Managing storage space on your Android device can be a bit of a challenge, but you can make it easier through the use of automatic app archiving. If you download apps frequently, then you might encounter situations where you have too little storage on your device, but this situation can be fixed with a quick auto-archive feature that will be available eventually for Android users.
Again, this feature is not available just yet, but when it is, you’ll be able to automatically archive your unused applications, thereby reducing the amount of storage you waste on apps that are hardly worth your time. The feature will allow users to keep the app data on the device’s storage, but the application itself will need to be re-installed from the Play Store if the user wants to use it again. This might not seem like much, but it can potentially reduce storage space for apps by up to 60%.
What happens if you manually uninstall an app in comparison? Well, all of the data will get deleted from your device, including data associated with the app that you might want to keep, meaning that it would be gone for good. Uninstalling apps that you don’t use whatsoever is a solid choice, but for those that you rarely, but reliably use, archiving is the superior option.
The biggest goal here is not just helpful for users, but for developers as well. Allowing for the archiving of apps means that users won’t have to uninstall apps nearly as often, which helps developers avoid having their applications removed from devices and their installation base.
The way this feature will work is this: users might go to install a new app, only to find that the system cannot add it because there isn’t enough storage, or the storage is low enough to be cause for concern. Google will then notify the user of this issue and ask if they would like to archive infrequently used applications.
If you find yourself having issues with storage, there are other options to go for, too, like cloud storage or SD cards. If you don’t have either of these available at the moment, though, this is sure to be a helpful tool to use.
What are your thoughts on this feature? Do you think it will be helpful or more of a hindrance?