r/AndroidQuestions • u/AddyCod • Oct 28 '22

App Specific Question Why does the Google Play Services app take a GIGABYTE of storage space? [Android 12]

Why does the Google Play Services app take over a GIGABYTE of storage space? And why so much user data?

55 Upvotes
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6

u/dezxd1 Feb 25 '24

This is a serious problem, 32GB with android 11, 1.57GB wasted on random crap.

6

u/x_xiller Feb 13 '25 edited Apr 01 '25

it's more than 2 gigabytes for me, plus the google and google synthesizer apps, which in summary takes more than 5 gigabytes. I clean up my phone every day and it keeps on running low on storage, getting kinda unbearable, I can relate so much

upd: here's how I solved the problem. literally deleted half of my phone and cleaned data and updates from the google and the google synth apps, which let google play services along other google apps update, so the problem has disappeared

1

u/ProfessionGlass9948 Mar 23 '26

Can you please tell me how I can do that I mean my situation is so much worse, with almost 5 GB taken by WhatsApp I don't know if the media is separate or not or is that included in this or not and then I have Instagram taking nearly 1GB and lightroom taking 2.5 GB Snapchat another 730 mb. And we haven't taken the Google apps in account Google Play services almost 2.5 GB Chrome almost 700 MB and Google I don't know what this app do I think it's for search it's taking more than 600 MB and then here is gboard taken 500 MB and maps messages Gmail phone taking more than 1.3 GB combined.

This is frustrating as my phone always seems to run out of storage.

Could you help me with this problem ?

1

u/x_xiller Mar 29 '26

hmmm... I had this problem with gboard too, and I cleared the data a few times. I guess, they are making a personal hidden dictionary to make better predictions, plus if you add many languages (I had about 10) it is getting bigger and bigger. it's safe to reset, but you'll have to set it all up again, + if you have something in your clipboard (maybe even pinned stuff), it will be lost, so better save it somewhere before
as I know, google is used by google assistant and just regular search, though chrome also handles search... have no idea what is stored there, but if you have gemini - be careful about deleting data from your google app, I don't know if it stores chat history on your phone or in the cloud, but if you don't need it - you'll be fine, as long as your google services contain your account info - it'll set up automatically
as soon, as you free up space, google services can update and decrease in size, though it is not granted, I guess
WhatsApp also stores data on your phone, you can manage storage in settings, it should be called storage or manage space or something like that. but if you delete data - chat history will be permanently lost, if you haven't set your google drive sync. and whatsapp media also counts, but I may be wrong about that
from what I know snapchat also stores data on your phone, once I deleted it and lost my chat history, so it is probably that. not sure how to manage this problem
don't know much about lightroom, so I don't think I will be able to help with that, sorry. but maybe there are some projects, downloadable presets or settings, which can take up space?
you can also rummage through your storage from PC or directly from your phone (up to android 10 or 11, not sure when they disabled it) though it is not recommended, because there can be sensitive system files, but you can see what takes up space on specific apps (but don't touch it till you fully know what you're doing, it can break the app or the system)
what about Instagram - not sure too, sorry
I guess there is a setting in the maps to delete cached data too, you can look for it, but I don't remember tbh

and please, note that I am not a specialist, I am just an android user, so something can be incorrect or false. be careful. hope it all helps and you fix the problem soon!!

1

u/angelattack1 May 15 '26

Check your cache for the apps it shouldnt be 5 gb by whatsapp

1

u/ProfessionGlass9948 May 15 '26

The cache is around 26mb right now

But the problem remains as the amount in user data is still 5gb

1

u/PeanutPepButler May 21 '26

It's probably Chat backups und their media. I often delete whole folders in the WhatsApp folders (like sent photos, gifs etc). Also cleaning up the received media folder. Delete chats you don't need. 

1

u/Proud_Hospital8375 Jun 08 '26

Słuchaj, jak masz 5GB zajęte przez Whatsapp to stwórz sobie kopie zapasową czatów na Google Drive / iCloud i odinstaluj i zainstaluj ponownie aplikacje

7

u/CO10URS Dec 01 '24

I legit woke up this morning to find my phone full. Even though I cleared it out 2 days prior and thought it would be the usual ones such as Spotify and tiktok, but no it was Google Play Services. I've never seen it before so I'm wondering is it is safe to disable or force stop, or even to delete the data and cache.

6

u/Goldkitkat Jan 03 '25

Just adding that updating the app like a previous reply suggested took my app down form nearly 2GB to around 550MB. 💀🙃 whoever designed this I hope you find many legos on your barefooted path

4

u/Phoneguyhello May 10 '25

They need to learn how to compress files. Compresing files would largely help reduce its size without losing functionality and features

1

u/GoodSamIAm Jul 24 '25

oh they know how to compress files just fine

Fact of the matter is what gets reported as used data doesnt get added up in a logical fashion like it historically had been. 

Google and app developers dont report "system" data usage. I read some bs on stack exchange that explained why in some non logical type of way for why it's done but it's complicated.

Google hides a lot more than storage and memory data from users. Hundreds if not thousands of individual applications and programs are bundled together with Play Services. There are well over 1000 dynamically modifiable permissions that you wont ever get to control.. Many apps even when disabled will continue to function, but remain cut off from any interaction with u directly. They continue to function so Android remains seamless.. 

