Insufficient Memory And Yet

[LadyHeather]

My new Samsung phone is telling me I have insufficient memory to upgrade whatsapp (or to even install some apps). I checked and whatsapp is on the system memory. I tried uninstalling a few apps but it made no difference. There is still 18.11 MB available space on my phone.

My app manager does not give me the option to move whatsapp to my memory card, in fact, as near I as I can tell, I can't see any of the apps installed on the phone that are allowed to be moved to the memory card.

Any suggestions?

[thaicbr]

apps 2 sd from Play store.. that might fix your problem

[lomatopo]

What make/model phone?

Android version?

Settings, about phone: Model number and Android version

Also Settings, Apps. Running - list here

And Settings, Storage - any issues there?

18.11 MB? Are you sure? ROM? Memory? SD?

Do you have WhatsApp installed? Does it work? Are you being prompted to upgrade it?

I guess there's a slim chance your internal memory is full and there is no room for the download? Hard to trounle-shoot with little/no details.

Don't move apps to the SD, that's idiotic.

[Chicog]

Don't move apps to the SD? Why not?

[LadyHeather]

Apologies for the lack of information, it is a Samsung Y duos, I like the smaller screen it fits in my hand and the dual sim is good for keeping lives separate. It is running 2.3.6

Yes, of course whatsapp is installed, I did say it is on system memory, and yes it works. Yes its prompting for an update. According to my phone it now has 17.91 MB available on system storage and yes I am sure, I looked at it before, I am looking at it now. And no, I haven't installed anything since my last post. I have 1.7 GB available on the card.

Current running apps inlcude whatsapp, facebook, mail, juice defender (turns data on and off) smooth calendar, drm content, software update, google services, email, software update, sms, maps, syncmlDS, time and samsung keypad,

Thanks for your time and also, why shouldn't apps be moved to the SD card? And why not install there in the first place?

[lomatopo]

Can you close all those running apps, then go to the play Store and update WhatsApp!?

[Somtamnication]

There was an issue about the google play store stating that error. Change the play store .pk and see if it still happens. I assume your phone is rooted, etc etc....

[ravip]

I have the same phone (not rooted) and the same problem on and off (I mean the problem). Give this a try.

Switch off.

Switch on.

Open Task Manager.

Select RAM.

Hit the clear memory button.

Try the upgrade/installation.

It worked for me every time.

Good Luck!

On second thoughts... 18.11 MB system memory maybe a tad too low.

Currently mine is, after a cold reboot;

System 135MB/170Mb

SD 1.02GB/1.86GB

Some apps cannot be installed or moved to the SD

Edited November 5, 2012 by ravip

[bobl]

In case you haven't solved this yet - try this.

DELETE (uninstall) the existing Whatsapp. Reboot. Go to the play store and install (obviously will get you the latest version).

Will probably work. Worked for me for an app that went bonkers (refused to update) in the same way.

Downside - if it doesn't work, of course you won't have the 'old' version any more. If that happens, it's time to enlist the help of a geek.

[LadyHeather]

I considered uninstalling but if it doesn't install again then I won't have it at all and I use it quite regularly.

I have no plans to root my phone, thanks

Not sure what play.pk means?

I am afraid that restarting and clearing memory did not solve the problem.

Closing all apps gets me a message that some are necessary to the running of the phone.

[ravip]

Closing all apps gets me a message that some are necessary to the running of the phone.

I get the above message too. It would not harm the phone.

The procedure I listed worked all the time wthout crashing my phone.

On the other hand with 18.11 MB system memory... maybe you really have to uninstalle some apps.

This phone is incredibly low on system memory - so much so that I am contemplating on upgrading to a better unit in less than 4 months!

• 
  

[Somtamnication]

I misspelled the extension. All apps have the .apk extension. When you download an app, lets say, chess2000, it is a file called chess2000.apk. Download a new version of the google play apk file or an older version. Many sources in the internet.

[bobl]

I considered uninstalling but if it doesn't install again then I won't have it at all and I use it quite regularly.

As it happens, whatsapp is one of the apps I didn't bother reinstalling last time I flashed my phone (which is quite often) - so I had a quick check.

Before installation - 667MB used, 1.15GB free.

After installation - 676MB used, 1.14GB free

And the app itself, says it's using a total of 9.92MB (9.35MB + 580KB data)

So, in theory you should definitely have enough space to install, even with your limited memory.

It's possible that you have more data if you are a frequent user - chat history? - and that's what's confusing the installer into thinking you don't have enough memory (e.g., if the app's currently using 20MB, 9MB + 11MB data, it's possible a buggy installer might think you need at least 20MB to upgrade)

If your chat history is NOT important to you, then go to 'system', 'applications', 'whatsapp'. How much memory is it using under 'data'? Hitting the 'clear data' button might give you enough to do the upgrade...

Another alternative would be to uninstall something *big* - e.g. Angry Birds - then hopefully update whatsapp with the new free space, then reinstall Angry Birds. Of course, you now have another problem of losing your angry birds progress. All depends how much you want the update for whatsapp...

Also - I don't know what Loma has against app2sd and I'm baffled by his comment. I've used it with no ill effects (on a Galaxy Cooper with a similar space problem to yours). On a phone like yours with very limited space for apps, it could certainly help.

[Chicog]

I misspelled the extension. All apps have the .apk extension. When you download an app, lets say, chess2000, it is a file called chess2000.apk. Download a new version of the google play apk file or an older version. Many sources in the internet.

Yes, including those that have been modified to include malware.

[Somtamnication]

I misspelled the extension. All apps have the .apk extension. When you download an app, lets say, chess2000, it is a file called chess2000.apk. Download a new version of the google play apk file or an older version. Many sources in the internet.

Yes, including those that have been modified to include malware.

If paranoid, install LBE. And it is not malware, as some posts on the internet mention.

[Chicog]

That's OK for privacy, but I'd rather install something like Avast to look out for Malware.

[Africanteacher]

Did you solve this issue, Lady Heather?

Silly Samsung telling me I have 'insufficient storage' whenever I try to upgrade any apps? I have 3GB Memory free! and I have tried all of the above measures without success.

I've got a Samsung Galaxy Y

Any assistance would be highly appreciated...

Edited June 13, 2013 by Africanteacher

[Somtamnication]

It may be the system memory, not the sdcard (either internal or external).

When I change roms on my sgs2, sometimes the rom tells me insufficient space and it always means internal system (which is separate from internal sd or external sd card).

No idea if your phone is rooted, but if it is, check the memory with titanium or another program and specifically check SYSTEM memory.

[monty]

I found the basic phones always having that problem.

What often helps is going into settings and applications, and clear the data of the apps.

Some of them can be very memory hungry, top of the list on my phone are my browsers (dolphin and opera mini), dropbox and a few others...

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[innerspace]

Only some models and softwares can install apps on memory card.

Some phones rooting will enable it if unavailable.

If the primary storage is full doesnt matter how much space on an internal or external memory card if apps cant be installed there.

Option 1 is get someone to root the phone. Since you asked this question dont try to so it yourself.

Option 2. Apps-settings-applications. Look for anythinge with usage in the MB and clear the cache.

Option 3. Repeat 2 but uninstall.

Option 4. Buy a new phone.