Free up space not doing anything
Hello team ente!
I have an active subscription for ente photos with the 1tb plan and am backing up the dcim folder (roughly 160 GB) on a Google Pixel 7 running the latest Android 15. Ente Photos is already updated to the latest version available through play store.
When using the free up space tool within ente photos, it appears to be doing something for a long time, but ends up not removing any already uploaded pictures. I can repeatedly run the function without any effect. The expected result is that ente Photos deletes all locally stored photos that have already been backed up to the ente Photos storage. My questions are: why is it not working as intended and what can I do to fix the issue?
49 Replies
The 'Free up space' feature in Ente Photos should remove backed-up photos and videos from your phone's internal storage. After using the feature, you may need to clear your device's trash to see the cleared space. You can find this option within the app's settings page, as shown here: https://help.ente.io/photos/features/free-up-space#free-up-your-phones-storage-space
-# If your issue is resolved, please use the /solved command to close this thread.
Free up space | Ente Help
Freeing up your phone's storage space when using Ente Photos
The devices trash folder is already empty, there is nothing to clear.
Might be a permissions issue, you can give the app a special manage media permissions
I have the same issue on IOS, removed and readded permissions just in case, but still have the issue where its spinning and saying "Deleting xx backed up files" for many minutes
I did as you said and gave the app the permission per your instructions. The behavior and result are the same: the app appears to be doing something for a long time, then finishes. Still no images were removed, trash is empty.
-# If your issue is resolved, you can use the /solved command to close the thread. If not, use /unsolve to cancel.
Thread has been reopened and unmarked as solved.
are there iCloud shared photos in your library that are backed up?
Can you try free up space for individual device folder? On ios, you can open Recent folder in the “on device” section & click on free up space option in the overflow
OP is using android, I'm on IOS. I don't use Icloud for photos. I did try to free up space on individual device folder (I wasnt aware of this feature) and it doesnt work, same msg "Deleting xx backed up files" forever. I do use IOS26 not sure if its related
I just jumped in because it seems to be the exact same problem across platforms
to provide more detail I'm using the self hosted version but everything was pulled to latest to perform the tests again (app/docker images). I'm not sure if its related to latest app or beta IOS in my case
I tried this on both iOS (18 and 26 Beta) and Android. Not able to reproduce this.
On iOS, are you getting an OS prompt to allow Ente to delete the photos?
Hi Setal, no prompt (I readded ios permission just in case, deleted/reinstalled app but same issue), just the message "Deleting...", the chronology for me was use Ente as usual before IOS26, do not free up space, then upgrade to ios26, then upgrade ente app, then the issue appears but im not sure if its upgrading ios or ente or the combination, its even more troubling because the other person has the same problem on different OS
Is there any way that we can evaluate the client logs on Android? Maybe that would clear up things.
