My S21 is a 128 GB model. Over the weekend my memory usage was at 128gb. I took off 21gb of photos and the phone showed only 125gb. I turned it off and restarted now it showed 121gb usage. When I got up I went to take a picture and the phone was out of memory. It showed 127.9 usage again. What is causing this memory usage?
Yes, definitely make sure you empty the trash in the file manager. Did you delete the photos or move them onto another device? If you moved them, the space should have freed up. If you only deleted them, they remain in the trash for 30 days. This is true of anything you delete from the file manager. Check your download folder, get rid of or move anything you no longer need, then empty the trash immediately (after making sure there is nothing in there that you put there accidentally.
Oh, and by the way, you should always keep at least 10% of your drive free so that apps have workspace. Regularly go through your apps and uninstall any you have not used in a while. You can always download them if/when you need them again.
I recommend clearing the cache partition on the phone. You won't lose any of your data.
To wipe the cache partition, first turn off the phone, then press and hold the Volume Up and Side/Power buttons simultaneously until the Samsung logo appears. Release the Power button but continue holding Volume Up until the recovery menu appears. Use the volume keys to navigate to "Wipe cache partition," press the power button to select, confirm by choosing "Yes," and then select "Reboot system now" to restart the phone.
Go to files app and hit the bars in top left corner then choose clean. This lets you empty trash, delete duplicates and remove leftove junk files freeing up space.
