Spotify App Takes Up Space

When you use up all of the available RAM on your computer, you may notice that your device struggles to complete tasks. If you find that your computer’s applications are frequently crashing and it takes longer to do simple tasks, then you might be wondering how to free up RAM on your computer.

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Like every single piece of software that you run on your device, Spotify relies on memory to deliver optimal service without taking up too much of your bandwidth. Whether you’re looking to free up storage space or delete songs you’ve downloaded for offline listening, you can do so by clearing the Spotify cache. For example, Spotify has had an Apple Watch app available since late 2018, but despite Apple having opened up support for offline playback in watchOS 5, released to developers six months earlier. When dealing with apps, bear in mind that the app itself, its data, and its cache all add up to the total space used by the app. For example, if you have Spotify installed and you’ve cached lots of music offline, Spotify may be using over 1 GB of space. You could clear Spotify’s cache to forcibly remove this all, or launch the Spotify app. Spotify is a digital music service that gives you access to millions of songs. I mainly use Spotify on my iPhone, and I just noticed that it's taking up about 1.2 GB of storage on my phone. I don't download any songs from Spotify, I stream everything, so can anyone tell me why it's taking up so much space? The app itself should only be about 75 MB, so I'm kind of confused.

What is RAM?

Your computer’s Random Access Memory (RAM) is stored on a memory chip that is typically found on the motherboard. This where your computer stores short term data. RAM is the hub of storage for all active and running programs and processes. Your computer uses the information it has stored in RAM to complete tasks while simultaneously receiving and performing other functions.

Stop Running Background Apps. The next items that could be taking up RAM are your applications that are set to automatically run in the background. You may have used your computer for years before noticing some of these apps taking up your RAM storage. This can quickly exhaust your memory, battery, and data bandwidth. To stop background apps.
I checked my usage settings and it turns out the Spotify App is taking up 4.7 GB of space on my iPhone (exactly the amount of free space I need to download iOS 8). I went to one of the biggest playlists I'm following in Spotify (543 songs) and clicked 'unfollow this playlist' and it only reduced it from 5.0 GB to 4.7 GB.

When you use up all of the available RAM memory, your computer’s performance can slow down because it doesn’t have the storage required to complete its tasks. When you clear RAM space, it gives your computer the capability to carry out tasks. Depending on your computer, there are a few different ways you can free up RAM space.

How to Make the Most of Your RAM

It can be easy to use up your RAM because it supports so many functions. Before you start removing programs from your computer, try these quick fixes to free up RAM space.

Restart Your Computer

The first thing you can try to free up RAM is restarting your computer. When you restart or turn off your computer, all of your RAM (stored data) will be wiped clean and programs will be rebooted. This can potentially clear out some processes and programs that are running behind the scenes, taking up your RAM storage.

Update Your Software

It’s important to be running the most updated versions of your computer software and applications. Older renditions of software and apps can take more memory to process, causing your computer to slow down.

Try a Different Browser

Something else you can try is changing browsers, as some have been known to use more data than others. If you’re not already, try using a browser like Chrome or Firefox, which are typically good browsers for memory management.

Clear Your Cache

If you still find yourself short on RAM, the next option is to try deleting your cache. Sometimes your cache can take up a lot of space because it uses RAM for memory functions. The cache holds on to information that your computer uses to reload pages it has seen before rather than downloading them again. This can save you time when browsing, but if you are short on RAM, it’s something you can sacrifice with minimal effect.

Remove Browser Extensions

Many of your daily work and home computer operations have been made easy by the use of browser extensions. However, they also require memory, so you might want to think about disabling or removing your extensions.

5 Ways to Free up RAM on Windows 10

If you are still having trouble freeing up your RAM storage, you might have too many programs and applications without even knowing. Try these five ways to free up RAM storage for Windows 10 computers.

1. Track Memory and Clean Up Processes

You should monitor your computer RAM usage so that you don’t deplete your supply before you really need it. To monitor your computer’s memory, you can navigate to the task manager to check the processes. This is where you’ll be able to see which programs are running and what kind of space they are taking up.

To locate your computer memory:

Hold the Ctrl+Alt+Del keys to open the Task Manager.
Select the “Processes” tab.
Click the “Memory” column to view how much space they are taking up.

You can now see which of your programs are taking up the most time and space on your computer. If you find anything suspicious eating up your memory, you should delete programs you don’t need or use.

2. Disable Startup Programs You Don’t Need

If you have used your computer for at least a few years, then you have probably downloaded a fair amount of software that you either forgot about or no longer use. After the processes tab tells you which programs use the most space, you will want to maneuver to the startup tab to stop those you no longer need.

