Don't you lot hate it when you effort to install a new app on your Android device and the "Not Plenty Space" warning pops up? It ways all those games, photos, and 4K videos have finally taken their toll.

If your phone has a retentiveness card slot, and so the solution is easy. A microSD bill of fare is a cheap way of expanding your telephone's storage. Yous tin move apps to an SD bill of fare to free up space, rather than removing apps on your Android device.

How you practice this depends on what Android version yous're using. Nosotros'll take a look at all the ways to move Android apps to an SD card in this guide.

Using an SD Carte du jour on Android: Basics

Before y'all get started, consider a few points.

Retentiveness cards are slower than internal storage, and so yous may notice slightly worse performance for resources-intensive apps. When picking a carte du jour, go for the fastest memory menu with the largest capacity that your telephone tin support—cheque your telephone'due south specifications to see what cards it'due south compatible with.

Also, be certain you lot know how to spot a fake microSD card to avoid getting scammed.

It isn't possible to movement preinstalled apps without rooting, and even some third-party apps may not support it. Also, on older versions of Android, you might non exist able to employ widgets associated with apps you've moved to your retention card.

With all this in mind, permit's see how to motion apps to an SD card.

Use an SD Card as Internal Storage

Android Marshmallow introduced changes to the manner Android phones can handle memory cards, and these changes have continued into the later versions of Android.

You tin at present set microSD cards to piece of work every bit internal storage. Instead of having internal and external storage existing equally divide spaces, Android views the card as an extension of your built-in space.

Data and apps can write to either every bit needed, and it all happens seamlessly. As a result, you don't need to worry near where your apps are stored.

You accept to prepare this up first. Your carte du jour will exist wiped in the process, then make sure you lot've backed up any data you need:

  1. Insert the carte du jour into your telephone. When the New SD Card notification appears, tap Set Upwards.
  2. Next, you need to cull how your phone should use the card. Select Phone Storage on Android nine, or Use equally Internal Storage on older versions. Alternatively, go to Settings > Storage, select the card, tap the menu push button, and select Storage Settings. Tap Format as internal.
  3. On the side by side screen, tap Format SD Card, or Erase & Format. This will wipe your card.
  4. On Android 9 and newer, you're offered the chance to motility your content—including apps—onto the card. It likewise shows you how much space y'all'll save. Hit Motility content to complete.

This feature is called Adoptable Storage, and it requires y'all to keep your carte du jour in your phone permanently. The card is too encrypted, so you cannot put it in another device to copy the data.

The large downside to adoptable storage is that all Android phones are different, so some manufacturers choose not to offer it on their devices. If you don't have it, then y'all'll have to motility your apps to your SD card manually.

How to Move Apps to an SD Card on Android 9 Pie and Above

Yous can all the same transfer apps to an SD card on Android 9 and later manually, even if your phone doesn't support adoptable storage. Just remember that you can't do it for every app, and not at all for pre-installed apps:

  1. Go to Settings > Apps & notifications > App info.
  2. Notice the app y'all want to move in the list and tap it.
  3. Select Storage. If the app supports moving to a card, you'll meet a button here labeled Change. Tap this.
  4. Select the SD Card in the Modify storage dialog box. This brings up a confirmation screen. Tap Move to begin.

To move the app back to internal storage, echo the steps above but select Internal shared storage in the final step. Y'all should always do this when you lot desire to change or remove your retention menu.

How to Move Apps to an SD Bill of fare on Android eight Oreo

The process for moving an app to the SD bill of fare on Android viii is basically the same as for Android ix:

  1. Go to Settings > Apps & notifications > App info.
  2. Curl down to find the app y'all want to move to the card and tap on information technology.
  3. Select Storage. If the app supports being moved to a card, you'll come across a section labeled Storage used. Hit the button marked Alter.
  4. Select the bill of fare you want to motility the app to, followed by Move.

How to Move Apps to an SD Carte on Android 7 Nougat

You tin move apps to a retentivity card on Android 7 Nougat through Settings. Notwithstanding, you can't movement all apps. If they don't support it, you won't see the Change button in Step 3:

  1. Go to Settings > Apps.
  2. Locate the app you lot desire to move to your microSD card and tap on it.
  3. Go to Storage > Modify and choose your carte du jour from the prompt box that opens.
  4. Tap Movement to complete the process.

Depending on the size of the app, it may take a few moments to complete (particularly in the case of big games), so don't touch on your telephone until it's done. To motion the app back, repeat the steps and choose Internal shared storage in Step iii.

