• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

How do I transfer apps from Samsung Galaxy J7 Sky Pro to a micro sd card?

spre248

Newbie
I have a Samsung Galaxy J7 Sky Pro. I installed my memory card correctly (it's 128gb sandisk) and it will hold downloads and pictures, but I can't transfer any apps.
I'm not computer or phone savvy so please bear with me and give simple to understand answers and please be patient with me if I am slow to understand anything.
I tried to follow apps with the direction in this link: https://techshift.net/which-memory-card-is-suitable-for-samsung-galaxy-j7-pro/
It said near the top:
Tap the application you would like to move. Note: If necessary, slide the screen up to see more applications.
Tap “Storage.” Then, tap “CHANGE.”
Tap “SD card.” Then, tap “MOVE.”
I can tap the app and tap storage, but change isn't listed there. How can I get change to appear or do something to move the apps to my memory card? My phone is running out space and starting to struggle a bit due to not having enough with all the apps on there. Thanks.
 
You are most likely not going to be able to do so, and even if you do the results will be less than good.

At best, only a portion of an app can be moved, and it will suffer performance wise.

The SD card is for personal media, not apps.

Putting apps onto SD cards is mostly an antiquated thing that most devices will no longer do.

It just was not worth the extra troubles that it caused.

Devices work best with 70% or less of internal memory used.
Plan what apps you wish to keep around this.

Many large apps can be eliminated altogether just by using the browser to access the website intead of the app.
(Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
 
You are most likely not going to be able to do so, and even if you do the results will be less than good.

At best, only a portion of an app can be moved, and it will suffer performance wise.

The SD card is for personal media, not apps.

Putting apps onto SD cards is mostly an antiquated thing that most devices will no longer do.

It just was not worth the extra troubles that it caused.

Devices work best with 70% or less of internal memory used.
Plan what apps you wish to keep around this.

Many large apps can be eliminated altogether just by using the browser to access the website intead of the app.
(Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)

Thanks for your quick answer. How can I remove uninstall apps I don't want then that came preinstalled with the phone? That was another reason I got the sd card to try to move them when I saw no way to uninstall them. There is no way I see to uniinstall these (like google play music or 1weather for instance) . Is there an easy way to do that or an easy to use app that can uninstall these bloat samsung apps?
 
Nope.
You cannot easily get rid of them.

However, some of them can be disabled.
That is as good as it gets.

Those are considered system apps anyway, and even if moving apps to SD was still a thing- system apps were always ineligible to be moved.

Even if you could get rid of them, the space left over is in a different memory partition that you would not have access to anyway.

Yes, there are ways around all of this, but it is hardly ever worth it in the long run.

Without a huge amount of time, effort, learning, and other grief (and possibly a bricked device) the short, safe answer is basically a no.

Sorry, but it is what it is.

You can get manufacturer (not carrier!) unlocked devices, and those tend to have the least bloatware. They seem to start out at about $100.

There are customized devices that have none, but from what I have seen they start out at about $500 USD.
 
I checked out that link you shared.

That method would work, except that the SD card would have to be formatted as internal memory.

This causes the device to consider the SD card as any other part of the internal memory.

The bad news here is that SD card memory is not the same thing as the internal memory.

It is much slower, and when the card is used this way it wears out very fast.

I went through this once and the card lasted about 3 months.
At first it seemed great, and then one night the card crashed, taking everything on it to digital heaven.

Nothing comes back from digital heaven.
 
I checked out that link you shared.

That method would work, except that the SD card would have to be formatted as internal memory.

This causes the device to consider the SD card as any other part of the internal memory.

The bad news here is that SD card memory is not the same thing as the internal memory.

It is much slower, and when the card is used this way it wears out very fast.

I went through this once and the card lasted about 3 months.
At first it seemed great, and then one night the card crashed, taking everything on it to digital heaven.

Nothing comes back from digital heaven.
to add to this, you cannot use the sd card in other devices. in other words you can't take the card out to transfer files to your pc anymore. it will solely be used as your phones internal storage.......so keep that in mind.
 
