How to move Android apps to SD card
Here’s how to move Android apps to an SD card and free up storage space on your phone! Is there anything worse than when you try to install a new app on your Android device and the low space warning pops up? It means that all those 4K games, photos and videos that you have saved on your phone, have filled all the memory.
If your phone has a memory card slot, the solution is simple. A microSD card is an inexpensive way to expand your phone’s storage. You can move apps to an SD card to free up space, instead of removing or not installing more apps on your Android device.
How you do this depends on the version of Android you are using. In this article we will talk about all the ways to move Android apps to an SD card.
Before you begin, consider a few things. Memory cards are slower than internal memory, so you may notice some, albeit little, slowness for resource-intensive apps. When choosing an SD card, choose the fastest and largest one your phone can support, check your phone’s specifications to see which SD card it is compatible with.
It is not possible to move pre-installed apps without root your phone, and some third-party apps may not move as well. Also, in older versions of Android, you may not be able to use the widgets associated with the apps you moved to the memory card. That said, let’s see how to move apps to an SD card.
Android Marshmallow introduced changes to the way Android phones can handle memory cards, and these changes have continued in later versions of Android.
You can now configure microSD cards to function as internal storage. Instead of having the existing internal and external memory as separate spaces, Android sees the card as an extension of your internal memory.
Data and apps can write to both as needed and everything runs smoothly. As a result, you don’t have to worry about where your apps are stored.
You need to configure the feature first. Your SD card will be wiped during the process, so make sure you’ve backed up all the data you need:
This function is called Adoptable Storage and requires you to keep the SD card in your phone permanently. The card is also encrypted, so you can’t insert it into another device to copy the data.
The big drawback of Adoptable Storage is that all Android phones are different, so some manufacturers choose not to offer it on their devices. If you don’t have it, you will need to manually move your apps to the SD card.
If your phone doesn’t support Adoptable Storage, you can still manually transfer apps to an SD card on Android 9 and later. Just remember that you don’t move all apps to an SD card on Android, and you can’t move pre-installed apps either:
To return the app to internal storage, repeat the previous steps but select Internal shared memory in the final step. You should always do this when you want to change or remove your memory card.
The process for moving an app to the SD card on Android 8 Oreo is basically the same as on Android 9 Pie:
You can move apps to a memory card on Android 7 Nougat via Settings. However, you can’t move all apps. If not supported, you won’t see the button Edit in step 3:
Depending on the size of the app, it may take a few moments to complete (especially for large games), so don’t touch your phone until it’s done. To return the app to its previous location, repeat the steps and choose Internal shared memory in step 3.
Moving apps to a microSD card is the same on Marshmallow as on Nougat:
Lollipop comes with little support for memory cards compared to later versions of Android, but you can still move apps via Settings.
You’re limited with the apps you can move to external storage; depends on the developer if it supports the option. Also, it is not possible to move the whole app to the SD card, only a part of it.
You can see which apps you have on your card by swiping to the right tab on the screen App, labeled on SD Card. This makes it easy to identify which ones you may want to go back in the future.
To move apps:
When finished, the section Archiving will update to show how much of the app is now stored on the card (and how much is still in internal memory). The button Move will now read Move to phone The Move to device memory.
By tapping this you can remove the app from the card.
Support for microSD cards was extremely limited in all versions of Android 4.x (including KitKat, Jelly Bean, and Ice Cream Sandwich). Android at the time of this version’s release did not support the ability to move apps to an external card at all, as Google wanted to get rid of tabs entirely.
However, some manufacturers have decided to include the feature in their own versions of the operating system. If your old device supports it, the process is simple:
In the unlikely event that you are still using an Android 2.x device, the steps are more or less the same. Home screen widgets aren’t supported in these older versions – you’ll need to keep the app in internal storage if you want to use a widget.
If you don’t have the option on your phone, you will need to try using a third party app to move apps to an SD card.
If your phone doesn’t support moving apps to the SD card, or if you want to move an app that “can’t be moved”, there are some third-party apps that can help you. Apps2SD is the most used option, as is FolderMount. Both require a rooted Android phone.
We will look at another app, Link2SD, which is usable with both root and non-root. You can use it to move apps in bulk to your SD card, to “forcibly move” apps that don’t normally allow it, and to download data folders for larger apps and games to external storage.
First, launch the app and grant root permissions if your phone is rooted. Then tap the app you want to move and select an option:
To move more than one app at a time, tap the del button menu in the upper right corner and choose Selection multiple. Now tap on all the apps you want to move, hit the button again menu and choose Connect to SD card The Move to SD card. These are the same options as described above.
Link2SD is free, with a paid upgrade. It works on Android 2.3 and above.
Download: Link2SD (gratuita) | Link2SD Plus (€ 1.99)
The best way to install apps on the SD card depends on the version of Android you are using, whether your phone manufacturer has implemented all the features, and which app you want to move.
In summary:
If your apps take up too much space, another good solution is to use the Android Go range of apps instead. Not only are they smaller and take up less space, but they also run faster on older or less powerful phones.
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