Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

OneDrive for Android takes the hassle out of deleting backed-up photos

An individual using a laptop that shows the logo for Microsoft OneDrive.
Pablo Calvog/Shutterstock
OneDrive for Android is about to get a whole lot more useful. The team behind the Android version of the app have put together some new features that are now showing up in the beta version of OneDrive.

So what is new? Well, the best new feature is that OneDrive will now help you save space on your device by offering to delete photos from your device that has been backed up to your OneDrive account — all without you having to do anything.

The feature will certainly be helpful for users — storage space is a valuable thing for many people these days, especially with manufacturers sticking to low storage amounts like 8GB or 16GB. If you have internet access most of the time and aren’t worried about using data, then there is no reason to not use cloud storage like OneDrive — you still have access to your files, but they are not taking up space on your phone. That is especially helpful for phones that don’t support microSD cards.

“We call this feature ‘Clean Up Space.’ When you upload 1GB worth of photos to OneDrive, we’ll automatically offer to remove the local copies of the photos on your device to free up some space on your phone for things like Apps and Music,” said the OneDrive team in a Google+ post.

When users to get notified of content that has been uploaded, they can choose to either delete content that was uploaded, leave the content in place for now, or leave it indefinitely. Currently, the feature is only in beta, so if you’re running the consumer version of the app you may need to wait a little before you will get the new feature for yourself. If you don’t want to wait, you will need to sign up for the beta, which you can do by heading to this link.

Editors' Recommendations

Christian de Looper
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
Microsoft Defender antivirus software to roll out to iOS, Android this year
Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus vs. iPhone XS Max

An iOS and Android version of Microsoft Defender will be released this year, bringing the antivirus software to mobile devices for the first time.

In an official blog post, it was revealed that Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection has added support for Linux, joining Windows and macOS. Microsoft also said that there are plans to expand the program to iOS and Android, which will further extend the reach of the antivirus software.

Read more
Check out Microsoft’s unified Office app for Android phones
Microsoft Office for Android

Microsoft has just released its all-in-one Office app for Android following a limited release for developers last November.

Bringing together Word, Excel, and Powerpoint under one roof is supposed to make it easier for you to skip between the different tools while getting stuff done, saving both time and hassle.

Read more
Samsung rolling out Android 10 One UI beta to certain S10 owners in the U.S.
Samsung Galaxy S10 family

Samsung has a reputation for being one of the slower companies to update to the latest versions of Android, but it might be intending to change that with Android 10. If you're in the U.S., and you own either the Galaxy S10, S10 Plus, or the S10e, you have a chance to access the beta for Samsung's new Android 10 skin -- One UI 2.0.

To sign up for beta access, you'll need to head over to the Samsung Members app on your S10, S10 Plus, or S10e, and sign in or sign up for an account. Of course, keep in mind that slots are limited, so you'll need to get on it quick. Also, as it's a beta, you can expect to come across plenty of bugs -- so only sign up if you don't mind dealing with such things.

Read more