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When I try to install anything through the Play store, I get a pop-up saying I have 'insufficient storage', with a button which takes me to view my current used storage. According to that program, I have 449mb free on my internal storage. Infuriatingly, I am not told how much each app actually requires, but 449mb should be enough to install anything, since the hungriest app I currently have installed only uses ~250mb.

I managed to get enough space to install the 1.5mb 'Move to SD card' app I wanted. Now that app reports that I have 'no reason to move to SD card, since it shares the same disk with the OS'. In that case I do not just have 449mb free; I also have the 16gb free on my SD card which it should be able to use to install new apps.

Why then does it still complain that it does not have enough space?

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  • Did you try wiping cache and data of play store and trying again?
    – Tamoghna Chowdhury
    Oct 28 '15 at 8:46
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    You probably have about 4 GB internal storage altogether, so you're hitting the 10% trigger. Unfortunately, with an internal SD card present, App2SD only moves to this (which of course makes no sense if it's the same storage – please don't ask me why it's implemented the way it is: wasn't me). To get you started on the issue, I'd recommend you take a look at our insufficient-memory tag-wiki, where you can find some background, first-aid, and helpful links. Good luck!
    – Izzy ♦
    Oct 28 '15 at 11:41
  • you are almost helpless, like many others.As per mr. @Izzy comment the 10% trigger shi** wouldn't allow you to install, even when you have 449mb free. That is the the reason people move to custom roms that allow apps to be installed to the sdcard.Thats your best bet.none of the apps in play store will allow you to move2sd if there is /legacy or /emulated/0 or similar emulated sdcard.foldermount is complicated. Better partition your sdcard and use with link2sd app.
    – Iftekhar
    Oct 28 '15 at 18:04
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25 MB free internal storage is minimum requirement (source: TechniPages, AndroidCentral). If free space falls below that, the "insufficient storage" error is triggered. for more information see

Why does my phone keep telling me it has low storage?
Not enough storage on android device

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    Right -- so since I have significantly more than 25 MB, I don't understand why I get this error message.
    – jameshfisher
    Oct 28 '15 at 15:29
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    +1 to your comment, @eegg. As I've explained with the link in my comment on your question (and explicitly left out the outdated 25MB rule, which the linked "source" doesn't even mention): It's not 25MB, but 10% (<- that's a source – which is also given in the tag-wiki I've linked in my comment on your question). Sure it's a crazy limit, considering there are devices with 16GB+ internal storage – but that's nothing we can do anything about, unfortunately.
    – Izzy ♦
    Oct 28 '15 at 21:54
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According to the accepted answer of a related question on StackOverflow that Izzy found:

As long as the device maker doesn't change the default settings, the intent will be broadcast when the free memory reaches 10% of the internal device memory.

In other words, Android will start complaining when less than 10% of memory is available.

As Izzy also noted in the comments, this is a poorly designed requirement, as a device with 32GB of internal storage will still have a 10% requirement (3.2GB).

That answer was written and accepted many years ago, and no new answer has been posted. I added a comment to the answer to ask if anything has changed since the answer was posted.

I posted this as an answer since the only answer currently posted was incorrect.

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