How to Move Android Apps to an SD Card

How to move Android apps to an SD Card

Android phone with MicroSD slot open and a card next to it

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Though the best Android phones come with plenty of storage these days, space is commonly scarce on older devices and cheap phones, with a large function of the phone's storage taken up by the operating system and preloaded apps.

Fortunately, a number of Android devices sport microSD carte du jour slots that allow you to expand your storage chapters by inserting a memory card. Using a memory menu in your phone will not merely allow you to shop your photos and videos to it, simply may also let you motion some of your apps beyond. Not all Android phones back up this. Only for those that exercise, hither's our guide on how to move Android apps to an SD Menu

What to know about calculation storage

Start, non all Android devices let you to install portions of an installed app to the microSD card, merely for those that do, it's just a quick trip to the application manager and a button press away. Most flagship phones have moved away from support for this characteristic; it is more commonly found in midrange to low-end hardware, only these are often devices that could utilise the extra storage.

Unfortunately, fifty-fifty if your smartphone supports the feature, not all apps do. Large apps such every bit games get out most of their data on the internal storage. For example, Asphalt 8 puts only 64MB of data on the microSD card while leaving the remaining 1.4GB to make full your phone or tablet. That said, you tin save some infinite this mode, specially if you have a lot of apps installed and move every bit many every bit possible to a microSD carte du jour.

Move apps to SD bill of fare using application manager

1. Navigate to Settings on your phone. You can detect the settings menu in the app drawer.

2. Tap Apps.

3. Select an app you want to movement to the microSD card.

four. Tap Storage.

five. Tap Alter if it's there.

If yous don't see the Change option, the app cannot be moved. If you are unable to find any apps with this option, it is likely that your device does not support the feature.

6. Tap Motility.

If you wish to motion an app dorsum to the internal retentiveness, striking the Change button once more and select Internal Storage.

Use SD carte du jour as internal storage

If your device does not support moving apps to a microSD bill of fare there'southward another pick, commencement introduced in Android Marshmallow, that may be the answer for y'all. This feature is called Adoptable or Flex Storage, and it allows you to format a microSD card to act like added internal storage. Over again, not all devices with a microSD slot will support this characteristic: Motorola, Huawei and Nvidia accept all chosen to enable Flex Storage, while Samsung and LG have removed it.

There are a few factors to consider before enabling this characteristic. Y'all will desire the fastest microSD carte du jour that you can notice to ensure smooth performance, at least Class x or UHS-I and preferably UHS-iii. Any data nowadays on the microSD carte du jour will be erased when yous format it as internal storage, and from that betoken, it volition be unusable in other devices (unless y'all reformat information technology again). Finally, remember that if you remove this microSD card from your phone, you volition break functionality to any apps or content you've moved to it.

1. Navigate to settings on your phone. You lot can observe the settings menu in the app drawer.

two. Tap Storage.

3. Select your SD card.

4. Tap the overflow menu button in the upper-correct corner.

five. Select Storage Settings.

6. Tap Format as Internal.

7. Tap Erase & Format. If the system determines that your microSD card is also irksome information technology will prompt y'all with a warning here that it volition dethrone operation.

8. Tap Motion now. Afterward making the selection you volition tap next and initiate the transfer to your microSD card. The organisation will indicate roughly how long the transfer volition accept and how much data volition exist moved to your SD card.

9. Tap Done.

Your SD carte will now be listed immediately below the internal shared storage and the system volition use it as additional internal storage in the hereafter.

Now you know how to movement Android apps to an SD Card, take a expect at how to speed upwardly your Android phone or tablet in this quick and easy guide. For something more advanced, check out how to connect USB storage devices to your Android phone or how to print from an Android phone or tablet.

A self-professed "wearer of wearables," Sean Riley is a Senior Writer for Laptop Mag who has been covering tech for more than a decade. He specializes in covering phones and, of class, clothing tech, but has besides written nigh tablets, VR, laptops, and smart home devices, to proper noun but a few. His articles have besides appeared in Tom'south Guide, TechTarget, Phandroid, and more.