How to Movement Apps to an SD Card on Android 6 Marshmallow

Moving apps to a microSD carte is the same on Marshmallow every bit it is on Nougat:

  1. Become to Settings > Apps, and then tap on your called app.
  2. Tap Storage > Change, then choose the card when prompted.
  3. Hit Motion to consummate the procedure.

How to Move Apps to an SD Bill of fare on Android v Lollipop

Lollipop has less robust support for memory cards than afterwards versions of Android, but you can still move apps from within Settings.

You lot're limited in which apps you tin place on your external storage; it depends on the developer supporting the option. Also, the entire app doesn't movement beyond to the card either—only part of it does.

You can see which apps you've got on your card by swiping to the right tab in the App screen, labeled On SD Card. This makes information technology easy to place any that you may wish to motility back in the future.

To move apps:

  1. Become to Settings > Apps and tap the app you want to move to your SD card.
  2. Side by side, under the Storage section, tap Movement to SD Card. The button will exist grayed out while the app moves, so don't interfere until it'south done.
  3. If there'due south no Move to SD Carte option, the app cannot be moved.

Once it's done, the Storage section will update to show how much of the app is now stored on the card (and how much is still in internal storage). The Move button volition now read Motion to Telephone or Move to Device Storage.

Tapping on this allows you to remove the app from the bill of fare.

How to Move Apps to an SD Card on Android 4.x and Earlier

Support for microSD cards was extremely limited in all Android 4.ten versions (including KitKat, Jelly Bean, and Ice Cream Sandwich). Stock Android didn't back up the ability to move apps to an external card at all, as Google seemed intent on phasing cards out entirely.

However, some manufacturers did opt to include the feature in their own versions of the operating organization. If your older device supports it, the procedure is straightforward:

  1. Go to Settings > Apps.
  2. Adjacent, locate and tap the app y'all desire to movement to the card.
  3. Select Move to SD card. If this push isn't available, you tin can't move the app (or your telephone doesn't back up doing so).

In the unlikely event that you're however using an Android 2.x device, these steps are roughly the same ones y'all'll run across. Dwelling house screen widgets are not supported in these old versions—you'll need to keep an app on internal storage if yous want to use a widget.

If y'all don't have the choice on your phone, then you lot'll demand to look into a third-party app.

How to Move Apps to an SD Card Using Link2SD

If your phone doesn't support moving apps to the SD carte, or if you want to motility an app that doesn't support it individually, in that location are a few old third-party apps that can help yous out. Apps2SD is a popular choice, as is FolderMount. Both require a rooted Android phone.

We're going to wait at another choice, Link2SD, which has both root and non-root features. You can use it to movement apps to your bill of fare in majority, to "strength-move" apps that don't commonly let it, and to offload information folders for larger apps and games to your external storage.

First, launch the app and grant root permissions if your phone is rooted. And so tap the app yous desire to move and select an option:

  • Link to SD Card: This requires root and moves the entire app and its information to your card.
  • Move to SD Card: This doesn't require root and merely works if your phone supports moving apps to external storage. If you practice have root, you tin can besides force-motion apps that don't otherwise support information technology.
  • Link to SD Bill of fare (Data and Cache): Moves information files, and requires root.

To move more than ane app at a time, tap the card push in the top right corner and choose Multi-select. At present tap all the apps you desire to motion, hit the carte du jour push once more, and choose either Link to SD menu or Move to SD card. These are the aforementioned options as described higher up.

Link2SD is free, with a paid upgrade. It hasn't been updated for some time, but nevertheless works on Android 2.3 and up.

Download: Link2SD (Free) | Link2SD Plus ($2)

How to Move Apps to an SD Bill of fare on Android

The best way to transfer apps to your SD card depends on what version of Android you're using, whether your telephone'due south manufacturer has implemented all the features, and what app you want to motility.

In summary:

  • On phones that back up adoptable storage, that's the best pick. It removes whatever demand to manage your carte manually.
  • For phones that only back up moving apps to the carte du jour manually, that method is the best and cleanest.
  • If your phone doesn't support any of this, or if you lot have specific requirements, consider rooting and using Link2SD.
  • Don't overlook the occasional disadvantages of using an SD bill of fare on Android.

If your apps are taking up also much space, some other good solution is to use Calorie-free versions of pop apps. Not only are they smaller and have up less space, only they run faster on older or less powerful phones too.

10 Lite Android Apps That Are Faster Than the Total Versions

If yous have an onetime or slow Android phone, or accept a slow information connectedness, these apps will exist much amend for you than their mainstream counterparts.

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About The Writer

Andy Betts (216 Articles Published)

Andy is a freelance writer and junior editor for Android at MUO. He's been writing well-nigh consumer tech since the early on 2000s for a wide range of publications, and has a passion for all things mobile.

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