Surviving with a low memory phone isn’t easy. Of course, you could just delete all your favourite apps, but then, what’s the point in having a smartphone? Fortunately, we’re here to tell you how to replace those memory hungry apps with more slimline versions. Want to free up space on your phone but don’t want to delete Facebook? We’ve got you covered!
What’s the Point of All This?
Before we get to some awesome app options, let’s first take a look at why this is important. You already know that your phone has a finite amount of memory. But when that memory gets full, your phone slows down and you get performance issues. Even worse, when that memory gets really full, you start to encounter irritating problems like not being able to load new emails or take pictures. There are plenty of things that you can do to free up memory on your phone, but most of these require you to delete things (like photos you’ve stored, or apps you like). But we’re here with an easier option. There are some slimline app options that you can use to replace your favourite apps that take up way less space, leaving you more room to store your pics, tracks, or whatever else. Simple.
Love Facebook?
Let’s start with a big problem: Facebook. Nearly everyone these days uses Facebook at least to some extent, but we’re going to be totally honest here and tell you that the Facebook app SUCKS. Big time. It’s slow, it interferes with performance on your phone, and it’s huge. The regular Facebook app takes up a whopping 70 MB of space on your phone. But if you’re not willing to give up your timeline, then there’s another option.
Swipe for Facebook is a little app (quite literally, since it’s only 3 MB) that allows you to access Facebook through the app itself without having the traditional Facebook app installed. Basically it redirects you to a mobile web browser version of Facebook, but it’s way easier than needing to open your browser and navigate to Facebook all the time. Plus, Swipe even lets you customise the look and theme of Facebook (which the regular app doesn’t let you do). This one’s a no brainer if you want to save some space…
SMS Options…
Okay, your phone came with an SMS app. But in built SMS apps are rarely flexible, not allowing you to customise as much as you might like, and certainly not letting you access your messages elsewhere (like on your PC). And that’s why many people opt to install an alternative SMS app. Unfortunately, these apps tend to be pretty memory hungry, but there is an exception. The free Pulse SMS app comes in at only 7 MB, and is as customisable as you could ever wish for. You can even pay for a small in app purchase that lets you get to your messages from anywhere you’d like. As far as alternate SMS apps go, this one is definitely the smallest we’ve seen, and full featured too!
Web Browsing…
You’ve probably got your favourite web browser already, but we’re here to make a plea for a lesser known browser that’s going to save you plenty of space. But let’s check out the major competition first. The top browser choice for most people nowadays is Chrome, but the Chrome app comes in at a huge 311 MB. Even the smallest of the traditional choices, Firefox, is still an unwieldy 32 MB. So what’s the best option?
Opera Mini is the most slimline browser around at only 4 MB. That’s tiny. It’s full featured, offering everything you’d expect to see in a mobile web browser, and has the benefit of being one of the best data compression browsers around (which means it uses less of your mobile data resulting in smaller bills). Best of all, Opera Mini is completely free, so there’s no excuse not to give it a try.
Miscellaneous Choices…
Depending on your needs, we’ve got some other skinny app choices for you too. Like to keep up with the weather? Then by far the slimmest app choice out there is Weather from Macropinch, which is a mere 5 MB and does everything you need. Want a decent calendar app that doesn’t hog space? Then check out aCalendar at just 3 MB. Into customising your phone but don’t have the space for those huge, popular launcher apps? Then Smart Launcher 3 is your friend, with its tiny 4 MB download size.
Stay on Top of Space
Finally, if space is truly a concern, then you really need to stay on top of what’s on your device, and we’ve got a couple of recommendations for you here. The first is CCleaner, which is a little larger than other apps on this list at 9 MB, but makes up for that size in its awesome functionality. You might know CCleaner from its desktop version, but the mobile version is just as useful at clearing up data caches and stored webpages, leaving you with more space on your phone.
Second, check out the very cool DiskUsage app, which measures a mere 500 KB. This handy little app makes it easy to see how space is being used on your phone. Yes, your phone can do this natively, but DiskUsage is far easier to use and much more intuitive. Using DiskUsage means that you’ll know what’s hogging space, and you can use this info to decide what to delete and what to keep to make the most of your memory room.
Extra memory on a phone can be expensive, and if you don’t have the option of adding an SD card to your mobile for extra external space, you might find that space is at a premium. That 16 GB phone might be cheaper than its 32 GB or 64 GB counterpart, but you might end up suffering performance issues in return for that lower price tag. But with the right app choices and a little care you can survive with a small memory phone!