Thanks guys for the great advice.
You can get manufacturer (not carrier!) unlocked devices, and those tend to have the least bloatware. They seem to start out at about $100.

I'm not sure what you mean by manufacturer unlocked devices. Can you recommend some brands of manufacturer unlocked devices and link to an example phone? In the future I hope to purchase one of those to help relieve some of this headache.

PS by Carrier unlocked device do you mean like AT&T, Sprint, TMobile etc. I'm asking to get clarity. Thanks again.
 
Just insert your memory card in the phone and then go to files and transfer all data to card. If you can't do that than buy a OTG cable and card reader and transfer the data
 
Just insert your memory card in the phone and then go to files and transfer all data to card. If you can't do that than buy a OTG cable and card reader and transfer the data
But this does not transfer apps to the card. This is the issue that the op wants to know how to do. This only moves files and such to the card.

The only true way to do it is to format the card ad internal.
 
I could be missing something,

EDIT : OK I missed the point! :rolleyes::)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
A carrier unlocked device is an unlocked device that is provided by a carrier.
It is unlocked, meaning that the device will work with any other carrier that uses the same cellular technology as the original carrier.
This is the same as a carrier provided device that is locked, as is the usual case.
This is where the bloatware comes in.

The difference between a carrier unlocked device and a manufacturer unlocked is that with a manufacturer unlocked device, the device comes from the factory- Motorola, Samsung, whomever.
These only have whatever the factory installs, and NONE of the added carrier crap.
However, some extra software (possibly hardware as well) is present that will allow the device to work with any cellular system- not just whatever a single carrier may use.

This can be important in areas where only one system type works well.
 
Just to clarify some points made in this thread:
-- That link to a Techshift page is misinformation and if you've bookmarked it, delete the bookmark. It's apparently written by someone not actually familiar with Samsung phones and is mostly made up of generic Android tips, some conditional without the necessary context -- i.e. there's a section referring on how to format a microSD card as 'Internal', a feature that Samsung doesn't include in its products. Samsung defaults to always have 'Portable' as the only option, their stock firmware has no support for adoptable storage. Really, that page isn't going to be helpful to you, it's just adding to your frustrations.
-- I very much disagree claims that microSD card will 'wear out very fast' when used frequently -- that's an old, legacy opinion based on SD cards from their early days and no longer applies. SD card technology has continued to advance over the years so unless you bought a card before 2010 or even a few years earlier, the solid state memory in the card is going to be quite robust. The big fall back is the FAT-based file system but that's a related but different issue. So yeah, a microSD card will wear out quicker with high usage, but that's true about all types of storage media.
-- The basic issue appears to be you need more internal storage space on your J7. Moving apps is only a stop gap measure and not going to open up a significant amount of storage space. Some apps just cannot be moved, they need reside completely within internal storage to function. Also 'moving' apps is a bit of a misnomer, at best you're only 'splitting' apps as some of any app's code has to remain in internal storage, and again this is only for the apps that can be split so set your expectations down accordingly.
-- How many apps have you installed? A few dozen? Or hundreds? Are there any you can Uninstall that you don't actually need or use? It might be more prudent to focus on other data than apps data. Individual photo files are relatively small but if you have a really large number of them, cumulatively your photo library can be total up to be quite sizable. The same applies to music files. Depending on resolution a video file can be very sizable, 1-4 GBs or more being typical. But if you've already accounted for that kind of data, it might be time to buy a new phone with more internal storage.


specs
https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_j7_pro-8561.php
Samsung User Manual
https://downloadcenter.samsung.com/...J530_J730_UM_EU_Nougat_Eng_Rev.1.0_170616.pdf
 