Sharing logs with support | Ente Help
How to report bugs and share the logs from your Ente Photos app
good point for the logs, on IOS I can see few lines related to "FreeSpacePage" unfortunately I have to kill the app and the last relevant line seems to be "starting _deleteLocalFilesInOneShot for 80"
Do share your logs to support@ente.io
Will get it checked
Will do that. But for anyone interested, the logs simply state that files could not be deleted:
[DeleteFileUtil] [INFO] [2025-07-05 14:12:35.601588] starting _deleteLocalFilesInOneShot for 39625
[ComputeController] [INFO] [2025-07-05 14:14:09.022292] Battery info: {batteryCapacity: 2980000, batteryLevel: 71, chargingStatus: ChargingStatus.Discharging, chargeTimeRemaining: -1, currentAverage: -205937, currentNow: -131562, health: health_good, pluggedStatus: unknown, present: true, scale: 100, remainingEnergy: -2147483648, temperature: 34, technology: Li-ion, voltage: 4033}
[DeleteFileUtil] [SEVERE] [2025-07-05 14:15:37.528259] Could not delete files
⤷ type: PlatformException
⤷ error: PlatformException(deleteWithIds failed, null, null, null)
⤷ trace: #0 StandardMethodCodec.decodeEnvelope (package:flutter/src/services/message_codecs.dart:648)
#1 MethodChannel._invokeMethod (package:flutter/src/services/platform_channel.dart:334)
<asynchronous suspension>
#2 PhotoManagerPlugin.deleteWithIds (package:photo_manager/src/internal/plugin.dart:340)
<asynchronous suspension>
#3 _deleteLocalFilesInOneShot (package:photos/utils/delete_file_util.dart:562)
<asynchronous suspension>
#4 retryFreeUpSpaceAfterRemovingAssetsNonExistingInDisk (package:photos/utils/delete_file_util.dart:524)
<asynchronous suspension>
#5 _FreeSpacePageState._freeStorage (package:photos/ui/tools/free_space_page.dart:180)
<asynchronous suspension>
#6 _FreeSpacePageState._getWidget.<anonymous closure> (package:photos/ui/tools/free_space_page.dart:158)
<asynchronous suspension>
[DeleteFileUtil] [INFO] [2025-07-05 14:15:37.529546] _deleteLocalFilesInOneShot deleted 0 out of 39625
I assume all of this has to do with Googles misled approach to lock down Android (for security, lol!). For example, sync applications like Nextcloud are broken, the auto upload feature does not work anymore. Has the Ente team had any discussions with Google about that?
This all could prove to become a huge issue for many Ente users who are using a newer Android.Just adding to the whole mess, I guess this is what Ente is heading towards:
https://github.com/nextcloud/android/issues/14409
GitHub
GPLAY: Google revoked "all files access" permission · Issue #144...
Hello, this is a meta ticket to explain current state. Google revoked our "all files access" permission. This means that auto upload only works with photos and videos custom auto upload f...
There is a blog post which discusses Nextclouds struggle with google, but Ente could be suffering from a similar situation:
https://nextcloud.com/blog/nextcloud-android-file-upload-issue-google/
Christoph Weissthaner
Nextcloud
Unhappy with the recently lost file upload feature in the Nextcloud...
Discover why Nextcloud file uploads for Android app are not working properly, and how Google’s app store rules are hurting Nextcloud users.
cc @ashil
Please share the log files at support@ente.io
i already did
Hmm, I'm not able to find it. Could you send it again please?
i just resent them
Strange, we recieved no new emails. Could you send it over on DM instead?
just sent them to you via dm @ashil
@pflasterix Do you face the same issue when trying to delete a few of these files locally from your device using Ente by selecting them from gallery? (Select photos -> Click Delete -> Choose "Delete from device")
The first time I deleted the picture it appeared to not have worked. After I deleted the picture the second time ente told me that it would move it to the trash, then it disappeared from ente. Checking the trash,it was empty.
Could you share logs again?
To make sure I've understood correctly, you first deleted a file by clicking the 'Delete from device' option and it did not get deleted from the local folder (DCIM) (you cross checked on your phone's native gallery as well). Then upon retrying delete on Ente, ente let you know that these files will be moved to trash.
Also, fyi, the trash you mentioned is ente's trash folder.
Could you share logs at support@ente.io?
Please repeat the deletion of a few items multiple times and let us know if the behaviour is consistant across each try. Then send over the logs as DM.
yes will do but i pasted the last line I thought was relevant. My issue seems different from OP because he get exceptions in logs and I dont
it shows it go into the "deletion method" but never timeout or log an exception. I even left the phone at least 20min like that yesterday
for 80 photos to delete it shouldnt be an issue, give me a moment i cant send the full logs right now
but the issue seems similar in term of user experience for both, we both are stuck at the deletion screen, whatever we try to delete from device
I've sent the IOS logs to support, thanks
Okay, so I tried deleting a photo from my local device and then hitting the delete button again on Ente. I noticed the photo count went down by one, but the screen just won’t budge, and nothing happens.
