How to Install Android Apps and Move them to SD Card

In this guide, we will explain how to install or move Android apps to an SD card on your smartphone or tablet. Those with older devices are used to running out of space. Constantly having to delete apps or photos to make room for more. With our help, users can avoid it altogether.

By default Android apps are installed on internal storage, which can often be as small as 8 or 16GB. This is clearly not enough for all our photos, videos, apps, games and music.

There is more than one method to solve this problem these days. From storing photos or music in the cloud to using a microSD slot for expansion. If your Android phone or tablet takes an SD card, we can install everything there by default. Read on for more details.

Over the past few years, manufacturers have all started adding a microSD card to Android devices. Popular brands like Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola and more. As a result, users have more options than ever before. Even older devices with 16 or 32GB of storage like the Galaxy S5 have a microSD slot.

Our goal here is to install or move any suitable app to the microSD card. Additionally, we will show owners how to set apps to be installed on an SD card by default. The result will be more storage on your device when it really needs space. There are a few different ways to do this, depending on the version of Android you’re running. Not to mention that elite manufacturers do things differently. We’ll cover this and more below.

How Do You Move Apps To Your SD Card?

First, let’s move as many apps as possible to the SD card. This is the easiest method and also the cheapest. Get a fast, quality microSD card and go. This part of the guide was written using a Galaxy S7 and most Android devices with SD slot use similar instructions. If not all, read on for additional details.

To get started, pull down the navigation bar and tap the gear-shaped settings button. Or find it in the application tray. Navigate to the column or then find the labeled option. It can also be called. Now owners will see a list of all their apps on their smartphones. I’m moving Clash Royale to SD card.

It’s worth noting that any game or app where speed is important is best left on internal storage. Because it’s almost always faster than a microSD card.

Once in the application manager, scroll and find any app or game downloaded from the Google Play Store. Select the app, tap on the first option called storage and tap on the big icon below where it is set to internal storage as shown below. Then select and continue.

The full instructions and steps are here.

1. Settings
2. Applications
3. Appilacation leader
4. Select “Downloaded Application”
5. Click “Storage”
6. Select “Change storage” and choose “SD card”
7. Confirm you want to move the app to SD, tap “Move” and let it export
8. Repeat 4-7 for any downloaded app.

These steps may vary slightly for different phones not manufactured by Samsung, but should be relatively easy for all owners to understand. On certain phones, there may be a “Move to MicroSD” button inside the app about the screen shown above. If so, click that and move each app. It only takes a few seconds.

If you’re running out of space on your device, move as many apps, photos or videos as you want to the SD card. This should free up a lot of space. Alternatively, open the camera app and go to settings and save to SD by default. This will also prevent the use of valuable internal storage.

Android 6.0 Marshmallow Adoptable Storage

In older versions of Android, a microSD card worked like portable and removable storage. Allowing owners to remove it and transfer files or music from a computer. Then put it back inside your smartphone or tablet. In Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above, Google added a new feature called Adoptable Storage. This is better overall, but we can no longer remove it and add content with the computer.

Instead, the operating system “accepts” the SD card as internal storage, combining it with the onboard amount. The advantage here is that all apps are installed on the SD card by default. This means owners won’t have to manually move it later.

When you insert an SD card, pull down the notification bar and tap “Set Up”. You can then choose to use it as portable storage (the old way) or strictly treat it as internal storage. The second option will format the SD card, integrate it into the device and you are ready. Now everything will be installed on it by default. Android also erases the SD card and gives you the option to automatically transfer all photos, videos, files and some apps to SD card.

However, using the adaptive internal storage will cause the SD card to be unable to work with other devices. So you can’t remove it and add more music from a computer.

Be sure to back up all data or information on a computer before selecting “Use as internal storage” as Android will format and delete all data, encrypt it for security, and add it as part of system storage. It is worth noting that at any time you can go to the settings according to our instructions above and move the applications back from the SD card to the internal storage. If necessary.

From now on, any suitable app will be installed on the microSD card by default. Eligibility is decided by the developer and wisely by the operating system. It eliminates the hassle and guesswork for users.

Android 5.0 Lollipop and Older

If you’re using a smartphone or tablet running Android 5.0 Lollipop or older, our initial instructions are what you should follow. Your device will act as removable and removable storage on an SD card. Meaning you can remove it from a computer and add photos or music, then put it back on any Android device.

Then follow our previous instructions to manually navigate to Apps and move any app to SD card. Note, though, that any apps that come pre-installed out of the box cannot be migrated. Usually only apps installed from the Google Play Store can be transferred.

Other methods

Some of the above options may not work for everyone. As a result, there are countless 3rd party apps in the Google Play Store that can: fulfill this task. Most require root access, similar to Jailbreak on an iPhone.

Owners can download popular apps such as: App 2 SD and enjoy a range of features. Simply download and use any of the available tools. Including moving apps to an SD card, switching between internal or external, and even freezing apps. Owners use this to prevent default apps (software from carriers) from appearing in the app tray or even to freeze an app so it won’t be updated in the Play Store.

Most of the features do not require root access so try it today as a last resort. As a reminder, don’t move or freeze any app that you don’t know what it is and what it does. Some may seem irrelevant, but they are crucial to other aspects of the device. Basically, be careful and only deal with apps you downloaded yourself.

At the end of the day, what you want to do is go to settings and move as many apps as possible to the SD card. We recommend at least 64GB Class 10 card. It gives you plenty of storage and good performance at the same time. All my apps, games, music and any photos or videos go to my 256GB microSD card by default. Saving space on my phone for things that are important to the system as a whole. Good luck and drop us a comment below if you have any questions or concerns.