Jade Bryan is a Feature Author at Android Police with over a decade of tech reviews and news reporting experience, stretching back to the Symbian era and the early days of Android. He covers the breadth of the mobile industry, specializing in operating system deep-dives, app testing, and hardware analysis.
In his spare time, you can find him tinkering with his Android devices and wearables, seeking ways tech can improve daily life. He also enjoys playing MMORPGs, traveling, or feeding stray cats and dogs.
I bought my Google Pixel 9 Pro XL with 256 GB, confident the storage would last a year or more before I hit the dreaded low-storage alert.
But I was mistaken.
After a few months, my storage was almost half full, and before a full year, I unexpectedly had to delete thousands of photos to reclaim a few gigabytes of space.
However, I didn't realize there was another effective way to recover a large chunk of memory, and that would have saved me precious time: replacing Google apps.
It's all about reclaiming your memory
I didn't just replace the Google apps I relied on for many years. I deleted some of them entirely from my Android devices, which was the key to reclaiming that capacity.
The main reason was that I felt many of Google's utilities had slowed my Pixel down, and some overlapped with the third-party apps I've relied on.
Either because they require too much background processing and use too many resources, or because deep system integration adds layers and friction to the user experience.
Even so, I have services I don't use enough and rarely touch, leaving wasted space on my Pixel.
After purging these apps, I realized the benefit of stepping away from Google's ecosystem. I discovered I could save a large chunk of storage space I'd been trying to figure out for months.
After replacing many apps, I recovered 10GB of space, without deleting a single photo or video from my gallery.
I disabled YouTube Music
Streaming on the web reclaimed 5GB of my space
If there was one biggest offender among Google apps that secretly consumes the largest share of my storage, it's none other than YouTube Music.
The streaming service is notorious for aggressively caching music data, which quickly eats up my device's onboard memory.
It's been my default music service for a few months now, but I was surprised it had already consumed 5GB of storage.
Given that's a short period, I can't imagine how bad it'll be after a few more months or a year.
Even so, I mostly listen on my HP laptop and Galaxy tablet more than on my Pixel or Galaxy phone.
So I thought of disabling YouTube Music on my device. Instead of using the standalone app, I started streaming from the browser to avoid installing the app package and caching.
I currently use Brave, and I am happy that many functions work as efficiently as they do in the mobile app.
Although there's a real difference between managing the streaming service's features on a web client and in the dedicated app, the core functions, like skipping a track, starting a mix, and, more importantly, background streaming, still work even when my phone is locked.
I tested this in Samsung Browser, and sadly background playback doesn't work.
Tracks automatically pause when I lock my device or minimize the browser. That's really frustrating, even when I am subscribed to YouTube Music Premium.
Fortunately, there's a workaround: use Brave or Vivaldi instead of Chrome or Samsung Browser. I didn't need to replace YouTube Music using this method.
Using the web version on my Pixel or Galaxy phone for casual listening, then moving to my laptop or tablet for longer sessions, saves me a massive amount of space.
I can't recommend that to everyone, especially those who use YouTube Music's offline features.
I stopped navigating on Google Maps
Here WeGo is a faster and lighter alternative
I don't use Google Maps often, except when driving or traveling abroad. I mostly use Google Search for recommendations or a quick overview of where a point of interest is.
Google Search has become better at providing richer content. For every landmark or place in the search results, it shows an integrated mini-map that uses the same Maps engine.
That means it has the same points of interest and updates as the standalone Maps app.
It doesn't support turn-by-turn navigation for walking, public transit, or driving, but it's a reliable alternative for general queries or finding a restaurant or attraction.
If I need to drive or navigate, I use Here WeGo. It's a lighter app, taking up just over 100MB of storage compared to Maps, which can go north of a gigabyte.
I eventually retired Google Maps and made Here WeGo my go-to navigation tool, while using Search for getting a quick snapshot.
This setup saved me about 800MB of internal memory. But it could be bigger for users who download bulky offline maps.
I replaced Chrome with privacy-focused browsers
And I easily saved a gigabyte of space
For many months now, I've switched to different browsers on my devices. They offer better privacy controls and add-on support than Chrome, and most are lightweight.
While I dropped Chrome long ago, I only recently realized how much memory it still eats up.
On my Flip phone, it occupied about 1.4GB, while on my Pixel it took up around 500MB, but only after I cleared the cache and history. Before that, I assume it consumed much more space.
Brave is a lightweight browser, and it blocks many trackers and ads through built-in controls and extensions. It not only makes my browsing faster, but it's also lighter on storage.
With over a month of browsing, it has accumulated just over 300MB of stored data, including its installation package. Compared to Chrome, I could get up to a gigabyte of space saved over time.
Check for overlapping apps
One app is enough
Another practical space-saving measure is manually purging redundant and unused Google services.
For instance, many Google Health features overlap with Google Fit, especially the step and calorie counters.
To save space, uninstall Fit and keep Health, especially if you subscribe to the premium tier.
It has all the core wellness features and even better insights than Fit, including advanced sleep tracking, a wider fitness catalog, and food logging.
That's another 300 MB saved from an app that functions almost like Google Health.
Don't skip untouched apps
I was surprised at how much storage they hog
Similarly, I opted for third-party keyboards like Simple Keyboard and FUTO Keyboard on my Pixel, replacing Gboard.
Gboard is nice, but it's heavily riddled with Google's data tracking. Removing it saved me about 400 MB of space.
It's also useful to check for unused utilities and offload them if you haven't used them in a long time.
Apps I rarely access include Google Pixel Studio and Pixel Screenshots.
I also don't own a Pixel Watch, so I can add the Pixel Watch app to the list. But when I add the Pixel Watch app, I can download it again.
Moreover, I never use Slides, which had claimed about 300 MB of storage. In total, I got back almost 1GB of space from these apps alone.
Free up your storage without deleting a single photo
If you're looking for ways to reclaim local space without paying for expensive cloud storage, starting with app replacements is proven to work.
You also don't need to delete your photos and videos from your device or move them to a third-party cloud, which I'd advise as a last resort.
It would be nice if Google finally added a proper in-system app scanner to flag bloated, idle apps, though I doubt Google wants to easily show you how much space its own software wastes.