How To Make Apps Download Directly To 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 up with plenty of storage these days, space is commonly deficient on older devices and cheap phones, with a large office of the phone's storage taken up by the operating organization and preloaded apps.

Fortunately, a number of Android devices sport microSD carte du jour slots that allow you to expand your storage chapters past inserting a retentivity card. Using a retentivity carte du jour in your phone will not only let yous to store your photos and videos to it, but may also let y'all move some of your apps across. Non all Android phones support this. But for those that do, here'due south our guide on how to move Android apps to an SD Card

What to know about adding storage

Starting time, not all Android devices allow you to install portions of an installed app to the microSD card, just for those that do, it's just a quick trip to the application manager and a button press away. Nigh flagship phones have moved abroad from support for this feature; information technology is more normally found in midrange to depression-end hardware, but these are oftentimes devices that could utilise the actress storage.

Unfortunately, even if your smartphone supports the feature, not all apps practice. Large apps such as games leave most of their data on the internal storage. For case, Cobblestone 8 puts just 64MB of data on the microSD bill of fare while leaving the remaining 1.4GB to fill upward your phone or tablet. That said, you tin can save some space this mode, particularly if yous accept a lot of apps installed and move as many as possible to a microSD card.

Movement apps to SD card using awarding director

one. Navigate to Settings on your phone. You can find the settings menu in the app drawer.

2. Tap Apps.

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

4. Tap Storage.

5. Tap Change if it'southward at that place.

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

6. Tap Move.

If y'all wish to motion an app back to the internal memory, hit the Modify button again and select Internal Storage.

Use SD card as internal storage

If your device does not back up moving apps to a microSD card there'southward some other option, first introduced in Android Marshmallow, that may be the answer for you. This feature is chosen Adoptable or Flex Storage, and it allows you to format a microSD carte to human activity like added internal storage. Once again, not all devices with a microSD slot volition support this feature: Motorola, Huawei and Nvidia take all chosen to enable Flex Storage, while Samsung and LG have removed it.

There are a few factors to consider before enabling this characteristic. Yous will want the fastest microSD card that you can discover to ensure smooth performance, at least Class 10 or UHS-I and preferably UHS-iii. Any data present on the microSD menu will exist erased when y'all format it as internal storage, and from that point, it will be unusable in other devices (unless you reformat it once more). Finally, remember that if you remove this microSD menu from your telephone, yous will suspension functionality to any apps or content y'all've moved to it.

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

two. Tap Storage.

3. Select your SD card.

4. Tap the overflow carte button in the upper-right corner.

5. Select Storage Settings.

six. Tap Format as Internal.

7. Tap Erase & Format. If the system determines that your microSD card is also slow information technology will prompt you with a warning here that it will dethrone performance.

8. Tap Motility at present. Later making the selection y'all will tap next and initiate the transfer to your microSD bill of fare. The system volition indicate roughly how long the transfer will take and how much data will be moved to your SD card.

9. Tap Washed.

Your SD card will at present be listed immediately below the internal shared storage and the system will use information technology every bit additional internal storage in the time to come.

Now you know how to move Android apps to an SD Card, have a look at how to speed up your Android telephone or tablet in this quick and easy guide. For something more advanced, cheque out how to connect USB storage devices to your Android phone or how to impress from an Android phone or tablet.

A self-professed "wearer of wearables," Sean Riley is a Senior Writer for Laptop Mag who has been roofing tech for more than a decade. He specializes in covering phones and, of course, wearable tech, but has also written nearly tablets, VR, laptops, and smart habitation devices, to name merely a few. His articles accept also appeared in Tom'south Guide, TechTarget, Phandroid, and more.