Just to clarify some points made in this thread:
-- That link to a Techshift page is misinformation and if you've bookmarked it, delete the bookmark. It's apparently written by someone not actually familiar with Samsung phones and is mostly made up of generic Android tips, some conditional without the necessary context -- i.e. there's a section referring on how to format a microSD card as 'Internal', a feature that Samsung doesn't include in its products. Samsung defaults to always have 'Portable' as the only option, their stock firmware has no support for adoptable storage. Really, that page isn't going to be helpful to you, it's just adding to your frustrations.
-- I very much disagree claims that microSD card will 'wear out very fast' when used frequently -- that's an old, legacy opinion based on SD cards from their early days and no longer applies. SD card technology has continued to advance over the years so unless you bought a card before 2010 or even a few years earlier, the solid state memory in the card is going to be quite robust. The big fall back is the FAT-based file system but that's a related but different issue. So yeah, a microSD card will wear out quicker with high usage, but that's true about all types of storage media.
-- The basic issue appears to be you need more internal storage space on your J7. Moving apps is only a stop gap measure and not going to open up a significant amount of storage space. Some apps just cannot be moved, they need reside completely within internal storage to function. Also 'moving' apps is a bit of a misnomer, at best you're only 'splitting' apps as some of any app's code has to remain in internal storage, and again this is only for the apps that can be split so set your expectations down accordingly.
-- How many apps have you installed? A few dozen? Or hundreds? Are there any you can Uninstall that you don't actually need or use? It might be more prudent to focus on other data than apps data. Individual photo files are relatively small but if you have a really large number of them, cumulatively your photo library can be total up to be quite sizable. The same applies to music files. Depending on resolution a video file can be very sizable, 1-4 GBs or more being typical. But if you've already accounted for that kind of data, it might be time to buy a new phone with more internal storage.


specs
https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_j7_pro-8561.php
Samsung User Manual
https://downloadcenter.samsung.com/...J530_J730_UM_EU_Nougat_Eng_Rev.1.0_170616.pdf

I appreciate all of the continued advice. I am learning some things. :)
I wont refer to that link anymore. I'm not tech savvy and just googling it doesn't help me since there is so much info out there that can be confusing or unhelpful. So I appreciate what you are saying in your reply.
I will keep in mind what you said about the sd card not wearing out as quickly. I hope it will last a while. I just got it back a few months ago and was hoping it could last several years especially since it will be with light use.
Yes the basic issue is that I needed more storage space. I had a few dozen apps installed and only 16gb on the phone. The phone got a little buggy I noticed with less space so that is why I wanted more. I do have some photos and very little music on the phone. It's more apps than anything. I think I do need a larger space phone as you said since my samsung galaxy a11 does better with 32gb. Thanks for your help.

The difference between a carrier unlocked device and a manufacturer unlocked is that with a manufacturer unlocked device, the device comes from the factory- Motorola, Samsung, whomever.
These only have whatever the factory installs, and NONE of the added carrier crap.
However, some extra software (possibly hardware as well) is present that will allow the device to work with any cellular system- not just whatever a single carrier may use.

This can be important in areas where only one system type works well.

Sorry to bother you puppykickr and you have been helpful, but could you please give a couple actual links some real manufacturer unlocked phones in the $100 range so I can better see what you mean? I hope to read some specs and get an idea if these are phones I can purchase eventually. Thanks.

PS If anyone else has anymore more good advice please chime in on this thread. I hope to learn more to get a better phone.
 
I appreciate all of the continued advice. I am learning some things. :)
I wont refer to that link anymore. I'm not tech savvy and just googling it doesn't help me since there is so much info out there that can be confusing or unhelpful. So I appreciate what you are saying in your reply.
I will keep in mind what you said about the sd card not wearing out as quickly. I hope it will last a while. I just got it back a few months ago and was hoping it could last several years especially since it will be with light use.
Yes the basic issue is that I needed more storage space. I had a few dozen apps installed and only 16gb on the phone. The phone got a little buggy I noticed with less space so that is why I wanted more. I do have some photos and very little music on the phone. It's more apps than anything. I think I do need a larger space phone as you said since my samsung galaxy a11 does better with 32gb. Thanks for your help.



Sorry to bother you puppykickr and you have been helpful, but could you please give a couple actual links some real manufacturer unlocked phones in the $100 range so I can better see what you mean? I hope to read some specs and get an idea if these are phones I can purchase eventually. Thanks.

PS If anyone else has anymore more good advice please chime in on this thread. I hope to learn more to get a better phone.

My device was about $120.
I purchased it from Wal-Mart.
It is a Moto e.

