How big are android apps?

littlerock

I was complaining to my brother that I was running out of space for new apps on my tablet. He said most apps take up very little space. today I tried to download the app Word Cookies and it told me I needed to free up 310 mb to install it. Some of the basic apps which come preinstalled are much larger eg Google play books is over 700mb. How come?

RumRat

Apps are increasing in size, !!!8202;more SDKs, higher resolution images, and better graphics!!!8202;.
Older phones with limited space and no SD card will struggle with all but the basic apps.

KxMx

Even an SD card won't always help as only certain apps can be moved.

Get Avast Cleanup which will clean junk.
Go through every app and uninstall/disable the ones you don't need or use.

In most cases despite the scaremongering messages disabling things like Google Books will not affect anything else.

Apps like YouTube or Facebook can be deleted and accessed via mobile browser instead.

dipsomaniac

clear cache in settings > storage.

Spelunthus

On my tablet, Google Play Books is 30MB.
If you downloaded A LOT of books, then that would incease its storage usage (maybe to 700MB or more). Typically, Android Apps are about 20-60MB. If the app downloads and keeps videos or other big items then, of course, its storage needs will increase.

Using "Settings", view your Apps and sort by storage used. Clean out old books, videos, photos that you don't want. Clear the CACHE for all apps (you can do that manually, or there are freeware apps to do it).

DISABLE or UNINSTALL any apps that you never use.

AndyPix

Disable AND uninstall updates for the stock apps you dont use

littlerock

Regarding Google Play Books - I have downloaded two short books so it is very strange that they should be around 350mb each. I will try deleting one and see what difference it makes.

rmg1

AndyPix wrote: »

Disable AND uninstall updates for the stock apps you dont use

Without rooting the phone, how do you uninstall a stock app?
I've got a few on my phone that I could get rid of, but there's no option to remove on a few of them.
I've just checked Hangouts (not a clue what this is) and I can either "Disable" or "Force Stop".

Raxiel

rmg1 wrote: »

Without rooting the phone, how do you uninstall a stock app?
I've got a few on my phone that I could get rid of, but there's no option to remove on a few of them.
I've just checked Hangouts (not a clue what this is) and I can either "Disable" or "Force Stop".

If a pre-installed app uses say, 10mb, and it receives an update that also needs 10mb, it can't replace the pre-installed version, so it actually uses 20mb. If you uninstall updates you get back all but the original 10mb, but the play store will try and update it again (or bug you about it if you have updates set to manual). Disabling the app after uninstalling updates will stop any more updates being downloaded. You don't get the space back from the original pre-installed version, but it's the least worst case.

Hangouts is a (now pretty much abandoned for consumers) Google video/audio/text communications app with app & web access (that also used to integrate SMS similar to iMessage).