The Google Play Store is filled with a ton of apps and as users, you would naturally install a few apps that you like and use them. But, what if I asked you to scroll through all the apps that you have installed and asked you to give me a number of the apps that you haven’t used in a long time?
I’m sure, just like me, there would be more than 5 apps. While the simple solution might not simply uninstall them and install them wherever you need, it is not always the case.
While those apps are not being used, they end up taking a select amount of storage on your device. So, what’s the solution other than uninstalling it? Archiving them. Yes, you can now archive your Android apps and don’t have to worry about anything at all. So, if you want to know how that works, here is everything that you need to know.
How to Archive Android Apps Easily
When you archive an app on your Android smartphone, you’re just removing the installed app. All the settings and app data on your device still stay. And, whenever you want to use the app, you simply download the app, and you are good to go.
Enable Automatic App Archiving
The latest version of the Google Play Store, lest you easily enable or disable automatic app archiving. Here are the steps to enable or disable automatic app archiving.
- Launch the Google Play Store app.
- Tap on your profile picture icon at the top right.
- Now, tap on Settings from the menu that pops up.
- Finally, tap on the arrow next to General.
- Simply tap on the toggle next to where it says Automatically Archive Apps.
- You can easily enable or disable it by tapping the toggle.
When you have this feature enabled, the app will be archived only when your device starts running low on storage space. If you have ample storage space, no app will be archived.
Manually Archive An App
If you have an Android smartphone that is already running on Android 15 then you can easily archive the app whenever you want. All you need to do is tap and hold the app on your home screen. From the menu that pops up, simply tap Archive App. Once you archive the app, you will see a gray icon of the app or at times a little cloud icon at the corner of the app icon.
To unarchive the app, simply tap on the app. It will begin to download the app and once installed you can use the app as you normally would. All the settings and app data will be restored instantly.
There is also an alternate way for you to unarchive the app. Here are the steps.
- Open the Settings app on your phone.
- Scroll and tap on the Apps option.
- Scroll through the app list and tap on the app that you have previously archived.
- You will see a new Restore option.
- When you tap on Restore, the app will be installed and can be used right away.
Closing Thoughts
This concludes everything you need to know about what archiving and apps mean, and how you can easily archive an app on your Android smartphone. This is a similar feature that iOS devices have had for a good number of years. On the iOS side of things, it’s called Offloading an app.
Do you think app archiving is an ideal feature? Is it something that you would consider using instead of uninstalling, reinstalling, and again signing in to the app with your account? Let us know your thoughts below.
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