Don't you hate it when you effort to install a new app on your Android device and the "Not Enough Space" warning pops up? Information technology means all those games, photos, and 4K videos have finally taken their cost.

If your phone has a memory card slot, then the solution is easy. A microSD card is a inexpensive mode of expanding your phone'southward storage. You can movement apps to an SD card to costless up space, rather than removing apps on your Android device.

How you do this depends on what Android version you lot're using. We'll take a wait at all the means to motion Android apps to an SD card in this guide.

Using an SD Menu on Android: Basics

Before you get started, consider a few points.

Memory cards are slower than internal storage, and then you may notice slightly worse performance for resource-intensive apps. When picking a card, go for the fastest retention card with the largest capacity that your phone can back up—check your phone's specifications to see what cards it's uniform with.

Also, be sure you know how to spot a fake microSD menu to avert getting scammed.

Information technology isn't possible to move preinstalled apps without rooting, and even some third-political party apps may not support it. Too, on older versions of Android, you might not be able to use widgets associated with apps you've moved to your retention menu.

With all this in mind, allow'due south see how to motion apps to an SD carte du jour.

Apply an SD Card every bit Internal Storage

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

You can at present prepare microSD cards to piece of work as internal storage. Instead of having internal and external storage existing as separate spaces, Android views the carte du jour equally an extension of your built-in space.

Information and apps can write to either as needed, and information technology all happens seamlessly. Every bit a issue, you don't need to worry about where your apps are stored.

You have to set this upwardly first. Your card will be wiped in the procedure, and then make sure you lot've backed up any data you need:

  1. Insert the carte into your phone. When the New SD Card notification appears, tap Fix Up.
  2. Next, you need to choose how your telephone should utilize the card. Select Phone Storage on Android 9, or Use as Internal Storage on older versions. Alternatively, get to Settings > Storage, select the carte du jour, tap the menu button, and select Storage Settings. Tap Format as internal.
  3. On the next 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 movement your content—including apps—onto the carte. It besides shows yous how much space you'll save. Hitting Move content to complete.

This feature is called Adoptable Storage, and it requires y'all to go along your card in your phone permanently. The card is also encrypted, then y'all cannot put it in another device to re-create the data.

The big downside to adoptable storage is that all Android phones are different, then some manufacturers choose not to offer it on their devices. If you lot don't have it, and then you'll have to move your apps to your SD menu manually.

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

Y'all tin can notwithstanding transfer apps to an SD bill of fare on Android 9 and after manually, fifty-fifty if your phone doesn't back up adoptable storage. But remember that you can't do information technology for every app, and non at all for pre-installed apps:

  1. Go to Settings > Apps & notifications > App info.
  2. Find the app you lot desire to move in the listing and tap it.
  3. Select Storage. If the app supports moving to a card, you'll see a button hither labeled Modify. Tap this.
  4. Select the SD Carte du jour in the Alter storage dialog box. This brings upward a confirmation screen. Tap Move to begin.

To move the app back to internal storage, echo the steps above only select Internal shared storage in the final step. You lot should always practise this when you lot desire to change or remove your memory bill of fare.

How to Move Apps to an SD Menu on Android 8 Oreo

The procedure for moving an app to the SD menu on Android 8 is basically the same as for Android 9:

  1. Go to Settings > Apps & notifications > App info.
  2. Scroll down to find the app you want to motility to the carte and tap on it.
  3. Select Storage. If the app supports existence moved to a card, you'll see a section labeled Storage used. Hit the button marked Change.
  4. Select the card y'all want to motility the app to, followed by Move.

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

You can movement apps to a memory card on Android 7 Nougat through Settings. However, yous tin't move all apps. If they don't support it, yous won't see the Change push button in Stride 3:

  1. Go to Settings > Apps.
  2. Locate the app you want to motion to your microSD card and tap on it.
  3. Become to Storage > Alter and choose your card from the prompt box that opens.
  4. Tap Move to complete the process.

Depending on the size of the app, it may have a few moments to consummate (especially in the case of large games), so don't impact your phone until it's done. To move the app back, repeat the steps and choose Internal shared storage in Step 3.