@ashil done
Hi @ashil and @setal , I’ve got a hunch about what’s up with the iOS issue and might not be reflected in the logs. It seems like when I’m browsing "Recents," some of the pictures I’ve uploaded still have that cloud-blocked icon, like they weren’t uploaded at all. It’s happening with a bunch of files, but I’m scratching my head trying to figure out why, especially since I’ve got the latest server and app. It feels like the deletion logic is a bit wonky because it can’t delete something that’s not uploaded, even though I’ve got a list of files to delete! Fingers crossed it’s just a bug in iOS 26 beta.
Should be fixed in the latest release I think
not for me, I'm starting to think my issue is different than OP even if the consequence was both being unable to free up space
The latest release has a potential fix for OP's issue. I haven't found the cause for your issue yet. Haven't been able to reproduce it as well. Will take a look again sometime in the future.
thank you! hoping it's related to IOS beta version somehow. I had photos that were uploaded before moving to IOS26 that I didn't delete. then moved to IOS26 and also pretty much at same time updated ente app so it's hard to know which upgrade triggered my problem. The freeup space feature used to work very well before that
Thanks for the info! Will definitely help in trying to debug 🙂
Unfortunately it crashes to home screen now. Please see my dm.
hey guys, Apple released IOS26 Beta 4 today but sadly same issue for me, maybe its not related to IOS, it's really hard to tell at this point
hey @ashil, any news on the issue?
its been two weeks now without any news regarding the regression bug and the initial issue. has the issue been abandoned?
no not abandoned. Ashil was wrapping up the current project he was working on. Planning to pick this up next and fix things
thank you @setal for pinging
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Thread has been reopened and unmarked as solved.
@setal @ashil I did some manual cleanup, left some photos to cleanup and I was lucky on IOS i got the popup to Free up space. Then later I uploaded more photos and again tried to free up what was uploaded but it didnt work
the logs dont show anything interesting in my case because it just shows it entered the free up method
if it helps I can try to deploy a debug version with more logs that you have in a branch, I was able few weeks ago to deploy the flutter app but with the beta version I cant guarantee but happy to try if it helps you guys. Because it seems the issue is hard to investigate and with our phone becoming full it renders Ente a PITA to use
have a nice weekend, you can ping me directly next week
just a quick update, new IOS beta5+latest ente app=same issues for me
Hey Team Ente, I have lost faith that this problem will be resolved anytime soon. The feature that Ente promotes heavily simply does NOT work. I am therefore cancelling my paid subscription and hope that this issue can be resolved for future users. I thank you for the effort you have put towards resolving the problem.
same issues with IOS latest beta9
Hey there! I’ll keep you in the loop as long as the stable iOS release is still a bit away. But I’m really leaning towards the Ente issue. Even with iOS beta 9 and the latest app release today, I’m still having trouble freeing up space, despite all the other cool features being worked on.
I forgot to mention I also pulled the latest docker (I do it with every new app release)
If you have a question about selfhosting Ente, please check out #self-hosting
Hey. We have some idea what the issue is now. Definitely working on this. I am hoping the next release has this fixed. We seem to have lost one customer due to this :/
Hey Setal, I totally get his frustration! If I were a paying customer, I’d probably feel the same way. Fingers crossed he’ll come back once it’s fixed. From the outside, it seems like no one’s really paying attention, especially since two people have had similar issues. It doesn’t really inspire confidence, even for someone like me who’s not a paying customer. I’m rethinking about putting my precious memories on Ente because I’m not sure what’s going on, is the database getting corrupted over time, or something like that? I can totally understand that I’m running beta software, so there’s still a chance it’s related to that. Anyway, just wanted to say I really like you guys and this app, but this problem has been a real headache for us.
You’re absolutely right. And totally understand both your frustrations. This has been a miss from our side more than anything else.
Having said that, I am confident there is no corruption issue - the bug seems to be on account of some grouping logic around deletion.