Google Now Lets You Save Even More Space On Your Phone

Google is making it easier to save storage space on your phone through a new update to the Play Store. The Google app store has introduced a new option that automatically archives your apps if you haven’t used them in a long time.

This isn’t exactly a new feature as you could archive your apps before too, but you could only do so when you were running out of storage space. You also had to jump through a few hoops before you could activate this feature. Now Google is introducing a simple toggle so you can activate it whenever you please.

As noted by Mishaal Rahman on X (formerly Twitter) and AssembleDebug on Telegram, the auto archive feature is now becoming available to a broader user base. You can access this option within the Play Store settings under the General section, where you can easily enable or disable it.

This enhancement simplifies proactive management of storage usage, enabling you to keep your essential apps on your device without consuming as much space as they typically would.

How it Works

The auto app archive leverages Android’s App Bundle format, enabling app developers to transmit only the essential files required by your phone. This not only helps conserve bandwidth and storage but also, with auto-archiving activated, allows your phone to further reduce package sizes.

According to Google, this can lead to storage savings of up to 60% without any data loss or the need to uninstall the app. If you wish to reopen the app, your phone will download certain additional files at that time.

Apps that have been archived will continue to appear on your home screen, but they will be marked with a small cloud icon, indicating that they are not fully accessible for immediate use.

Additionally, these archived apps will be visible within the Play Store’s “Manage apps & device” section, specifically under the “Manage” tab. Within this section, you will find a newly introduced “Archived” filter, which you can activate to exclusively display archived apps.

The widespread rollout of the auto archive feature is currently in progress, and numerous users have reported its initial appearance in Play Store versions 37.4 and 37.5.