How to transfer applications from the phone memory to the memory of Android

Have you tried installing a new app and a warning appears saying there is not enough space on your phone. If you have a memory card and your phone has a memory card slot, the solution is easy. A microSD card is a cheap way to expand your phone’s storage space, and you can transfer apps from your phone’s memory to the memory to free up space instead of removing apps from your Android device.

Methods of transferring applications from the phone memory to the memory differs from one Android version to another, and we will explain How to transfer applications from the phone How to transfer applications from the phone memory to the memormemory to the memory of Android on all versions in this article. 

Before you start, you should know these things

• External memory cards are slower than internal storage, so you may notice slightly worse app performance.
• The pre-installed apps on your phone cannot be transferred without rooting the phone, and even some apps that you install may not be transferred to the memory card.

After knowing these points let’s see how to transfer apps to SD card.

How to transfer apps from phone memory to memory Android 9.0 Pie

If your phone has no storage space it is quick and easy to transfer apps to SD card on Android Pie version manually. Just remember that you can’t do this for every app and you absolutely can’t transfer the pre-installed apps.

• Go to Settings > Apps & notifications > App info.
• Find the app you want to transfer in the list and tap on it.
• Select the “Storage” option if the app supports transfer it to the card you will see a button called “Change” Click on this option.
• Select the SD card on the Change Storage screen. You will be presented with a confirmation option. Click Transfer to get started.

To transfer apps back to the internal storage, repeat the above steps but select the internal storage in the last step. You should always do this when you want to change or remove a memory card.

How to transfer apps from phone memory to memory Android 8.0 Oreo

The process of transferring an app to the memory card on Android 8 is basically the same as the previous steps:

• Go to Settings > Apps & notifications > App info.
• Scroll down to find and tap the app you want to transfer to the card.
• Click on the “Storage” option.

If the application supports transferred it to the memory card, you will see an option called “Change.” Click on the “Change” button.

• Select the card you want to move the app to followed by transfer.

How to transfer apps to SD card on Android 7.0 Nougat

You can transfer apps to external memory card on Android 7.0 through Settings. However, you cannot transfer all applications and when the application does not support transfer, you will not see the “Change” option in step 3.

• Go to Settings > Applications.
• Select the app you want to transfer to your memory card and tap on it.
• Go to Storage > Change and choose your card from the box that appears.
• Click Transfer to complete the process.

Depending on the size of the app, it may take a few moments to complete (especially in the case of big games), so don’t touch your phone until it’s finished. To put the app back on again, repeat the steps and choose the internal storage in step 3.

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How to transfer apps to SD card on Android 6.0

Transfaring apps to the SD card on version 6.0 is the same as on version 7.0.

• Go to Settings > Apps, then tap the app of your choice.
• Click Store > Change, then choose the card.
• When a box appears.
• Click Transfer to complete the process.

How to transfer apps to SD card on Android 5.0 Lollipop

Lollipop has less robust support for memory cards than newer versions of Android, but you can still transfer apps from within Settings. But you are limited to the applications that you can put in the external storage card, also the entire application does not transfer to the card, only a part of it transfer.

You can see which apps you have transferred to your card by going to the tab labeled on the SD card on the right. This makes it easy to put the app back into the phone memory if you want to come back in the future.

To transfer applications:

• Go to Settings > Apps, and tap the app you want to move to your memory card.
• Then under the Storage section, tap transfer to SD Card. The button will appear greyed out during the transfer process, so don’t interfere until you’re done.
• If there is no transfer to SD card option then the app cannot be transferred.

Once this is done, the Storage section will refresh to show how much of the app is now stored on the card (and how much is still in the internal storage). The Transfer to the Phone or transfer to Device Storage button will now appear. Clicking on it allows you to remove the application from the external card.

How to transfer apps to SD card on Android 4.x and previous versions

Support for SD cards was very limited in all versions of Android 4.x (including KitKat, Jelly Bean, and Ice Cream Sandwich). Stock Android didn’t support the ability to transfer apps to an external card at all, because Google seemed intent on phasing out cards entirely. However, some manufacturers have chosen to include this feature in their own versions of the operating system.

• Go to Settings > Applications.
• Tap the app you want to transfer to the card.
• Tap transfer to SD Card.

If this button is not available, you cannot transfer the app (or your phone does not support doing so).

In the event that you may still be using your Android 2.x device, these steps are almost the same. If you don’t have the option on your phone you’ll need to look for a third-party software.

How to transfer apps to a memory card using Link2SD (root required)

If your phone doesn’t support transferring apps to the SD card, or if you want to transfer an app that doesn’t support that, there are a few third-party software that can help you. Like Apps2SD or FolderMount both require a rooted phone.

Another option is Link2SD, which has root and no root features. You can use it to transfer apps to your card in bulk as well.

First launch the app and grant it root permissions if your phone is rooted. Then tap on the app you want to transfer and select an option:

• Link to SD Card.

It requires root and transfers the entire app and its data to your external card.

• transfer to SD Card.

This does not require root and only works if your phone supports transferring apps to external storage. If you have root you can also transfer apps that don’t support transfer.

• Link to SD Card (Data and Cache)

this transfers files and data and requires root.

To transfer more than one application at a time, click the list button in the upper-right corner and choose Multi-select. Now tap on all the apps you want to transfer, click the list button again, and choose either Link to SD card or transfer to SD card. These are the same options as described above. Link2SD is free and works on Android 2.3 and above.

Download: Link2SD (Free).

How to make a memory card as internal storage

Android 6.0 introduced changes to the way phones can handle memory cards, and these changes persist in newer versions of Android.

you can set SD cards to act as internal storage now.
Instead of having separate internal and external storage, the system regards the card as an extension of the internal memory.

First, you need to know that your card will be erased in the process, so be sure to back up any data you need:

• Insert the card into your phone. When the new SD card notification appears, tap Setup.
• Choose how your phone should use the card.
• Select Phone Storage on Android 9 or use Internal Storage on older versions.

Another method:

• Go to Settings > Storage and tap on the card then choose Storage settings. Tap on Switch to Internal format.
• On the next screen tap Format SD Card or Scan and Format. This will erase your card.
• On Android 9 you can transfer your content including apps.

This feature is called “Adoptable Storage” and it requires you to keep the card in your phone all times. The card is also encrypted so you cannot put it in another device to copy the data. The downside is that some manufacturers choose not to offer this feature on their devices. If you don’t have it you will have to proceed with transferring the apps to the memory card manually.

Advantages and disadvantages of transferring applications from the phone memory to the memory card

There are many advantages to transferring applications to the memory card, the most important of which are:

• Provide more space in the phone memory.
• More performance and smoothness in the phone.
• You will not need to delete apps or photos to free up space in the internal memory.

disadvantage:

• Not all applications can be transferred, as there are applications that do not support transferring them to the memory.
• When the memory card is removed from the phone, you cannot use the application or game that you transferred.
• You may notice slightly worse performance of applications.

The best way to transfer apps from phone memory to Android memory card

The best way to install apps to an SD card depends on the Android version you’re using, whether your phone manufacturer has this feature set, and the app you want to transfer.

Briefly, Making the memory card as internal storage is the best option on phones that support this feature. For phones that support moving apps to the card manually, this method is the best and easiest. If your phone does not support any of these features, consider rooting and using a Link2SD program.