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Phones these days have a lot of storage, 64GB to 128 GB or even 512 GB in Samsung’s New Galaxy Note 9 look just average. They can do a lot of things.
The ability to capture high-quality laser-sharp images, 4K Videos, run extensive graphics games, etc. are some reasons people buy new smartphones. But at the same time, they are also why those annoying ‘Phone storage getting low’ notifications pop up frequently.
Also, even if people get SD cards, they are a little confused because even if they can move images, music, etc., the process is a bit different for the apps. In this article, we address the issue by seeing how we can move mobile apps to SD Card.
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How do I move Apps from Internal Storage to SD Card?
You need to follow these steps:
Step 1: Go to Settings on Your Phone
Step 2:
- i) If you are using a Samsung Phone or Android Marshmallow, Tap Apps
- ii) For Stock Android, Android Nougat and Android Pie, click on Apps and Notifications>App Info
Step 3: Tap on the App that you want to move to External SD Card.
Step 4: On the ‘Storage Used‘ option on the top, tap the button that says ‘Change.‘
Step 5: Select the SD Card and press on ‘Move.‘
There you go. If you follow the above steps, you can move mobile apps to SD Card.
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Why Can’t I Move Apps to my SD Card?
Some phones don’t let you move apps to SD Card. If you can’t see the Change storage option for any app, then your phone might not allow it.
Sometimes, a phone may support changing the location of the App, but the application itself might not allow it. The only way to know is to open Settings and see if the ‘Check Storage’ option is available.
How to Use an SD Card as Internal Storage in Android?
If you are unable to move mobile apps into your SD card, you can use a feature known as Adoptable Storage. It means you can format your SD card to use it as your internal storage. This feature has been around since Android Marshmallow, and only some phone companies allow this, including Huawei, Motorola, and others. Unfortunately, Samsung and LG don’t have this feature anymore.
To do this, you go through the following steps:
Step 1: Go to Settings
Step 2: Choose Storage
Step 3: Select SD Card
Step 4: Select Storage Settings and Format as Internal
Things to Know About Adoptable Storage on Android
- Formatting your SD card will delete all its existing data. So, back up important files before moving forth with this process.
- Once you format an SD Card as Internal Storage, it will be the primary storage of your phone. Your phone won’t work if you take it off, and you will need to factory reset the device.
- It is not only about the storage, but also the speed. An SD card will never be as fast as internal storage so that you can experience some lags. To be safe, we recommend you buy at least a Class-10 or a UHS-1 to UHS-3 SD card.
How Do I Set my SD Card as Default Storage on Android?
If you set your SD card to default storage, all your new apps will automatically reside in there. It is the same thing we discussed above.
Tap on Settings and click on storage. Select the SD Card and go to its Settings (touch on the three-dotted lines on the top right of the screen). Then, select Format as Internal Storage.
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How Do I Set up a New SD Card on My Phone?
If you recently installed a new SD Card, you will get a notification on the top saying that a new SD card was detected on your phone.
Step 1: Select Set Up.
Step 2: A new screen displays. There, you select what you want to do with your SD card. You have the option of using it as portable storage or Using it as internal storage. Select one and press on Next.
Step 3: If you use it as internal storage, you will be taken to a new screen where you can format the Card. Press on Erase and Format if you don’t have important files or already have backed up what you need.
Step 4: The system will take you to a new screen where it will say you need to move the apps in your SD card to Internal Storage if you want to avoid losing them. You can either ‘See Apps’ and then move them to your Internal Storage, or select ‘Erase Anyway‘ to move forward with the process.
This is all you need to do to set up an SD Card on your Android phone.
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How Do I Move my Gallery to SD Card?
Sometimes, it is not about the apps, but the pictures and videos. To move the gallery to your SD Card, you need first to open the File Manager app and then press on internal storage. There, hold the Camera Folder, and you will see a Move option. Select it, and then this time, open the SD card and then Done to initiate the transfer.
How do I Automatically Store Pictures to my SD Card?
The above step will move your gallery to SD Card, but the new photos will again remain in the phone storage. To avoid that, you need to follow the steps below.
If you want to store your pictures and videos automatically to your SD card, open the Camera App and then on Settings. Depending on your phone, the Settings can be a gear icon, or you can show it by pressing on the three-dotted lines on the upper right side of the screen. Then, on the Storage Location, choose the SD card.
What do I See What is Saved on my SD Card?
Open Settings and tap on Storage and USB. Select your SD card, and there, you can see the total available space, space used, and remaining space on your SD card. At the same time, the screen also consists of various categories like Apps, Music, etc., which will give you a good idea of the things that are taking space on your memory card.
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Why My Storage is Full Even if I Don’t Have Installed Many Apps on My Phone?
Maybe, in some cases, you might be searching for this rather than how to move mobile apps to the SD card. In some cases, you get the insufficient storage error even when you don’t have a lot of apps on your phone.
Tips on How to Clear the Memory on Your Phone
You can try these things if your phone is showing an unexplained lack of space.
Clear Cache
Cache is the resource that applications, especially ones using the internet store on your phone, so they don’t have to load them when you want to access them. It is the reason that an online app loads faster the second time than the first. Even if it increases the response time of the websites, it takes up space.
Sometimes, apps go on stacking a lot of caches that take a toll on your phone’s internal storage. So, you need to clear them.
To do this, go to Settings>Apps (or Apps and Notification)>Name of the App. There, you will see an option called Clear Cache.
To clear all the cache of the apps, go to Storage>Cached Data>Clear Cache.
Remove things on the Downloads Folder
Sometimes, your downloads folder consists of files that you don’t even know are there. Check it to see if some pictures (mostly they are some images that applications download) exist that don’t make sense.
Also, say apps like Viber, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, etc. These applications have a default feature that you can use to download multimedia files automatically. Make sure you turn it off.
Make Use of Google Photos
Google Photos allows backing up photos on its cloud storage. This means you can copy your photos to Google’s ‘Internet Storage’ and download them back to your phone when you need them. And the good thing is that it doesn’t count against your Google Drive.
To do this, open the Google Photos App>Settings. Go to Back Up & Sync and turn the feature on.
Then, Google will start storing your pictures. You can then go to Google Photos>Settings>Clear Device Storage, and then, the App will delete your pictures that have already been backed up.
Delete Things that You No Longer Need
Go to Settings>Storage. There, you will see the things that have been taking the most space on your phone. This will give you an idea of the things that you use and the space they take; delete the things that aren’t useful to you.
Conclusion: You can easily move mobile apps to SD card given that you know the basics of using an android phone. Additionally, some apps and phones allow you to changes storage, while others don’t. You also have the option of using your SD card as phone storage, and you can try various methods to clear memory on your android smartphone.