To disable startup programs:

Select the “Startup” tab from the Task Manager.
Click “Startup impact” to organize the programs from high to low usage.
Right-click to disable any programs that you don’t need.

Startup programs are those that activate when your computer is booted up. When these programs start, each one takes up a little bit of RAM in the background without your consent. After a while, all of the software and programs can add up. Be sure that the ones that aren’t needed are disabled or removed.

3. Stop Running Background Apps

The next items that could be taking up RAM are your applications that are set to automatically run in the background. You may have used your computer for years before noticing some of these apps taking up your RAM storage. This can quickly exhaust your memory, battery, and data bandwidth.

To stop background apps:

Go to computer settings.
Click the “Privacy” category.
Scroll down the panel on the left side to “Background Apps.”
Turn off any apps you do not use.

Applications are often automatically set to run in the background of your device. This enables them to display notifications and update their software automatically. By turning this off on apps you don’t use, you can save RAM storage.

4. Clear Page File When Shutting Down

When you restart your computer, your page files don’t get cleared or reset because unlike RAM, they get stored on the hard drive. So, when RAM gets stored on-page files it does not get cleared with the rest at shutdown.

Clearing page files on your hard drive will clear any RAM it has stored and help keep your computer running efficiently. You can set this to automatically clear when your computer shuts down, just like the RAM. Do this by opening the Registry Editor:

Type “Registry Editor” into the start menu search bar.
Click “Yes” to allow Registry Editor to make changes to your device.
On the left, scroll to and select “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.”
Scroll to select “SYSTEM.”
Select “CurrentControlSet.”
Find and select “Control.”
Scroll to select “Session Manager.”
Look for and choose “Memory Management.”
Select “ClearPageFileAtShutdown.”
Enter the number “1” under the value data and hit OK.

5. Reduce Visual Effects

With improving technologies, there are many more possibilities for computer effects and visuals. For example, you can turn off the animations for apps and icons that use storage for unnecessary effects. If you seem to be running low on RAM storage, there are some effects you can shelve until you free up more memory.

To access your computer’s visual effects:

Open your File Explorer.
Right-click on “This PC” on the left-side panel to select properties.
Click “Advanced system settings” on the left.
Select the “Advanced” tab.
Choose settings under the “Performance” category.
Change to “Adjust for best performance.”

This setting will disable all animated features on your computer. This will create more storage for you, but limit your computer’s aesthetics significantly. However, you can also customize which visual effects your computer will perform to your preferences in the same tab.

5 Ways to Free up RAM on Mac

For Mac users, there are many convenient tools to monitor and free up RAM storage on your computer.

1. Fix the Finder (Close Finder Windows Too)

When you open a new window in the finder, the data each window displays gets stored as RAM. Adjusting the finder preferences can make your folders open in tabs rather than new finder windows.

To open your Finder Preferences:

Click “Finder” in the top left of your screen.
Right-click on “Preferences” from the dropdown options.
Check to Open folders in tabs instead of new windows.

There is another way to clear RAM storage by merging your Finder windows. To do this you will select the “Window” dropdown rather than Finder. From there you will select “Merge All Windows” to put all your Finder windows into one place. This will save you on storage as well as declutter your desktop.

2. Check Activity Monitor

To keep track of your RAM usage on Mac you can check the Activity Monitor, which shows you how much memory is being used and what is using it. Utilize the Activity Monitor to determine which apps take up most of your storage. Remove the ones you no longer use.

To Check the Activity Monitor:

Search “Activity Monitor” in the spotlight search bar (command + space).
Click on the “Memory” tab.
Remove unwanted applications.

3. Check CPU Usage

You can also use the Activity Monitor app to check your CPU health and usage. CPU is your Central Processing Unit, and it carries out instructions from the computer software information stored as RAM.

To monitor your CPU, just select the “CPU” tab in front of the memory tab. This is where you can see if any apps take more processing power than others.

4. Clean-Up Programs and Applications

If you are looking to keep a consistently healthy amount of RAM storage, then you will want to keep your computer clean and organized. A cluttered desktop is going to use storage much faster because macOS views each desktop icon as an active window. Even if you don’t think you can organize your files, putting everything into one general folder can free up a lot of RAM.

5. Free up Disk Space

If you find that your RAM is completely full, but you’re still in need of storage, you can use free space on your Mac’s drive called virtual memory. This extra storage is found on Mac computer’s hard drives so that you can continue running apps. The function is always on, however to use virtual memory you will need to be sure you have driver space available to swap.

Additional Ways to Free up RAM on Windows or Mac

The best thing to do is to be proactive with your computer’s RAM so that you don’t have to worry about freeing up space. Use these additional ways to keep your RAM storage free.

