With the microSD card slot breathing its last on smartphones, storage space constraints have become a big deal for many smartphone users. While brands offer extra storage space options on their smartphones, users have to pay the price for it. Well, to tackle this issue (to some extent), the Google Play Store will now auto-archive unused apps on your phone.
The Play Store will downsize the app without losing your saved data. This will free up space for other essential tasks on your Samsung Galaxy (or other Android) phones, such as capturing images, downloading new games, keeping offline music/movies, etc. When your phone runs out of storage, the Play Store will automatically suggest you uninstall some unused apps.
However, uninstalling also removes all the saved data if it isn't saved. To address this, the Google Play Store will auto-archive such unused apps. The core part of the Android app is removed from your phone. However, your data and the app will remain on your Android devices.
Play Store auto-archive feature won't remove your personal data from the app
As noted in the Android Developers blog, once the app is archived, you will see a cloud-download symbol on top of its icon. The next time you want to open this archived app, you will be prompted to install it from the Play Store. After installation is complete, you will be back on the app with your personal data intact.
The Play Store will offer an opt-in option to auto-archive unused apps on your phone to make things easier. The first time you run out of space, you will be provided the option to turn on auto-archive. After that, the Play Store will automatically archive unused apps on your Android device to give you much-needed space.
To initiate this feature, users must install a new app on their phones with no storage space. A pop-up will appear asking whether they would like to enable the auto-archive feature or not. If agreed, the unused apps will be auto-archived by the Play Store.