It is not a really great device, but it is nicer that what I have had before.

Being manufacturer unlocked means that it can work with almost any carrier and all I would need to do is change the SIM card- which is provided by a carrier when you get service.

It is a couple years old now, and as do devices, prices will vary.

At the low end of devices, Wal-Mart may not have anything from Motorola for $100.

But, if something is going to be repkaced soon, whatever is left could be marked down a good amount.

That is how I got mine for that price.

Be sure to get any accessories you may want (screen protector, case, etc.) at the time of purchase, as these items usually run out before the devices do.

It sucks to get a device that you cannot find accessories for because they fit a device that has been replaced by a newer one.

Yes, you can get such things on-line, but the point is that these accessories have to fit perfect or else they are crap. The best way to get the best fitting accessories is to get the ones made exactly for the device at the place of purchase.

This is my own opinion based on my own experience.
I am sure that others have had different experiences.

Anyway, for a low cost device, Motorola seems to have very useable models in a decent price range.

If you dont need an unlocked phone, you can get a carrier locked version of the same phone for at least 66% less most of the time.
Just a rough guestimate.
I recently saw an unlocked device at Wal-Mart for about $150, and the locked version was about $50.

As for what @svim says, I have not had a Samsung smartphone, so I have no knowlege of how storage works on them.

My experience and resarch into SD cards has shown a relatively (compared to what is normally expected) high failure rate that is markedly increased with using the cards as internal memory as well as with using high capacity cards.

My evidence is my own, along with the opinions of those that rely upon SD cards in their carriers- such as professional photographers.

That being said, the good news is that cards usually fail really early in their lives, or very late in their lives.

The thing that kills them from 'using' them is called Read/Write Cycles.

Reading a card seems to have little to no effect on them, but what does is writing to them.
All cards are made of memory blocks, and each memory block can be written to over and over until it gets corrupted.

Cards are supposed to be 'smart' enough to then ignore this 'dead' memory block.
Each block has a different number of cycles it can handle.

Theoretically, a modern card should be good for tens of thousands if not more write cycles.
 
This is a great site for phone comparisons.
https://m.gsmarena.com/search.php3?
Choose your options and see what you can find

Thanks a lot for the link to that site. I am trying to see if I can find anything I can use.

Being manufacturer unlocked means that it can work with almost any carrier and all I would need to do is change the SIM card- which is provided by a carrier when you get service.

It is a couple years old now, and as do devices, prices will vary.

At the low end of devices, Wal-Mart may not have anything from Motorola for $100.

Anyway, for a low cost device, Motorola seems to have very useable models in a decent price range.

If you dont need an unlocked phone, you can get a carrier locked version of the same phone for at least 66% less most of the time.
Just a rough guestimate.
I recently saw an unlocked device at Wal-Mart for about $150, and the locked version was about $50.

As for what @svim says, I have not had a Samsung smartphone, so I have no knowlege of how storage works on them.

My experience and resarch into SD cards has shown a relatively (compared to what is normally expected) high failure rate that is markedly increased with using the cards as internal memory as well as with using high capacity cards.

My evidence is my own, along with the opinions of those that rely upon SD cards in their carriers- such as professional photographers.

That being said, the good news is that cards usually fail really early in their lives, or very late in their lives.

The thing that kills them from 'using' them is called Read/Write Cycles.

Reading a card seems to have little to no effect on them, but what does is writing to them.
All cards are made of memory blocks, and each memory block can be written to over and over until it gets corrupted.

Cards are supposed to be 'smart' enough to then ignore this 'dead' memory block.
Each block has a different number of cycles it can handle.

Theoretically, a modern card should be good for tens of thousands if not more write cycles.

Thanks for your information and letting me know about the storage concerning SD cards.

I was looking into some phones on amazon and searched manufacturer unlocked phones. I came across one I thought might be good but it said this in the description.

