Have you ever been in that situation where the perfect photo opportunity presents itself and, just as soon as you whip out your smartphone and tap the camera icon, you get that dreaded gray box that says your storage is almost full and that you need to manage your settings?
Instantly frustrated, most smartphone users will begin to frantically delete a few existing photos in their camera roll. Or maybe even delete an app that can be re-downloaded later. But there’s a better solution.
Instead of taking a photo the traditional way, by tapping the camera icon, take your photos within an app.
Two of my favorite apps that I’ve used in the past for this very trick are Facebook Messenger and Snapchat. Allow me to show you.
When you open the camera within Snapchat, there’s a little icon with an arrow pointing down. All you have to do it tap it before sending your snap, and it will save the photo to your camera roll.
Facebook Messenger works in a similar fashion. When you want to take and save a photo, open up a message thread or create a new one. Then tap the camera icon within your messaging settings and you’ll be ready to take a picture. To save it, simply tap the white arrow pointing down. Side note, you don’t have to actually send the picture message once you save the photo.
You can also save existing photos that have been sent through Facebook Messenger by tapping the photo you want to save. You’ll see an icon with an arrow facing up usually to the right side of the photo. When you click on it, you’ll get several options, including the ability to forward, share or save it.
These two social apps were just examples. Others apps such as Slack can also help you get around a storage-filled smartphone.
To be clear, none of this will help with your storage issue. It will just give you the ability to sneakily use your camera without being redirected to your settings. In the meantime, if you’re looking to free up some space on your phone, there are plenty of ways to get the job done, including uploading some of your existing photos to a cloud service or deleting old messages.
[h/t: Mashable]