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Can't move apps to SD card

L

L12345

Lurker
I used to be able to move apps to the SD card but now I can't. In settings - applications, it does not show where the apps are stored. There used to be a way to move the apps to the card to create a bit more internal storage (which is taken up by a lot of automatically installed apps that I can't uninstall). I have tried unmounting and reinserting the card. Other files are shown on the card if I go to Files. This problem appeared after the last software update. Any suggestions?
 
Welcome to Android Forums!

Which phone do you have? Which carrier/model number?

What Android version is your phone?
 
This has come up frequently recently. I would venture that a good number of devices finally got an update past 4.0.

This is from part of that discussion ....

In Android 4.x they revamped the file system and virtualized the storage and system volumes to dynamically allocate (internal) space as needed. This includes the internal /sdcard partition which is where apps would theoretically be moved to. Now with the system, user and sd card partitions all sharing the same memory space, it is moot where Android saves them as the default installation will allocate space as needed. Moving them to the sd partition just 'rearranges the furniture' as it were without giving you any more room or better performance. That's why it's greyed out for many apps even if the OS permits it. It's pointless.

If you are so inclined you can read the whole thing here: http://androidforums.com/threads/permissions.1082789/#post-7416073
 
Thanks lunatic59. Now I know why it's happening, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. I guess I don't quite understand why it keeps telling me that storage space is low if there is still quite a bit available on the card and it is all lumped together.
 
If you are talking about a physical card, then expanding your storage to that didn't appear until Marshmallow so you might be stuck in that in-between world of using external sd cards for file storage only.
 
Dodgy1 said:
So would rooting my device to achieve this would also be pointless?
Click to expand...

lvt said:
If your device is rooted, the app called Link2sd can help expanding your apps memory by moving the whole app to SD card.
Click to expand...


If your device is pre-lollipop, then rooting and using link2sd would give you some extra space, however I always caution against using SD cards for apps since they can be notoriously unreliable and fail without warning. This is a case of just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should. ;)
 
lunatic59 said:
If your device is pre-lollipop, then rooting and using link2sd would give you some extra space, however I always caution against using SD cards for apps since they can be notoriously unreliable and fail without warning. This is a case of just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should. ;)
Click to expand...
While I agree with you on the reliability of that method, I also feel perplexed. Aren't the new versions of Android actually using the same method as Link2sd ?

Could you tell what is the difference between the native method and the method involving third parties (Link2sd, App2sd...) ?
 
They do in fact use very similar methods to extend system space to the SD card and I don't recommend either because the weak link here is the card itself, not the method used to mount it.
 
Android v6.0.1 has two ways of using SD card storage.

1. Portable
2. Extended internal

Portable will not allow any installing of apps to the SD card. It is intended for the user's multimedia storage.

Extended internal will use the SD card as extended internal storage and will be encrypted and not readable by any other device. The OS will treat it as internal storage.

Be careful.
 
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Although the methods are similar but Link2sd has an advantage, you can decided the size of the extended memory, for example if you have a 64gb SD card, you can use 32gb as internal memory, the rest 32gb remains portable storage and can be used everywhere else.
 
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