How I freed up 10GB of storage space on my Pixel by disabling this one optional app

Source: ZDNet

Every so often, I have to check that I have plenty of storage space on my Pixel 9 Pro. It’s not that I regularly run out of space (or even come close), but it’s always best to be safe. After all, if an Android phone runs out of space, it will not perform well.

I’ve seen many Android (and iPhone) users whose devices are filled with photos and videos they don’t want to delete. What do you do?

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On Android, there’s something you can disable that will free up to 10 GB of space.

It’s all about AICore

AICore handles self‑hosted AI models, such as Gemini Nano. Those models can take up a lot of storage. The Large Language Models (LLMs) are used for features like Magic Composer, Pixel Studio, Call Notes, Pixel Screenshots, smart replies, audio summarization, and image/sound understanding.

AICore is responsible for:

• Keeping the AI model up to date
• Connecting the model to various apps

Because of its size and background activity, AICore can consume significant storage, RAM, and battery.

How to disable AICore on a Pixel phone

1. Open Settings

Open the Settings app by tapping the Settings launcher in your App Drawer or pulling down the notification shade twice and tapping the gear icon.

2. Open Apps

Locate and tap Apps in Settings.

[Image: Android Settings]

3. Open all apps

Tap See all X apps (where X is the number of installed apps).

[Image: Android Apps settings]

4. Navigate to AICore

Scroll the list and tap AICore (usually near the top).

[Image: Android All Apps listing]

5. Disable AICore

On the AICore page, tap Disable and confirm by tapping Disable app.

[Image: AICore listing in Settings]

6. Uninstall the updates

Tap the three‑dot menu in the upper‑right corner and select Uninstall updates. This clears the space taken by the pre‑installed model data.

[Image: The Uninstall updates menu entry]

After disabling AICore, you should see a noticeable amount of reclaimed storage (often several gigabytes). Performance and battery life may improve slightly, and AI‑related notifications disappear.

Note: Disabling AICore does not remove AI functionality entirely, but it disables features that rely on the on‑device models. The most noticeable loss is Pixel Screenshots, which stops working without AICore. If you rely on that feature, keep AICore enabled.

If you later need those features again, you can re‑enable AICore from the same location.

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