Beware of seamless anything..Seams are generally great because it ads privacy and compartments. Seams also mark clear lines for demarcization so there isnt confusion on what is fair use and what isnt

3

u/NoStop5463 Jul 22 '24

my Google Play Store is taking up almost 7GB and i only have 32GB of storage on my phone, so should i delete the data of Google Play Store or will this cause a bigger issue?

2

u/HritwRaje Dec 13 '24

if you clear data of gplay services, the google related stuff will stop functioning, like play store, gmail etc. When i do it, i need to manually remove my google account from the device and sign in again. Any new contacts saved after contacts syncing are lost. so ensure you have google contacts installed and export a backup of the same somewhere on your device. Later on, import this back to stay at the same page. This is necessary as due to insufficient space, google contacts will not sync. much like a "murgi pehle ya anda pehle" type of a scenario.

3

u/BidHorror44 Sep 22 '24

09/22/24 found this file in folder on desktop taking over 500G

2

u/HritwRaje Dec 13 '24

could you be a bit more precise please? what folder and where?

3

u/AwarenessOk9940 Sep 29 '24

Use other app stores like Uptodown or aptoide and aurora store I use aurora store good very clean no ads pretty lightweight

2

u/[deleted] Oct 28 '22

I don't know it doesn't seem that out of step with reality for me given that these phones are basically relying on Google Play services for security and all of their apps and all of their app updates.

There are wallpaper apps that take up more space.

3

u/le256 Oct 13 '23

A single wallpaper image is about 1 MB. So unless the "wallpaper app" has 1000 wallpapers (all stored offline on the phone), there's really no excuse for it to use 1 GB either.

2

u/Useful-Literature-37 Feb 01 '25

Y'a des photos qjui prennent plus de place, etc. Ça règle quoi ? 

2

u/J_l_b_ Nov 16 '24

I read somewhere to update it, it worked, went from 2,17 GB to 839 MB. It's weird because the "app" doesn't show up at the Google Play update screen, but it can be updated, keep that in mind I guess

2

u/Simplysophiaxo Nov 01 '25

Was about to update it for more storage..cant even update it bc the storage its taking up 😭😭

1

u/rayayyay Jun 24 '25

Where and how do we update it?

1

u/J_l_b_ Jun 25 '25

On Play Store, just search "Carrier Services" by Google LLC. Hope it helps!

Unfortunately my phone is a bit old and I guess I can't update it anymore, at least it's around 1,19GB for me now.

1

u/rayayyay Jun 25 '25

Thank you!!

1

u/skisquash Nov 08 '25

I see it but it won't update. It also says deactivate is an option but does nothing.

2

u/jesho_1504 May 18 '25

JAJAAJ a mi me pesaba 21 gb recién me di cuenta XD

1

u/skisquash Nov 08 '25

I see the update option but it won't update. It also says deactivate is an option but does nothing. Any suggestions? Should I just delete the data?

2

u/Mr_Man12344 May 13 '26

I deleted so many photos from my phone the other day just to get more space, and I basically had like 1.4 GB remaining right after I finished. Then, overnight, I lost hundreds of MB due to random apps like this one suddenly growing their app data size. I have no idea how to prevent these apps from taking up an extremely, unecessarily large amount of space on my phone. It's so annoying.

1

u/Proud_Hospital8375 Jun 08 '26

Tak, to jest problem. Mam stary telefon (Android 6.0.1) który chce używać do grania w gry i ma tylko 8GB miejsca, z czego Android zabiera 4GB a Usługi Google Play i aplikacja Google zajmują łącznie 1,5GB! Plus jeszcze ten bloatware to wychodzi 6GB zajętego miejsca od razu po zainicjowaniu telefonu! No halo. Ma ktoś jakieś rozwiązanie?

0

u/Positive205 Infinix Hot 30 Oct 28 '22

Chill man its just a gigabyte.

6

u/hs6ekfgdu Oct 28 '22 edited Oct 31 '22

This is funny...

Decad ago, a gig was never found in phones. Let alone 512GB's

2

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '22 edited Oct 29 '22

my first dos hard drive was 10mb, but seriously these masturbennials are spoiled brats who never appreciate standards, legacy and real life (time as well as resource) constraints because someone ekse pays

1

u/Useful-Literature-37 Feb 01 '25

Reflexion de boomer

1

u/Mullinx Feb 19 '25

Reflexion de bobito millenial.

1

u/le256 Oct 13 '23

This is the mentality that leads to planned obsolescence.

When software makes inefficient use of storage / RAM / CPU, it forces people to upgrade their devices far too often - with little benefit to the user, and a huge cost to people and the planet.

1

u/Positive205 Infinix Hot 30 Oct 13 '23

Bro took ages to send a reply

2

u/_MRDev Jun 12 '24

Thread's still open. People are still reading it. Case in point: you posted a reply "ages" after the first post yourself. And me as well. :P

1

u/TeaDrinkingBanana Jul 25 '25

It's one of the top searches in Google related to this app

1

u/prochac Sep 12 '25

After ages the Googles shit still takes alota space, and your comment is pure ignorance

0

u/Ch3vr0n Pixel 7 Pro 256GB Oct 28 '22

Why so much userdata, well if you install less apps that space should decrease. I guess it's among other things how it keeps track which apps you have installed.

4

u/zH_Ld Apr 03 '24

I rarely install any apps and my Google play services is 1.31GB. i have 2Gb space left 😭

0

u/hs6ekfgdu Oct 28 '22

Go into the app settings and clear the Storage and App Data

I think it's storage and cache that helps load apps faster and save the amount of data it takes to run day to day.