This device doesn’t have enough space to download “WhatsApp Messenger”. Consider deleting apps or content that you no longer need and try again.
This error is commonly seen in Android Phones. It is possible that if you only have about 40 MB of free internal storage, you will see this error.
WhatsApp (latest version) is about 28 MB in size. Although you still have sufficient storage, WhatsApp installs may still fail. This is because your Android system too requires a bit of internal storage space to function properly.
Also, it is possible that you will see this error despite having more than 1GB of available internal memory.
Cannot Install WhatsApp — Insufficient Storage: SOLUTION
Let us take a look at how we can get rid of this issue.
First of all, it is necessary to free up some space. A more detailed guide on how to free up some internal memory space has been given in another post: Storage Space Running Out | Insufficient Storage.
I am aware that you’ve deleted everything you possibly can, and you have reached here as a last resort. So I won’t ask you to delete photos and videos that might have otherwise been stored in your internal memory. I won’t ask you to uninstall any apps that you do not use either. Because I’ll assume you’ve done this as well.
Instead, we’ll do this.
1. Delete Ghost Files and Corpses from your Phone
By Ghost files and corpses, I mean unnecessary files and folders that are left behind on your phone when you uninstall apps or delete files. For instance, every image and video file on your phone has a thumbnail image that is not necessarily deleted when you delete the actual file. Over time, these type of files can take up quite a lot of space.
Inorder to clean up this type of files, we’ll use an app called SD Maid. SD maid is a powerful app that scans your phone for corpses and cleans it.
You can get the app from the Android Play Store. It is completely free to use, although there’s a PRO version as well.
The app is pretty self explanatory. Upon installing, you will see a button to scan your phone. Once the scan is complete, the Scan button will change to Clean. Tap on it to delete the corpses.
Using this app, you would have cleaned up any existing ghost files of previous attempts at installing WhatsApp too.
You’ll now likely have more than 50 MB of free space in your internal memory.
2. Installing Updates for WhatsApp Messenger
Now go to the Play Store and try updating the app. If still unsuccessful, try again.
Use the SD Maid app to clean up any dead data folder that may have been caused by the unsuccessful attempt.
If you’re still unable to successfully install WhatsApp even after repeated attempts, maybe it’s the Play Store app on your phone that is causing the problem.
Go to Settings > Apps > All > Google Play Store.
Clear data. Tab on Uninstall Updates.
(You might want to do this for Google Play Services Framework if the problem persists.)
Now, go back to the Google Play Store app and try installing WhatsApp again.
If it still doesn’t work, try the next step.
3. Install WhatsApp using apk file
Download the latest stable version of WhatsApp Messenger apk file here.
Transfer this apk file to your phone’s external memory if you have one.
Tab on the apk file to start installing the app. Once installed and activated, WhatsApp will connect with your previous WhatsApp database so that all your previous messages are retrieved.