Who has an Android phone or tablet with a small amount of internal memory (32 GB or less) it can take advantage of the microSD slots and thus move the applications installed on the card, thus freeing up space in the internal memory. By default, all Android applications downloaded and installed from Google Play (but also from other stores or via APK) are installed in the internal memory of the phone, which in certain devices can fill up very quickly, also because part of it is already occupied from the operating system and user data.
It is therefore worthwhile to take advantage of modern Android features to move applications to the microSD card, so as to recover a lot of space to use for the system, for the cache or for other apps (which perhaps cannot be moved to SD by choice of the developer).
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On an Android smartphone, you can move apps to SD card in several ways.
- In Android 6.0 Marshmallow and later it is possible to transform the microSD card into an extension of the internal memory so that we can automatically install applications without making manual movements.
- On smartphones and tablets with previous Android versions, however, we can move the apps manually according to the developer's choices.
- If you want maximum flexibility then we will have to unlock root permissions and use an app capable of moving any app (even the system and non-uninstallable ones) to the microSD card.
We choose the one most suitable for our operating system and our smartphone, so that we can carry out the operation in total safety.
For this purpose we recommend focusing on a large enough microSD card (at least 64GB), so that you can move all the media files and apps to recover the necessary space in the internal memory.
We can choose the right microSD in the following guide -> Choose the best MicroSD for Android smartphones .
Before continuing, however, we want to show you the limits of moving the app, so you can consciously choose whether to use it or not:
- Android apps tend to occupy part of the internal memory even if they are moved to a microSD card (except in cases where you operate via root).
- By moving an app to the microSD card, its execution will almost certainly be slower because the internal memory is faster than a microSD card.
- If you use the microSD card to install applications on it, it cannot be removed without compromising the functionality of Android and the moved apps.
1) Move apps to SD card on recent Android smartphones
Traditionally, microSD cards in Android devices have been used as archives to store photos, music and videos so that you can then transfer these files wherever you want, just by removing the microSD card.
But on modern smartphones it is possible to install new applications in the card, if the app developer allows it, automatically.
As mentioned above, following this procedure it will not be possible to remove the card from the device without compromising the functionality of the device and, at the same time, the card will not be usable in other devices, including the PC (without formatting it).
Since the microSD card actually becomes an additional internal memory of the phone, make sure to buy one that is fast and good if you don't want the smartphone to become slow (therefore do not use an old or cheap card).
To set the SD card as internal memory, insert the card into the device in the appropriate slot (it could also be the SIM 2 slot on dual SIM smartphones with hybrid slot), then let's go to the Storage and USB menu to find the Erase and format option, which allows you to configure the SD card as internal memory.
We await the end of the operation, so as to have immediately new memory for our phone.
Once finished you can choose to move the data (photos, files and some apps) currently in the internal memory of the device, on the card.
This step ensures that the future apps that we are going to install, the new photos that will be taken with the mobile phone and other data will be automatically stored on the microSD.
The internal memory will however remain the default space of all the content generated by the apps, for the system files, for the app cache and for the apps that need to be run in this location.
To move the apps individually after doing this, go to Settings -> Storage and USB, select the memory that contains the application, then touch on the App, select the app to be moved and finally touch the Change button , where it will be possible select where the path to the app.
2) Move apps to dated Android smartphones
If you are not using Android 6.0 Marshmallow, only a few applications can be moved to the card.
Although the procedure may change depending on the device used, the basic procedure involves having to reach the path Settings> Applications> Application Management and then, from the list of apps, press the settings button at the top or swipe in the window until you find the list of apps that can be installed on the SD card.
Once the app to be moved, click on the Move to SD card button to start the move.
After moving, you can see the space occupied by the application in internal memory and the space occupied on the SD card.
To better manage the apps that we have moved to microSD and to move all the apps together we can use a free app like AppMgr III to get an overview of the applications that we can immediately move to the card.
3) Move apps with root permissions
To move applications to the SD card much more effectively we will have to unlock root permissions.
To unlock this type of permissions on our Android smartphone (losing the warranty and updates on most devices) we can follow the guide here -> ROOT Android to have your cell phone free and unlocked (programs and guide).
Once you have obtained the root permissions on our smartphone, just use an app like Link2SD capable of deceiving the system and move each app to SD card through the trick of the symbolic links (the system believes that the apps are in the internal memory where instead we are just the links).
Before using Link2SD, however, it is necessary, from the PC, to partition the SD card with the free program for Windows MiniTool Partition Wizard .
Once the program is installed and the microSD card is placed on the PC (via memory card reader) we select the microSD card in the program interface, delete the current partition and create a new FAT32-type primary one, which occupies only a part space (this partition will not contain apps).
Next, we right click on the still unallocated space and create a new partition on the SD card, this time with EXT3 file system.
After carrying out all the operations, we press the Apply button at the top to perform them.
At the end of the process we remove the microSD from the PC, insert it into the Android smartphone and immediately open the Link2SD app, which will detect the two partitions and ask us to use them to create the symbolic links of all the apps (via root permissions). ).
At the end of the process we will have deceived the system, making them use the microSD as if it were real internal memory.
This method works both with new smartphones and with old smartphones, but the microSD card must never be extracted or must never be damaged, under penalty of loss of functionality of the operating system (it may be necessary to format to recover the phone).
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