How to Move Apps to an SD Card on Android vi Marshmallow

Moving apps to a microSD carte is the aforementioned on Marshmallow as information technology is on Nougat:

  1. Go to Settings > Apps, then tap on your called app.
  2. Tap Storage > Change, then choose the card when prompted.
  3. Hit Move to complete the process.

How to Move Apps to an SD Carte on Android five Lollipop

Lollipop has less robust back up for memory cards than later versions of Android, but you can yet move apps from within Settings.

You're limited in which apps y'all tin can place on your external storage; it depends on the developer supporting the selection. Also, the unabridged app doesn't move beyond to the menu either—merely part of it does.

You can meet which apps you've got on your menu by swiping to the right tab in the App screen, labeled On SD Bill of fare. This makes it like shooting fish in a barrel to place whatsoever that y'all may wish to motility back in the time to come.

To motion apps:

  1. Get to Settings > Apps and tap the app you want to move to your SD card.
  2. Side by side, under the Storage section, tap Move to SD Bill of fare. The push volition be grayed out while the app moves, so don't interfere until it's done.
  3. If in that location's no Move to SD Menu option, the app cannot be moved.

In one case it's done, the Storage section volition update to evidence how much of the app is now stored on the carte (and how much is nonetheless in internal storage). The Move button will at present read Movement to Phone or Move to Device Storage.

Tapping on this allows y'all 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 express in all Android 4.ten versions (including KitKat, Jelly Bean, and Ice Cream Sandwich). Stock Android didn't back up the power to move apps to an external menu at all, as Google seemed intent on phasing cards out entirely.

However, some manufacturers did opt to include the characteristic in their ain versions of the operating system. If your older device supports it, the process is straightforward:

  1. Go to Settings > Apps.
  2. Adjacent, locate and tap the app you want to movement to the card.
  3. Select Movement to SD card. If this button isn't available, you tin can't move the app (or your phone doesn't support doing so).

In the unlikely event that you lot're still using an Android two.x device, these steps are roughly the same ones you'll meet. Abode screen widgets are not supported in these onetime versions—yous'll need to keep an app on internal storage if yous desire to use a widget.

If you don't take the selection on your phone, then you'll need to look into a third-party app.

How to Motility Apps to an SD Card Using Link2SD

If your phone doesn't back up moving apps to the SD carte, or if you want to move an app that doesn't back up it individually, at that place are a few old tertiary-party apps that tin assistance you lot out. Apps2SD is a popular selection, as is FolderMount. Both crave a rooted Android phone.

We're going to look at some other choice, Link2SD, which has both root and non-root features. You can utilise it to motion apps to your card in bulk, to "force-move" apps that don't normally let information technology, and to offload data folders for larger apps and games to your external storage.

Outset, launch the app and grant root permissions if your phone is rooted. And then tap the app y'all want to move and select an choice:

  • Link to SD Card: This requires root and moves the unabridged app and its data to your bill of fare.
  • Motility to SD Carte du jour: This doesn't require root and merely works if your phone supports moving apps to external storage. If you do have root, you can also forcefulness-move apps that don't otherwise support it.
  • Link to SD Menu (Data and Cache): Moves data files, and requires root.

To move more than one app at a time, tap the carte du jour push button in the acme right corner and choose Multi-select. At present tap all the apps you want to move, hit the carte button again, and cull either Link to SD card or Movement to SD carte du jour. These are the same options as described above.

Link2SD is free, with a paid upgrade. It hasn't been updated for some time, but however works on Android 2.iii and up.

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

How to Move Apps to an SD Card on Android

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

In summary:

  • On phones that support adoptable storage, that's the all-time choice. It removes any need to manage your card manually.
  • For phones that only support moving apps to the card manually, that method is the all-time and cleanest.
  • If your telephone doesn't back up any of this, or if you take specific requirements, consider rooting and using Link2SD.
  • Don't overlook the occasional disadvantages of using an SD card on Android.

If your apps are taking up too much space, another practiced solution is to use Low-cal versions of popular apps. Non only are they smaller and take upward less infinite, but they run faster on older or less powerful phones too.

10 Lite Android Apps That Are Faster Than the Full Versions

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About The Author

Andy Betts (215 Articles Published)

Andy is a freelance author and junior editor for Android at MUO. He's been writing virtually consumer tech since the early 2000s for a broad range of publications, and has a passion for all things mobile.

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