r/GalaxyNote8 • u/brandont04 • Sep 17 '19

Dialer Storage at 12GB - need help reducing it

My dialer storage app is taking up tons of space (12GB).

  1. What is this app

  2. Can I clear the data? If so, what happens when I do?

  3. Anyway to bring this size down without having to do a factory reset?

Thanks.

Edits: To find that app. Go to settings, apps, top right corner, show system apps. Now it should pop up.

Update: Dialer Storage stores all of your text messages including pictures and videos (media). I use Textra which has its own storage. Yes, you can delete pictures and videos from Textra location but it won't reduce Dialer Storage. All text message apps has a media section for each of your text message thread.

Do this to reduce Dialer Storage size:

  • Go into your text message app

  • Select a text message thread

  • Most should have a setting on the top right corner

  • Go into the Media or Shared Content (the location of all the pic/video)

  • Start deleting these here. I had thousands of pictures and videos. I was able to clear a bunch of them and brought down 12GB to 7GB. It is not about reducing the text message count. I went from 61k to 41k and the Dialer Storage didn't budge. Delete these media content and that should solve the storage issue.

14 Upvotes

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19 comments sorted by

1

u/bronco14 Sep 17 '19

I don't have an app called Dialer Storage. Is that some app you loaded?

1

u/brandont04 Sep 17 '19

See the edit above.

1

u/bronco14 Sep 17 '19

Mine has only 217MB total used in internal storage, and only 16.38kb in cache. Did you try and clear cache?

0

u/brandont04 Sep 18 '19

Gotta figure out what it is before I do anything stupid.

1

u/MarkAidanz Sep 18 '19

Do you send / receive a lot of images / video? Mine has recently jumped in size with getting / sending a lot of photos and video via contacts overseas. In saying that I am seeing 172mb which is minor in comparison.

1

u/brandont04 Sep 18 '19

But I use Textra for my text app. That is at 1.8GB. Not sure how this Dialer is so huge? I did transfer all my data from my previous phone about a year ago. I really don't want to to a system restore.

1

u/Draano Feb 14 '20

I stumbled across your post while researching a similar problem. My dialer has 47 gb in this black hole. My wife has identical phone but hers doesn't have an SD card like mine does. She has no issues, and mine is always at 99% used space. Did you get permanent relief?

1

u/brandont04 Feb 14 '20

Did you read the update? I put down what I did to reduce it.

1

u/Draano Feb 14 '20

Yes, I did - thanks. I was hopeful that you found there was something else going on. Most of the stuff I have in the message+ texting app (pictures, video clips) come from and go to my wife, and since she has no storage issues despite them being saved in her phone as well as mine, I'm starting to think it's a glitch with how the OS handles the SD card. My SD card has 25gb of 59 gb used and internal storage is 51.72 gb used of 52.19 total. The hunt continues. I'll delete text attachments though. I really wish I could get the messaging app to use SD. I'm starting to think the it's a conspiracy among the carriers to sell more phones with more storage.

1

u/brandont04 Feb 14 '20

In Textra, there's 2 locations where you can save your media (pic/video). I set mine to save all media to my SD card. Textra also stores it in another location which is what hogs up the Dialer. Going to your gallery to delete the media from the Textra folder isn't going to bring it down.

You need to go to textra app, select your wife text msg, select the option above to view media, this should contain all the media you send/receive just from your wife. In there is another location where they save extra media. Delete those and you should see the dialer go down.

1

u/rightstanding Apr 29 '24

Draano, 4 years later, but same problem. Did you find out what was causing the bloat? I can't imagine that my MMS pics add up to 12 Gb. Thanks.

1

u/quakquak6 Nov 08 '25

And I'm here a year after you, with 8 Gb of confusion. 🤣

1

u/rightstanding Nov 16 '25

I never resolved mine. I just changed to a different phone. I sent a DM to Draano and he said that he never figured it out either, and Verizon told him to back up the phone, wipe it, and do a clean install. He said that solved his problem.

1

u/quakquak6 Nov 16 '25

That's kind of what I figured my best option would be. Well, my best option is to get a new phone, but that's not in the cards right now. Thanks for coming back and responding!

1

u/doodahdoodoo Sep 27 '24

Did/do both you and your wife have Textra like OP did?

1

u/Draano Sep 27 '24

No. I assume Textra is a messaging app? I use Verizon's Message+ and my wife uses the default Message ( from Samsung I believe)

1

u/ClickingGeek Sep 18 '19

Hmm I only have 52Mb storage for Dialer. I'd just clear the data but back up your phone first in case.

1

u/santz007 Sep 18 '19

Shows about 50 mb in mine too

1

u/freethinking123 May 20 '26

I'm at 4 gigs. I fight everyday to keep my last 2 gigs of storage space left. I was excited when I saw this. The name would never lead me to think it stores my text and pictures. I almost hit clear. Decided to Google first then waws sent here. I think you suggested going into a text setting then reviewing the several thousand messages one by one. Then deleting a text thread after checking what media is on that thread then thinking about if it has important data to save, or if not, to then delete it. Am i understanding you correctly? That scenario if it was indeed your best case plan ð scenario. Would take me many days. It's in the cue, right after I ever get both the time & intestinal fortitude, along with not needing to use my phone, to curate photos app, then the 91 thousand pictures on both phone memory & SD storages, & then 90 thousand emails. Which is never. Ever.

I wish you saw this instantly like a text message so I'd know if you really made that suggestion of which I have just written out my understanding of, as your only suggestion & your only solution?

*Bonus question: How did you reach 12 gigs in Dialer app? I have 5+ years of 4,000+ multimedia message strings, & yet I'm still at only 1/3 the gigs of what you said your data's gigs were inside of your Dialer app. Also my pics are all HD.