Install a Memory/RAM Cleaner

If you find that you do not have the time, or you just cannot manage to organize your computer, there are memory cleaner apps to help you disinfect your computer. Many of these cleaners have special features for removing apps or extensions and allow users to manage their startup programs.

Increase RAM

You can always add more RAM to your computer if you have a lot of information you don’t want to delete. Buying and installing RAM is easy to do for a desktop computer, but can be troublesome for laptops. Be sure that you invest in the correct type of RAM for your computer as well as the correct amount for your specific storage needs.

Scan for Virus and Malware

When you download any software programs or extensions to your computer there is the chance they could have a virus or malware attached. Once you have malware on your computer, it can steal both your information and your RAM space. To prevent picking up any malware or viruses try using Panda Security antivirus to protect your computer and memory.

Now is the time to stop file hoarding. Many of the files on your computer are taking up RAM space without you realizing it. Now you know how to safely declutter your computer of these unused files and how to free up RAM so your computer runs more efficiently.

Sources: ComputerHope | WindowsCentral | HelloTech | DigitalTrends

'On my Mac, I have noticed that Spotify uses quite a large cache, say, 4GB in total. That's really puzzling as I only saved dozens of tracks from Spotify. Did I miss anything? Or how to clear up those Spotify caches once and for all?' - Spotify user

If you use Spotify app quite often, you might have noticed that the storage space of your computer or the mobile device is dropping rapidly. That's simply because whenever you are streaming a song from Spotify, it will save the track onto your device so that if you ever play that song in the future, Spotify will play it from the cache directly, without having to stream from its server again. Therefore, the more songs you streamed from Spotify, the less space you'll get on your device.

If you've experienced lagging when using Spotify, it might be time to clear Spotify's cache. However, since Spotify desktop client doesn't allow us delete the cache within the app, we'll show you the alternative ways to clear Spotify caches on computers and iPhone.

Method 1. Clear Spotify Cache Files on Mac

There are two types of cache with Spotify, including the one used for the offline tracks you downloaded from Spotify, and the one described as above.

To delete the Spotify cache of all the streams, simply go to /Users/*USERNAME*/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client/ and then delete the folder inside. To clear up the offline files cache, you should locate this path: /Library/Application Support/Spotify/ and delete the watch-sources.bnk file.

Method 2. Clear Spotify Caches on Windows

As Spotify provides the desktop app on Windows from its official site as well as Windows store, the ways to delete Spotify cache with those two versions are varied on Windows.

1) Remove cache from Spotify official version

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The process to empty cache files from Spotify official app on Windows is similar to Mac. For the Spotify cache, go to C:Users*USERNAME*AppDataLocalSpotify and find the Storage folder, delete it. Or head to C:Users*USERNAME*AppDataRoamingSpotifyUsersusername-user and find the local-files.bnk, delete it.

2) Remove cache from Spotify Windows Store version

1. Navigate to your AppData folder by typing 'appdata' into search bar of your computer.
2. Head to Packages - SpotifyAB.SpotifyMusic_zpdnekdrzrea0 - LocalCache - Spotify - Data.
3. Close Spotify if it's running. Then delete all the folders within Data folder.

Method 3. Clear up Spotify Caches on iPhone

Like the desktop app, there's no official solution to delete Spotify cache from iPhone yet. Instead, we are introducing some of the top tips for you with which you can optimize the app so that it takes up less space on your phone.

1) Reinstall Spotify app

One of the workable solution to free up space on iPhone is deleting and reinstalling Spotify app. Specifically speaking, once you reinstalled the app, it will download much more properly and will not produce unnecessary app caches.

2) Delete offline Spotify playlists

Deleting offline playlists from Spotify is another workaround to save space on your iPhone.To delete Spotify playlists, simply tap on the playlist title that you saved offline and then delete the playlist accordingly.

3) Reduce stream Quality of Spotify

You can also choose to lower the Spotify streaming quality in order to make Spotify performs better.To do so, simply open go to Edit ->Preferences ->Playback and then uncheck the High Quality Playback option.

More Tips: Download and Play Spotify Songs Anywhere

As we mentioned above, caches could help to reduce Spotify stress from its server. It's also a great way used by Spotify to prevent users from walking off its songs. Further more, it only lets paid users to download songs offline. And even worse, it's impossible to play Spotify songs on non-authorized devices due to Spotify's DRM. Therefore, if you are wondering how to break the restriction and play Spotify music anywhere, you are suggested to use a third-party solution like TunesKit Music Converter for Spotify to remove DRM lock and download any Spotify track and playlist as MP3, AAC, FLAC, etc. even if you are using free account. For more details, you can visit: How to Download Spotify Songs as MP3.