Google Photos Free up space Not working "Free Up Space failed”: iPhone/Android?

Google Photos offer feature like “Free up space” which actually is useful for its users. It will delete all the unnecessary photos from your Phone. But recently many iPhone and Android/Samsung users are facing issue with Free Up space feature of Google Photos not working. After pressing "Free up space" option and trying to delete the photos, Free up feature does not work and gives error “Free Up Space Failed” while for other users it says “Free Up Space cancelled”

Google photos app not working : iPhone / Android 2022

The user have backup all photos on the Google Photos and while freeing up space it says like “Free Up 20 GB”, but when you tap on it, this doesn’t work.  This is annoying issue as Google photos does not recognize that pics are backed up and can be deleted.

In some cases the Google Photos free up device storage greyed out and the option is not working. Please note that portrait photos are not removed from the Google Free Up space Feature. Please try below fix to fix the issue

How to fix Google Photos app not working/ Unable to delete photos from iPhone 12, Samsung, LG, OnePlus, Android phones / 2022

Fix : Reinstall the app

• -delete the Google Photos app
• -One Android phones go to settings > apps > google photos > storage > clear data/storage.
• -power down/power up or restart the iPhone/ phone
• -reinstall Google Photos checking the correct account is used and the backup size is what you need
• -Google Photos should rescan the camera roll and reset all the counters and start working again.

Fix : Try deleting in small chucks

If you have large files photo data to be deleted then deletion of photos by Photos app could fail. There is a workaround to successfully delete the photos using Google Photos app. Once the Google Photos app starts back up and show some of the files (few hundreds), tap on Free Up Space. Check after every few minutes and you'll see a few hundred images in the "Free Up Space" option. Repeat the process and it should work. 

Fix : Uninstall the Updates

The Google photos app may get glitched due to latest updates installed from App/Play Store. Try uninstalling the updates and try again to delete the photos and hopefully this will work. 

Source: Shudtech