Question re updating android apps via Play Store

[intrepidity]

There are several apps that are hard-baked into my phone but that I don't want, don't use, but can't delete.

I typically do manual updating, and so these apps sit there, begging to update, but I ignore them.

Is there any risk there?

The main issue involves space. Seems every update is at least 5mb; 20 apps that need frequent updates can rapidly chew through an older phone's memory.

A second issue about space: often, there will be space avail (internal, not SD card), far more than an app or update "says" is required; yet still I get the "not enough space" routine. What gives?

[ManiacJoe]

1. On androids,

when the app cannot be uninstalled, you can "disable" an app. This will discard all the updates, prevent the app from running, and prevent more updates from being applied.

Check to see if your phone has a factory-installed "cleaner" app (do not use third-party cleaner apps). If you have one, see if it has an option to uninstall "unused" apps. Sometimes this will work on the factory-installed bloatware that you cannot manually uninstall. (But not usually....)

Space needed during updates:
- room for the old version of the app
- room for the new version of the app
- room for the unpacked files not yet installed

If your version of android is relatively current (say 9.0 or newer) and you have an SD card, check the individual settings for the apps that use lots of space (games, maps, GPS, camera, etc). Many of the newer versions of these apps will let you store the app data on the SD card while the app still stays on the internal storage.