I replaced 12 bloated apps with Gemini and freed up 5GB of storage
By Google News AI ·
While I love installing as many apps on my Android phone as possible, I also enjoy purging them when I get bored and start ignoring most of them.
Most of them didn't deliver what they advertised, or they overlapped with native features on my phone or Gemini. That's largely true for the latter, especially as Gemini continues to mature.
I finally worked up the courage to remove these redundant apps, and I was surprised by how much storage space I reclaimed by letting Gemini take over their duties.
Gemini started as a basic chatbot, but Google steadily integrated it across its ecosystem.
I wasn't a fan at first, and I mostly blamed its sloppy early performance and unconvincing practical use cases.
However, Google keeps polishing the experience.
But with extensive, seamless Android integration, I've turned Gemini into a utilitarian assistant.
I realized many of the tools I used before have sat idle because Gemini now overlaps with their capabilities.
That gave me the perfect opportunity to spring-clean these unused apps and free up a lot of storage space.
I used Gemini and Find Hub to cut my annual deep-clean from a full day down to two hours
A few years ago, I used Adobe Lightroom and Snapseed heavily to edit photos I mostly publish on Facebook or Instagram.
Part of my daily work also involves designing banners and editorial illustrations.
Gemini has taken over most of my light, casual editing, from erasing photobombers and unwanted distractions to improving overall exposure.
I also find Gemini's image-generation chopshandy for extending a scene or swapping the background.
It also handles resizing images and simple tasks like overlaying text or designing a header, things I used to do in Canva or Photoshop.
Google recently added multistep prompt support through Task, letting me organize my library and batch edit an entire album on the fly.
That notably reduces the time it takes to apply the same adjustments inside Adobe Lightroom.
These four apps usually take up about 2GB of storage on my Pixel 9 Pro XL, with Lightroom as the biggest offender, so ditching them freed up that space instantly.
I previously subscribed to a couple of language learning services, specifically Duolingo and Memrise.
When Google expanded Gemini, however, its conversational tutoring quickly became one of the most useful skills I consider.
I created a dedicated chat thread for learning Japanese.
I programmed Gemini to create personalized lessons tailored to my current Japanese knowledge and proficiency.
I also assembled a cheat sheet and grammar guide based on the specific areas I need to catch up on, like memorizing basic kanji.
Gemini Live is also a neat trick for testing my speaking skills. I turned it into my personal tutor when I needed to practice words or phrases through active speaking and listening.
It isn't a 100% replacement, since I still find Duolingo or Memrise's visual lessons more effective.
But for someone with intermediate knowledge, Gemini is a dependable language learning companion.
After uninstalling those apps, I reclaimed about 600MB of storage.
I find Pixel Screenshots nifty for recalling and searching details based on the visual memory the screenshots create.
However, Gemini can be a solid substitute for Pixel Screenshots, especially on Pixel phones that don't natively support the feature.
More importantly, the Pixel Screenshots app takes up a lot of storage on my phone, hogging about 1.4GB of space.
I admit…
Originally published by Google News AI
