How to Move Applications from Android Phone/Tablet Internal Memory to SD Card

How to Move Apps from Android Phone to SD Card

Dec. 17, 2014 9:12 am / Posted by Bobby Hills to Memory Card Tips
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Most Android phones come with only 16 or 32GB of internal memory, much of which is already taken up by the operating system and preloaded software. Especially for those with older and budget devices, it could be a disaster. After you start adding your own apps, taking photos, downloading movies and putting your music collection on the device, you risk running out space. Fortunately, a number of tablets and phones come with microSD card slots that allow you to expand your storage capacity by inserting an inexpensive memory card, with 64GB units costing only $30 and 32GB models coming in under $15. You to move most apps over to SD card to help free up space on the main device.

Note: Phones on which you can't Remove Apps to SD Card

Some Android manufactures such as Galaxy phones won't let you run apps from SD card because of the way they mount SD cards. Therefore there's a good chance you might not be able to move apps to SD card. In part this is for performance reasons, and in part because the SD card is outside the walled world of your Google account which may make permissions tricky.

To move apps to SD on Galaxy phones, you'd better root your device firstly, enabling further access to files and such.

Apps that shouldn't be Moved to the SD Card

Widgets - no matter how menial in usefulness or design.
System tools - many might not operate as intended without being on the phone's storage.
Important apps - you don't want to risk an important app becoming inaccessible when you need it.

How to Move Android Apps to the SD Card without Rooting

To transfer apps from Android device to SD card, kindly do as follows:

1. Click "Settings".
2. Go to the "Apps" menu:
3. Choose an app you wish to move:
4. Pick "Move to SD card"

You can see how much memory the app is using in this screen as well, so you can see if it's worth it. With that, go forth and free up some space!

Extra Tips: How to Set the Default Download Location to an SD Card

Actually, Android allows you to install apps on SD card by default. Here's how.

1. On your Android tablet or phone, tap the app drawer icon from the home screen.
2. From the displayed list, tap on the "My files" icon.
3. From the opened window, on the top right corner, tap the icon with four horizontal lines.
4. From the displayed menu, tap the "Settings" option.
5. On the opened "Settings" window, under "Select directories" on the left, tap the "Set home directory" option.
6. From the window that appears next, tap to select the desired folder or the entire external SD card where you want the files to be downloaded by default.
7. Tap the "Done" button from the top right corner of the window when you are done.