can.

I've rooted the tablet using Kingo & installed System App Remover from Playstore.

When I look at the apps, it's telling me that most are either "Key Module" or are marked as "Should Keep"

I need to know what it is safe to remove. Surely things like Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja or the Amazon Kindle app can't be Key Modules??

All I really want at the moment is basic internet & e-mail access & a SAT-Nav app in addition to the camera & phone stuff. Just one browser, No live wallpapers, Office Suite or Skype or Twitter. Then I can decide what I want to put on it.
Thanks to anyone who can help.

kwikbreaks

If you are using https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jumobile.manager.systemapp then the menu (accessed from arrow at top of System app screen which mine starts up showing) lets you pick User app - anything on that menu should be safe although I'd advise keeping things such as Google Play Services and the Play Store which appear there for me. There is a backup option which you should maybe use before deleting.

Takedap

Thanks for the reply. I've looked at the User Apps & apart from a few Google apps (Google & Google+), it's mostly stuff that I've installed myself & want to keep. Am I really stuck with the pre-installed games & wallpapers etc which are in the System Apps list? Also, I don't use Skype or Twitter but these are listed as Key Modules.

Johnmcl7

Have you looked into swapping the memory so that the external SD card becomes the internal memory? It's a while since I looked into it but may be worth a look and see if that's any use to you as 2GB is a tiny amount of memory for running Android, I can't see you'll be able to free up much space.

John

Takedap

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

Have you looked into swapping the memory so that the external SD card becomes the internal memory? It's a while since I looked into it but may be worth a look and see if that's any use to you as 2GB is a tiny amount of memory for running Android, I can't see you'll be able to free up much space.

John

That sound like an ideal answer to my problems. Any idea where I can find an "Idiot's Guide" on how to do this?

esuhl

Takedap wrote: »

That sound like an ideal answer to my problems. Any idea where I can find an "Idiot's Guide" on how to do this?

If you've rooted your phone already, have a look at Apps2SD.

You can create a partition on your SD card which gets mounted as part of the main system storage. My phone only has 1GB system storage; not even enough to install the latest Google Apps! The only way to make the phone usable was to use Apps2SD.

Free with ads: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.co.pricealert.apps2sd
£2.89: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.co.pricealert.apps2sd.pro

The user interface isn't immediately intuitive. Give us a shout if you have any questions. It's pretty straightforward once you know what the options do.

Takedap

esuhl wrote: »

If you've rooted your phone already, have a look at Apps2SD.

You can create a partition on your SD card which gets mounted as part of the main system storage. My phone only has 1GB system storage; not even enough to install the latest Google Apps! The only way to make the phone usable was to use Apps2SD.

Free with ads: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.co.pricealert.apps2sd
£2.89: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.co.pricealert.apps2sd.pro

The user interface isn't immediately intuitive. Give us a shout if you have any questions. It's pretty straightforward once you know what the options do.

Thanks, going to look now. I see there's also some Youtube instructional vids. BTW, what size partition would you recommend for the 32GB card & what about a swapfile? (PS, please don't think from these questions that I know what I talking about!!)

esuhl

Takedap wrote: »

Thanks, going to look now. I see there's also some Youtube instructional vids. BTW, what size partition would you recommend for the 32GB card & what about a swapfile? (PS, please don't think from these questions that I know what I talking about!!)

Partition size is really up to you. I split my 32GB card into two 16GB partitions -- one for Apps2SD to mount as a system partition, the other for my own files/photos/music, etc.

I wouldn't worry about the swapfile. Whatever Android has set up is probably fine. You're not changing anything other than adding a new partition, and letting Apps2SD take care of it.

N.B. When you repartition the SD card (via Apps2SD), everything already on the card will be erased, so make sure it's backed up first!

N.B.2 Android cannot mount partitions on the SD card until after the OS has loaded. This means that you won't see any shortcuts to apps unless you do a soft reboot. (You can get Apps2SD to do this automatically for you.) If you don't reboot, you can still access apps via the App Manager.

Robisere

Don't know if this might help, but this software can burn SD & Micro SD to a PC for backup purposes. I use it to make backups of my tablet, you will need an SD card reader:
https://etcher.io/

Takedap

esuhl wrote: »

If you've rooted your phone already, have a look at Apps2SD.

Free with ads: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.co.pricealert.apps2sd
£2.89: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.co.pricealert.apps2sd.pro

The user interface isn't immediately intuitive. Give us a shout if you have any questions. It's pretty straightforward once you know what the options do.

OK, I've got the Apps2SD & split the SD into 2 x 16 GB partitions (one Fat32 & the other ext4). When I've tried moving (linking?) apps to the card, it seems like only a small amount of space is freed up & I'm still getting the "Running out of storage" message. Can apps be directly installed to the card rather than moved? If necessary, I don't mind doing a factory reset on the tablet & repartitioning the card to give me a "clean start". That way, could I then reinstall my apps straight to the card? Would this help?

esuhl

Takedap wrote: »

OK, I've got the Apps2SD & split the SD into 2 x 16 GB partitions (one Fat32 & the other ext4).

Sounds good.

Takedap wrote: »

When I've tried moving (linking?) apps to the card, it seems like only a small amount of space is freed up & I'm still getting the "Running out of storage" message.

Strange. Apps2SD first moves the installation files to the extra partition, and then creates links to them on the original partition. The storage space required by links is tiny, so you shouldn't get a "running out of space" message... :-/

Takedap wrote: »

Can apps be directly installed to the card rather than moved? If necessary, I don't mind doing a factory reset on the tablet & repartitioning the card to give me a "clean start". That way, could I then reinstall my apps straight to the card? Would this help?

Unfortunately, that's not possible.

When linking apps, you can select which data to move to the extra partition. The default option only moves some data, so maybe you need to move/link the apps again, making sure you've ticked all the boxes (or hit "select all") to make sure everything is moved to the SD card.

Behind the "success" pop-up message in the image below is the screen where you can "select all" data to move, for each app:



Also, don't try to remove important system apps -- anything that's part of the Android system, or vital apps like the phone dialler.

If apps don't fully move, you might well need to tick the last box to "disable app before linking/unlinking".

Hope that helps...