How to Survive with Only 16GB of Storage

When Expandable Storage Isn’t an Option

In this day and age, most of our smartphones come with at least 16GB of internal storage with the option to add on more via microSD card expansion. There are still rare occasions that this isn’t an option though, such as when you’re rocking an older model iPhone or have to stick to a really tight budget. We decided to give you guys a quick Survival Guide on how to make the most of your phone’s storage if you don’t have the option of adding on to it or you’re stuck with a Hybrid SIM tray and need to prioritize a secondary number.

Keep to Essential Apps

Since you don’t have much room and some apps can take up a ton of space already, it may be time to take note of your usage habits. Do an inventory of the apps you use on a regular basis and delete the ones that you can do without. If you like to game on your device, may choose one or two titles that you play the most and ditch the other games that you just keep in stock.

Use the Web When You Can

With the first tip in mind, there are a ton of web-based services that can help you save space on your device that you would use an app for. For example, if you need to know foreign exchange or perhaps need to look up the definition of a word, you can just look it up on the web. It’s true that you’ll need to use your mobile data but that’s only a few KB.

Stream Your Media

When you only have so much storage to play with, it’ll be hard to keep music and movie files on your phone. If you can, stream your media via Spotify, Netflix, iflix, or YouTube to save up storage. Again, if you’re worried about your data, these services allow you to download content for offline use so just tether on to your WiFi connection and download some tunes for the day but make sure you clear them out as well. It’ll involve a bit of cost with subscription fees but we feel that the content is worth it, if you can swing it.

Backup Regularly

This is definitely not a groundbreaking tip but something you definitely be doing on the regular given you only have so much storage on your device. The biggest culprit here can be all the photos you take, so make sure to link your account to Google Photos or iCloud to make sure they get saved in the cloud. Even then, we suggest backing things up manually to your computer just in case and, again, keep the essential photos that you want to keep on coming back to on your phone.

You can also buy a thumb drive that can attach to your iOS or Android device and offload some of your content there as well.

A Fresh Start

Now that you’re armed with a few of these survival tips, it might be a good time to start fresh and do a reset of your device. You’ll want to do this maybe every 6 months or every quarter if you’re really particular but this ensures that you only have what you need on your phone every time. Please do not forget to back everything up before doing so though.

That’s pretty much it for the quick survival guide if you don’t have the option of using a microSD card. We’ll be the first to admit that these tips aren’t new or mind-blowing but some of you may need a bit of reminding as well. If you other tips to share, please do put them in the comment section. We’re glad to know other tips and tricks that you may have as well.

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