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I'm working on Samsung Galaxy On7, Android 6.0-Marshmallow. Many apps like MS excel and word comes inbuilt, so I cannot move them to sd card, and they are taking up huge space on the phone memory.

Now, b other of these apps have released updates of size about 50MB. The mobile data is not a problem, but will the size of the app increase if I update it? If it increases, then I cannot install the updates.

I tried contacting the app developers but got no response from their side. So, it'll be very helpful to me if anyone knowing this can explain the bit.

N.B.: I don't have a rooted phone, and nor do I want to root it, and thereafter use apps like Link2SD.

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    There's really not a generic answer to this. If the developer added new things without removing anything in the previous version then it will likely be bigger. If they do they opposite then it will be smaller.
    – eldarerathis
    Jun 2, 2017 at 21:30
  • @eldarerathis OP most likely asks for pre-installed apps (see first paragraph of the question) – and for those, there is a generic answer (see below ;)
    – Izzy ♦
    Jun 2, 2017 at 22:18

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If you are asking about the apps that came pre-installed with your device: Yes, their updates definitely will consume additional space, for a simple reason: The pre-installed apps are stored on the /system partition, which is read-only during normal operations¹ – so the update cannot be written there. Instead, it goes to the user /data partition. So with an update applied, there are always 2 copies of the app on your device.

You can easily tell affected apps when going to Settings › Apps and checking their entry. If it shows a button labeled "uninstall updates", that's a clear indicator.

All you can do in such cases is "disabling" the app – that is, if you don't use it anyway. Disabled apps are not updated, and already installed updates will be removed when disabling them. If at a later point you decide to enable them again, updates will be applied again as well.

¹ That usually means: always, except when applying system updates

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  • You're saying in the case when my phone comes first time and I set it up for first time. You've partly misunderstood the question. I'm asking for consequent updates after that, to which, I now believe, there is no generic answer.
    – Wrichik Basu
    Jun 3, 2017 at 5:12
  • Also,is there any way to remove the first copy of the app (one in /system)?
    – Wrichik Basu
    Jun 3, 2017 at 5:13
  • For "consequent" updates there's in fact no generic answer – see eldarerathis' comment on the question. And as for removal of the original: not without root. And you wouldn't gain much by that, as the space on /system is not at the user's disposal anyway (nothing you could use it for).
    – Izzy ♦
    Jun 3, 2017 at 10:09

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