Insufficient memory for updating/installing apps

[Guest alf_gordons]

Hi,

 

I can't update or install new apps on my 2 years old Huawei G300, it says there's insufficient memory even though there's over 100 MB free RAM, and gigabytes of free space on the 16 GB SD card and the internal memory (2 GB).

 

It seems to be a known Android issue but I couldn't find a working solution. :-/

 

I'm running the 4.0.3 version (officially updated from 2.3 over a year ago), never rooted it (perhaps that's the mistake ;))

 

Please help me out... :mellow:

[Guest rhen]

Hi,

I can't update or install new apps on my 2 years old Huawei G300, it says there's insufficient memory even though there's over 100 MB free RAM, and gigabytes of free space on the 16 GB SD card and the internal memory (2 GB).

It seems to be a known Android issue but I couldn't find a working solution. :-/

I'm running the 4.0.3 version (officially updated from 2.3 over a year ago), never rooted it (perhaps that's the mistake ;))

Please help me out... :mellow:

This is how it works.

Android don't let use the last 100MB of space on /data for app install.

So if the space with the new / updated apps could go below this, it won't let you install new or update existing apps.

I think this have two reasons.

eMMC need some free space, to able to move data around to balance wearing just like on SSD-s.

Second is that you can't acclaim the whole space on /data with apps, you need space for application data too which can be generated anytime after app install (the amount of data is app dependent). So this restriction prevents the system to run out of space too.

Edited January 29, 2015 by rhen

[Guest alf_gordons]

Wow, that's a totally new piece of information for me, thank you! Never read anything about it... Is that precisely a 100 MB limit and on all devices? That would explain similar problems I had with a tablet...

[Guest dalyer]

I can't update or install new apps on my 2 years old Huawei G300, it says there's insufficient memory even though there's over 100 MB free RAM

 

Android don't let use the last 100MB of space on /data for app install.

 

Isn't there some confusion here? He's talking about 100MB of RAM but you seem to be talking about 100MB of non volatile storage space?

[Guest alf_gordons]

No, I'm also talking about it... Unless I'm mistaken about non volatile storage space being the internal 2 GB of memory...

[Guest dalyer]

Well having 100MB of RAM shouldn't have any impact on what apps you can install.

[Guest rhen]

Well having 100MB of RAM shouldn't have any impact on what apps you can install.

He doesn't talk about RAM, He talked about the internal storage.

He wrote it wrong in the first post If I understand well.

[Guest dalyer]

He doesn't talk about RAM

 

He does...

 

it says there's insufficient memory even though there's over 100 MB free RAM, and gigabytes of free space on the 16 GB SD card and the internal memory (2 GB).

 

Anyway - enough said....

[Guest rhen]

Isn't there some confusion here? He's talking about 100MB of RAM but you seem to be talking about 100MB of non volatile storage space?

 

No, I'm also talking about it... Unless I'm mistaken about non volatile storage space being the internal 2 GB of memory...

 

Anyway - enough said....

Yep, we are away from the original topic, so I also said enough.

Edited January 29, 2015 by rhen

[Guest alf_gordons]

Well having 100MB of RAM shouldn't have any impact on what apps you can install.

 

Well now I'm confused again because:

 

This is how it works.

Android don't let use the last 100MB of space on /data for app install.

So if the space with the new / updated apps could go below this, it won't let you install new or update existing apps.

 

From my experience rhen is right, having "just" 100 MB of RAM has an obvious impact on ability to install new apps...

 

BTW, is there any better way of making more free RAM space except for deleting the apps' cache and/or data? Like, identifying larger temporary/unneeded files in a file explorer and deleting them (although for that I'd probably need root access)...

 

Thank you all for the input!  :)

[Guest rhen]

Well now I'm confused again because:

 

 

From my experience rhen is right, having "just" 100 MB of RAM has an obvious impact on ability to install new apps...

 

BTW, is there any better way of making more free RAM space except for deleting the apps' cache and/or data? Like, identifying larger temporary/unneeded files in a file explorer and deleting them (although for that I'd probably need root access)...

 

Thank you all for the input!  :)

The problem is that you confuse RAM with the internal memory.

 

When you open the Settings -> Applications option, you see the internal storage ( /data).

To see how much free RAM you have, you have to go to the Running apps tab.

Edited January 30, 2015 by rhen

[Guest alf_gordons]

Yes, I mixed them up, sorry! Let me rephrase it then, any tips on how to clear more space for the internal storage on a non-rooted device? Except for uninstalling apps? ;)

 

Sorry again for the mix-up!

[Guest rhen]

Yes, I mixed them up, sorry! Let me rephrase it then, any tips on how to clear more space for the internal storage on a non-rooted device? Except for uninstalling apps? ;)

 

Sorry again for the mix-up!

Move apps to the SD with the standard method. In the application setup.

Clear some app's cache (this is just temporary solution, but can help with the short time you update your apps)

If you have apps that you don't use but comes with the phone, remove these app's update than disable the app.

 

I sometimes remove the app that I'm trying to update than reinstall instead of update. It works most of the time. A little time consuming, but seems like it works.

[Guest alf_gordons]

Thanks, rhen! I've already done the first tips you mentioned but I didn't try your last tip yet, it sounds like it's worth a try!

 

One more issue I have is that for long time now whenever I try to clear cache, the phone says it's clearing the apps' caches but after it finishes it always reports 0.00B memory freed, strange thing  :blink: Same happens when I try to clear cache of any specific app, it seems like it's impossible to delete the cache :-/