Being able to delete duplicate or useless files on Android and iPhone means, in practice, recovering precious space (especially if you have a device with little free memory) and at the same time improving the organization of the data on your device. Fewer files to manage equals more ease and speed in finding what you need when you need it. To be able to do some cleaning on Android and iPhone, there are official solutions, integrated directly into the operating system, which allow you to carry out this operation simply and quickly, without having to turn to external apps. In the case of Android, Google provides a free app that combines file management with cleaning functions; on the iPhone, however, Apple has integrated automatic tools into iOS to identify duplicate photos and contacts. Understanding how these tools work, what exactly they do and what steps to follow allows you to get a clear answer to a question many ask: how to free up space without risking losing important data. Let’s find out!
How to delete duplicate or useless files on Android
On Android we can rely on Google Files, an application developed directly by the Mountain View giant, which acts as a file manager, i.e. the tool that allows you to view and organize the contents present in the device’s memory. In addition to this basic function, the app also includes options dedicated to cleaning the space. After having installed it from the Play Store (if you have deleted it), here are the steps you need to take to use it:
- Access the main menu by pressing the ≡ icon at the top left.
- Select the Clean item.
- Here the app analyzes the memory and offers us different categories of files that could be removed. Among these, the duplicate files section may appear, i.e. identical contents saved multiple times. If present, you can manually select the items to delete and send them to the Recycle Bin. If the duplicates section is not visible, you can still locate them by exploring the space used, scrolling down the list to the specific item and proceeding with the selection.
- To actually free up memory, you then need to empty the Recycle Bin, which permanently deletes the files.
How to delete duplicate or useless files on iPhone
On the iPhone, Apple has integrated a system function that avoids the hassle of having to turn to external apps. For duplicate photos, these are the steps to take:
- Open the Photos app, tap on Collections, scroll through the main section to the sub-section called Other.
- Tap Duplicates.
- Here the system automatically identifies identical or very similar images and offers you to merge them by pressing Merge. The merge operation keeps only one version of the photo and removes unnecessary copies, streamlining the library. We can intervene on individual elements or select everything and merge together, confirming the operation on the appropriate button.
The same principle applies to duplicate contacts. In this case, however, you must act like this:
- Open the Contacts app and access your personal profile (My profile).
- If present, tap the View duplicates item.
- The system will notify you of duplicates and you can decide to merge them all together or act individually on specific situations.
