What happens if I offload Instagram?

Answered by Douglas Hiatt

If you choose to offload Instagram, let me tell you about my personal experience and what happened when I did it. So, when I decided to offload Instagram from my phone, I thought it would simply delete the app and free up some valuable storage space. However, I soon realized that offloading the app actually preserved the caches contained within the “Documents and Data” section.

Initially, I was quite surprised by this outcome because I had expected offloading the app to completely remove all traces of it from my phone. But it turns out that offloading only removes the app itself, while keeping the associated data intact.

In other words, offloading Instagram did not free up the cache space that I was hoping to reclaim. Instead, it seemed to have the opposite effect by retaining the caches and not clearing them out.

This can be a bit frustrating if your main goal is to free up storage space on your device. However, it can also have its benefits. By preserving the caches, you can quickly reinstall the app and have all your previous data readily available without having to download everything again.

So, in a nutshell, offloading Instagram may not have the desired effect of freeing up cache space. Instead, it keeps the caches stored in the “Documents and Data” section, allowing for a seamless reinstallation of the app in the future.

To summarize the main points:

1. Offloading Instagram does not completely remove the app from your phone.
2. The caches contained within the “Documents and Data” section are preserved.
3. This means that offloading does not free up cache space.
4. Reinstalling the app in the future will quickly restore all your previous data.

If your primary concern is freeing up cache space, offloading Instagram may not be the best option. Deleting the app entirely would be more effective in that case. However, if you value the convenience of preserving your data and easily reinstalling the app, offloading can be a useful feature.