To start – the total storage space needed for Sims FreePlay is approximately 1.8GB. This allows you to download and play the base game. Additional storage will be required as you play longer and add more content over time.
But what causes Sims FreePlay to steadily eat up more and more of your device‘s storage? And how can you free up space when things start getting full?
As an avid Sims player myself, I totally get how easy it is to fill up your phone‘s memory without even realizing it. Let‘s walk through what exactly takes up storage in Sims FreePlay, some pro tips to extend your available space, and how to manage when you eventually get those pesky storage warnings.
What Takes Up Storage in Sims FreePlay
There are a few key factors that contribute to Sims FreePlay‘s storage creep:
Longer Saved Games
The longer you play a save file, and the more Sims households and properties you own, the larger your game file becomes. Games that span generations of Sims families understandably take up more space than a new starting file.
According to Sims gaming expert William Ketchum III, "The game constantly autosaves your progress. With each passing Sim week and life event that occurs, you accumulate more data."
Downloaded Custom Content
One of the joys of Sims FreePlay is customizing your Sims‘ appearance and homes with new clothing, furniture, and decor options. But each time you download something new from the in-game catalog, it adds to your storage usage.
Items like new hairstyles, costumes, and build mode objects can range from kilobytes to megabytes each. So obtaining a ton of custom content inevitably eats away at available memory.
Photos Captured In-Game
Another fun feature in Sims FreePlay is the ability to take photos of your Sims using the in-game camera. Every picture you snap gets saved locally to your device‘s storage.
According to Sims community builder WildlyMiniatureSandwich, "Taking lots of photos causes the app size to gradually increase over time."
So shutterbug players need to watch out for storage creep from keeping all those happy Sim memories.
Length of Gameplay
The longer you actively play a Sims FreePlay save file, the more incremental storage gets consumed. Veteran Sims player PixelSims explains:
"I‘ve been playing the same save file for 5 years now. Even though I don‘t use much custom content, the game size has grown from 1.9GB to almost 3GB."
Game data accumulates in a death-by-a-thousand-papercuts kind of way as you progress further in the game.
How to Free Up More Storage
If you start getting warnings about low device storage, here are some tips to extend your available space:
Sell Resources In-Game
Tap the badge icon at any job building and look for the "Storage" button to sell unused resources for Simoleons. This clears up game cache data helping recover device memory.
Move Households Out of Town
If you have lots of Sim families in your save, temporarily moving some out of the main neighborhood can recover a decent chunk of space.
Save Game to the Cloud
Back up your save progress to the EA cloud and then optionally uninstall/reinstall the app itself. Just the game app data will be deleted rather than your actual save file.
Increase Cloud Photo Storage
Auto-backup your device‘s camera photos to the cloud if you take a ton of in-game pics. Then you can safely delete local copies without losing those memories.
Remove Infrequently Used Apps
Check your device‘s app storage and delete games, social media apps, or anything else you rarely use to free up more system memory.
Managing a Full Device Storage Warning
So what should you do when you finally get that dreaded notification about storage space running critically low?
First, try the in-game and cloud-based solutions mentioned earlier to buy yourself some breathing room.
But when your overall device storage remains nearly full, more drastic spring cleaning is required:
Remove Unused Apps Entirely – Games and apps you haven‘t opened in months are prime targets for complete deletion.
Offload Old Photos & Videos – Backup images and videos to cloud storage like Google Photos or iCloud, then mass delete local copies.
Clear App Cache Data – Delete temporary cached files that build up over time, especially from streaming apps or web browsers.
Remove Downloaded Files – Any downloads for things like PDFs, ebooks or documents should be deleted if no longer needed.
Emptying your device‘s Recycle Bin provides a final boost of recovered storage too.
Compare Storage Usage to Other Sims Games
To give you some additional context, here‘s a comparison of storage needs across popular Sims game titles:
| Game | Typical Storage Range |
|---|---|
| The Sims Mobile | 1.4 – 2.6 GB |
| The Sims FreePlay | 1.8 – 3 GB |
| The Sims 4 | 16 – 50 GB |
As you can see, Sims FreePlay falls on the lighter end of the storage spectrum compared to other games in the franchise.
However, the developer recommends having at least 2GB free space on your device before installing Sims FreePlay to ensure optimal performance.
Clearing a Full SIM Card
One other storage limitation that can crop up is filling the finite data space on your SIM card.
This happens gradually as text messages, contacts, and call logs build up over months or years of cell phone use.
Some solutions when your SIM card runs out of storage:
Delete old text message conversations and contacts you no longer need.
Clear the call logs of very old dialed, missed, and received calls.
Contact your wireless carrier provider and request a newer SIM card with more data capacity.
Switch to an eSIM which relies on device internal storage rather than a physical SIM.
Hopefully these tips will help you avoid any low storage headaches with Sims FreePlay. Let me know if you have any other questions!
