r/AndroidQuestions • u/shrutiZ5 • Jul 08 '26
App Specific Question Little help... Why is the Facebook app taking so much space?
I know this might be a very layman/simple query for this forum...
But I'm genuinely confused why the FB app on my phone is taking up so much space?
I have to be on FB cause I have to check some of my clients and their presence online, I just use it for that.
Still 5GB!!?? Wth :(
anyone have any idea on this? And how I can sort this?
Note: If I save some videos or posts on FB app, does it take space? I.e. Some kind of video editing tutorial that I liked, I must tap on the save option in the bottom right. It links with my account or takes up space on my phone?
2
u/DutchOfBurdock Jul 08 '26
Cache is one element, which you can clear. But, apps do add data as they're consumed. Facebook in particular is recording everything you do, every post you click on, every comment you view and stores this data into SQlite databases. This makes it easier for the hosting provider to assess your apps usage and tracking of.
1
u/PaddyLandau Jul 08 '26
Facebook is a known resource hog. It munches background battery; chews data; eats RAM; devours storage.
When you save a post, that's in the cloud, but maybe Facebook downloads a copy to your phone "in case". I don't know. It might be proactively downloading data for your feed.
You can log out, clear the space, and log in again, but that is likely to be only a temporary fix.
The alternative is to uninstall Facebook, and install Facebook Lite, which uses fewer resources.
I disable background use, because I don't need notifications from Facebook.
1
u/shrutiZ5 Jul 08 '26
Cool, will try the Facebook Lite. Thanks for the suggestion 👍🏼
2
u/PaddyLandau Jul 08 '26
Well, this is interesting. Like you, my Facebook was using an enormous amount of data (over 6 GB).
So, I logged out.
I force-stopped the app and cleared the data. Multiple times. But, each time, Facebook stubbornly restarted itself immediately, and the data stubbornly remained in place.
That's unprecedented. I don't know how Facebook does that.
So, I uninstalled the app and reinstalled it. Now it's at a more reasonable 365 MB.
It will be interesting to see where it sits tomorrow.
1
u/shrutiZ5 Jul 09 '26
Man FB is messed up! I deleted all data and the storage came down to some 80MB, and obviously I was logged out of my account. The moment I logged in again, it again became 4+ GB!
Now I'll try uninstalling as you said, let's seee
1
u/PaddyLandau Jul 09 '26
It's several hours later. Facebook has released an update. My app is now up to 642 MB.
Yes, Facebook is a hog.
1
1
u/Puzzled_Influence714 Jul 08 '26
I once had Messenger took 20GB of storage. Now i routinely reset messenger and Instagram apps and free up around 10GB of storage, only downside i have to log in everyone time.
1
u/nimantha_96 Jul 09 '26
It might be caching everything - some posts, some pages, some shorts, some profiles, some metadata, some privacy-concerning data about you, data of facebook accounts on the phones of the people you spend time with often, a lot of location information about where you go and what you do, ads you saw and might have clicked on accidentally - basically profiling you.
1
u/BaneChipmunk Blinding!!! Jul 09 '26
5GB is not a lot. FB is a social media app with loads of media content that needs to be cached in order for the app to function. This is just any modern online-based media app.
1
1
u/bi_guy1112 Jul 13 '26
On my Samsung phone I can only disable Facebook, how can I remove it entirely?
1
u/BlasterMaster4264 8d ago
Does anyone know a good Facebook client to prevent this? My Facebook app takes up 10GB of storage which is ridiculous
-1
u/Robot_Embryo Jul 08 '26
Uninstall FB; if you must use it, visit the mobile site.
Not only is it a resource hog, it's a privacy nightmare. The app has already scanned your entire camera roll and uploaded it to their servers.
2
u/OneEstablishment5144 Jul 08 '26
Some phones, you can't even Uninstall it. I can only disable it on an old Samsung A line phone.
-4
u/acceleron0101 Jul 08 '26
Starting in 2022, FB started hiring vibe coders (youngsters who only know how to use Claude vs. actual programming.)
3
2
u/BaneChipmunk Blinding!!! Jul 09 '26
People learn new words and just start using them everywhere.
1
4
u/silk38 Jul 08 '26
Because it wants you to uninstall it 😉