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I have a question about Apk Extractor

C

Cinque8

Newbie
Hello,

I Nokia 3.1 phone running Android 8.1. I recently downloaded the Apk Extractor app from the Play store, When my list of apps came up, I pressed on my ESPN app and I saw a notice that the app had been extracted to my SD card. Apk Extractor shows the saved path as; /storage/emulated/0/ExtractedApks/, and when I click on Saved Path, it shows the ESPN app. But when I try to find that path on my SD card or Internal storage, I do not see that path anywhere. Am I looking in the wrong place?

Thank you
 
/storage/emulated/0 is the internal storage. You can also access it as /sdcard - this is the so-called "internal SD card", more accurately described as "emulated SD card".

So just look for ExtractedApks in your internal storage.
 
I have another question. The reason that I was trying to move my apps to the SD card is because I am running out of internal storage. I only have 8GB of internal memory on my phone. So will using this Apk Extractor process free up my internal storage?

Thank you
 
No, it won't. It will give you a copy of the APK, but it won't change the installed app at all.

The truth is that 8GB is too little internal storage. Unfortunately that doesn't stop manufacturers from selling such devices. Your options are:

1) if your phone supports moving apps to SD, move what you can. This only moves part of the app (a bit more than just the APK though) and not all apps support it, but it may help a bit. If your phone has this option there is a trick you can do with ADB that may increase the number of apps you can move. If you move an app that includes a widget the widget will stop working the next time you reboot the phone.

2) If your phone allows you to format the SD card as "internal" (also known as "adopting" the card) you can do that. This will mean that the card behaves as part of your internal storage, giving you a bigger boost than the other method. But you will not be able to use the card in any other device, and any data already on it will be erased in the process. Not all phones support this option either. If your phone offers both you need to choose (you can only do one or the other).

3) You don't hear much about this option any more, but it probably still works. If your phone is rooted there are apps and mods that allow you to move apps to a second partition on the card. This can move more than the first method, but does require you repartition your SD card (and for best effect the extra partition should be ext3 or ext4 format), and does require that you root the phone (do your research before plunging into this, it's important that you understand what you are doing).

4) Buy a phone with more storage.

I'm afraid that is it really. Otherwise it's keep all of your media on SD (and back up often: SD cards can fail, or be lost with the phone), remove apps you don't use where possible, find less space-hungry alternatives where they exist, and live with the frustration. :(
 
Hadron, thank you for all of the detailed information. In the long run, I will probably just go with option 4, and buy another phone.
 
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