Help Can I downgrade?

[0dd0ne]

I've recently acquired a Tab 4 running android 4.4.2. I've since discovered that this does not allow the moving of apps to the SD card. This has basically rendered my SD card defunct as that was my primary reason for getting it. The internal memory is almost at capacity whilst the 32gb card is empty! So, my question is, can I downgrade the OS to a previous version that does allow this?

Strangely, my phone also runs 4.4.2 and DOES still allow me to move the apps, which I can't understand, though I'm not complaining about that!

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated (preferably in words of one syllable as I'm not the most tech savvy person around

Cheers,
Marie

 

[daffyducknj]

I've recently acquired a Tab 4 running android 4.4.2. I've since discovered that this does not allow the moving of apps to the SD card. This has basically rendered my SD card defunct as that was my primary reason for getting it. The internal memory is almost at capacity whilst the 32gb card is empty! So, my question is, can I downgrade the OS to a previous version that does allow this?

Strangely, my phone also runs 4.4.2 and DOES still allow me to move the apps, which I can't understand, though I'm not complaining about that!

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated (preferably in words of one syllable as I'm not the most tech savvy person around

Cheers,
Marie

You can move apps to SD card, if the apps allow it. I also have a phone that runs on 4.4.2. This is a screen shot from my Tab 4.

A part of any app that can be moved stays in internal memory. For 1+ GB apps (usually large 3D games), the biggest part of them remains inside the device, and not in the external SD card.

Hope that helps!

 

[0dd0ne]

You can move apps to SD card, if the apps allow it. I also have a phone that runs on 4.4.2. This is a screen shot from my Tab 4.

Not one app will move to android. I see you have Kindle moved to your SD Card. Here's the screenshot from my attempt...

A part of any app that can be moved stays in internal memory. For 1+ GB apps (usually large 3D games), the biggest part of them remains inside the device, and not in the external SD card.

Hope that helps!

 

[daffyducknj]

That's strange! Something must be corrupted in your tab 4. Have you tried removing the kindle app completely and reinstalling it, then move it to SD? If that doesn't work, you may need to factory reset your tab 4. Is the kindle app the only you're having a problem with?

 

[0dd0ne]

As I explained in my original post, I can't move any of my apps to the SD card. It's a new tablet and right out of the box it wouldn't allow me to move apps to the card. On trying to discover why, I did lots of googling and the concensus seems to be that Kitkat won't allow the movement of apps, full stop. This is why I was wondering whether I could downgrade to the previous version.

As a side note, I've just read that the next version
(Jellybean?), will reinstate this ability so now I'm wondering whether to wait for the update. I guess it depends when the update is going to be released for the Tab 4.

 

[lunatic59]

On trying to discover why, I did lots of googling and the concensus seems to be that Kitkat won't allow the movement of apps, full stop.

This is why these things keep going ... one person makes an uninformed claim and others pick it up until it gains traction in the blog-o-sphere and soon it's a "known problem".

You most certainly can move apps to the SD card in KitKat (4.4.2) what you can't do is have apps write to folders on the SD card that they have not themselves created. That means, without root, a lot of file managers and image/content editors can't save to common folders on the sd card. It wasn't implemented that well in KitKat, but it has been vastly improved in Lollipop (5.0.1).

There can be several reasons why trying to move an app to SD will fail. Not having enough room, enabling write protection or reformatting the SD to an incompatible file system would do it.

First thing I'd suggest is to backup any content on your SD card and then reformat the card in the tab.

 

[0dd0ne]

Thanks for your patience lunatic59.

So, limited success; I reformatted the card and nothing changed, so just to be sure I formatted again. This time when I tried to move Kindle reader it worked!A huge sigh of relief. However, that is all that would move. Other apps, such as Dolphin browser (that Daffyducknj has moved to his card) get the same response 'unable to move app'. I'm now wondering whether I have a dud card...

 

[daffyducknj]

I'm now wondering whether I have a dud card...

Most likely. Backup everything from it before getting a new one. SD cards sometimes become unreliable when least expected, regardless of the brand.

 

[0dd0ne]

After all that it was the damn card! It's brand new too, so that's going back. As there as nothing on it I didn't have to worry about backing up, so I popped another card I had lying around in and bingo!

Many thanks for all help and advice, it was greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Marie

 

[lunatic59]

Where's you get the card from? We had seen a rash of counterfeit sd cards (under spec'ed or wrong capacity) about a year ago, but they either have had better quality in the knock-off factories or they got caught.