SAMSUNG Galaxy A23 (SM-A235M/DS) Dual SIM,64 GB 4GB RAM, Factory Unlocked GSM, International Version - No Warranty - (Blue)

Factory Unlocked Cell Phones are compatible with most GSM carriers. This phone is not compatible with CDMA carriers like Verizon, Sprint, or Boost.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SM-A...c0c-a458-dfe8278ea194&pd_rd_i=B09W382BTT&th=1

So am I to assume that some phones are just for GSM and some are just for CDMA and not for both? I thought if they would be unlocked they would be for both and could be used with any carrier as you said. Do I need a CDMA and GSM compatible (both of them on the phone at the same time) phone to make sure they could be used on any carrier? How would I find a phone with both CDMA and GSM? would that be in the name and description? I am asking because I definitely want a phone I can use with absolutely all carriers to have a choice and not be locked to anyone due to this CDMA or GSM combability rule.
 
Where do you reside? Here in the U.S. Verizon is the only major carrier that still supports the CDMA standard. Elsewhere GSM is the common default. So unless you intend to use Verizon, or any MVNO carriers contracted to Verizon, CDMA isn't really an issue. Even Verizon is gradually just letting it fade off into history.
 
Thanks a lot for the link to that site. I am trying to see if I can find anything I can use.



Thanks for your information and letting me know about the storage concerning SD cards.

I was looking into some phones on amazon and searched manufacturer unlocked phones. I came across one I thought might be good but it said this in the description.

SAMSUNG Galaxy A23 (SM-A235M/DS) Dual SIM,64 GB 4GB RAM, Factory Unlocked GSM, International Version - No Warranty - (Blue)

Factory Unlocked Cell Phones are compatible with most GSM carriers. This phone is not compatible with CDMA carriers like Verizon, Sprint, or Boost.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-SM-A...c0c-a458-dfe8278ea194&pd_rd_i=B09W382BTT&th=1

So am I to assume that some phones are just for GSM and some are just for CDMA and not for both? I thought if they would be unlocked they would be for both and could be used with any carrier as you said. Do I need a CDMA and GSM compatible (both of them on the phone at the same time) phone to make sure they could be used on any carrier? How would I find a phone with both CDMA and GSM? would that be in the name and description? I am asking because I definitely want a phone I can use with absolutely all carriers to have a choice and not be locked to anyone due to this CDMA or GSM combability rule.

Yes.
There are two systems in the USA, GMS and CDMA.

CDMA has supposedly been on its way out for a very long time.

There are devices that are compatible with one or the other, or both.

Obviously the ones that have both abilities will have more apps and hardware on them to be able to work on both systems.

This amount is nothing in terms of reality.
It is nice to have a device that will work anywhere because it is not dependent upon only one system.

You could do some traveling to somewhere that you have no service.
A quick trip to a store, and a SIM card for any local provider will work for the time that you are there.

You could find that you wish to choose carriers, and the ability to use both systems increases your options about who your service can come from.

All major US cellular companies use one or the other system.
The smaller companies just rent the use of the towers from the big providers.
 
Where do you reside? Here in the U.S. Verizon is the only major carrier that still supports the CDMA standard. Elsewhere GSM is the common default. So unless you intend to use Verizon, or any MVNO carriers contracted to Verizon, CDMA isn't really an issue. Even Verizon is gradually just letting it fade off into history.

I am in the US. Thanks for letting me know that. When I saw that on the phone description I thought it would be more of an issue than it really is based on what you are saying.

Yes.
There are two systems in the USA, GMS and CDMA.

CDMA has supposedly been on its way out for a very long time.

There are devices that are compatible with one or the other, or both.

Obviously the ones that have both abilities will have more apps and hardware on them to be able to work on both systems.

This amount is nothing in terms of reality.
It is nice to have a device that will work anywhere because it is not dependent upon only one system.

You could do some traveling to somewhere that you have no service.
A quick trip to a store, and a SIM card for any local provider will work for the time that you are there.

You could find that you wish to choose carriers, and the ability to use both systems increases your options about who your service can come from.

All major US cellular companies use one or the other system.
The smaller companies just rent the use of the towers from the big providers.

I appreciate this information. Since you said this I think I will try to find a phone with both or if I can't see one of those just get a GSM phone.
 
Back
Top Bottom