Google Explains AICore Storage Spikes on Android

Google has clarified why its AICore system app on Android devices sometimes consumes significantly more storage than usual, addressing complaints from users who noticed the app occupying up to 11 or 12 gigabytes of space.

The app, preinstalled on most midrange and premium Android phones running Android 14 or later, manages on-device AI capabilities powered by Gemini Nano. According to Google's updated support document, AICore temporarily stores both the old and new versions of the AI model for up to three days during background updates. This approach serves as a reliability measure, allowing the device to revert instantly to the previous version if the new one encounters issues, avoiding the need to redownload large files.

Once the system verifies the new model's stability, AICore automatically deletes the older version, freeing up the extra space. The company states that users "may occasionally find that this service uses a larger amount of storage than expected" due to this process. Typically, AICore occupies around 7 gigabytes, but spikes occur during these updates. Similar temporary increases in battery and CPU usage have been reported as the app installs the updated model.