How To Install Apps Directly To Your SD Card

Are you looking forward to knowing how to install apps directly to your SD card? Then you’re on the right page. Here, I will be sharing with you how to move apps to an SD card whether on Android or iOS devices.

When you bought a phone, it comes with a large chunk of storage that has to take the phone’s operating system and preloaded software, once you start downloading videos, music, and installing apps, you might run out of storage.

This is why is recommended for you to know how to install apps directly to your SD card, you can try out these step by step guides on how to move Android apps to an SD Card or better still go-ahead to expand your phone memory to create space so as to carry more preloaded apps.

IMPORTANT: Before we get started, let’s discuss how to set SD card as internal storage.

How to set SD card as internal storage

For those whose device does not support moving apps to a microSD card, after installing any app, there is a feature that allows you to format the microSD card to act like an added internal storage.

Unfortunately, not all devices with a microSD slot support this feature, brands like Samsung and LG have removed it from newer models of their phones. This is also known as rooting.

For best results on this, note the following;

• Please, make use of the fastest SD card you can lay your hands on.
• Note that any information already present on the SD card will be formatted or erased, also you cannot use the SD card on another device unless you reformat it.
• If removed the SD card from your phone, your app functionalities will be affected.

Here is how to set SD card as an internal storage on Android phone:

• Launch Settings.
• Navigate to Storage and tap on it.
• Here, you will see the RAM, internal storage, and memory card.
• Select your SD card by tapping the 3 vertical dots (menu button) by the right corner of the memory card.
• Select Format as internal.
• Note that for some devices, you may have to select Storage settings before you will find the option to Format as internal.
• After selecting Format as Internal, tap Erase & Format.
• If the system sees that your microSD card is too slow, it will prompt you with a warning that it will degrade performance.
• So, you can choose to proceed or stop and retry with another SD card.
• Tap on Move Now (to initiate moving your files and apps to SD card).
• Tap Done when it is finished.

After the finished process, your SD card will now be listed below the internal shared storage and the system will use it as additional internal storage in the future when you want to install apps.

How to install apps on SD card android

How to use the Application Manager to move apps from internal memory to SD card

If you can’t install apps directly to the SD card, you can install them on your phones internal memory first, then move them to your SD card.

However, is not available on all devices and is not applicable to all apps. If you don’t want to worry about how to install Android apps on SD card without rooting, you can try this.

Follow the steps to transfer apps to SD card on Android:

• Navigate to Settings on your phone.
• Navigate and select Apps.
• Select an App you want to move to the SD card.
• Tap Storage.
• Tap Change.
• Tap Move.

Note, if the option to Change Storage isn’t available, the app can’t be moved. This is a developer’s choice, and it signifies that the app is intended to provide some functionality that isn’t available on the SD card.

Try another app; if none of them has this choice, then your smartphone lacks support for the feature.

How to change the default storage to SD card

To change the default storage setting to SD card, first, let’s look at how to install apps from the Google Play Store straight to SD cards by altering the settings and making the SD card the default memory.

Before we get started, remember that this technique does not work on all Android smartphones. It is compatible with Android 4.4.2 operating systems. Larger apps must be placed on the SD card because they usually have limited internal storage.

Make sure that a compatible SD card has been inserted into your phone. Now, following steps to change the default storage to SD card:

• On the Home screen, tap Settings.
• Navigate and tap Storage.
• Now, check to turn ON the SD card, and set the SD card as the default storage place.
• From the Home screen, tap File Browser open.
• Navigate and select Apps.
•  Choose a particular app to be installed.
• Tap OK to install the App to SD card.

How to use a third-party app manager

An app that manages other apps is referred to as a third-party app manager. You can get one of them from the Google Play Store very easy.

• Go to Google Play Store.
• Type App manager in the Search bar. You’ll be presented with a list of third-party app managers from which to choose. Some app administrators for third-party apps are free, while others are paid, please do some research and decide. Here is a couple of apps that have received quality reviews are; the File Manager 4.7-star rating and the App Manager with 4.3-star rating.
• If find the one you desire, install your preferred option.
• Whatever app you choose, you will have to grant permissions at the first time you launch it.
• All third-party apps are pretty simple to use and navigate and you can then use it to move apps from the phones internet storage memory to SD card.

How to use Android Studio and Android SDK to configure your phone to automatically install apps to your SD card

You must first install the SDK app before you can use the Android SDK to install apps directly to your SD card. This is a tiny application that connects your PC to the Android operating system.

That means you’ll need a computer to do this task. This is a very sophisticated procedure that must be followed carefully.

Follow the steps below to get started:

• First, you can download the app on your phone by searching Android SDK on play store and picking a preferred option.
• Also, download and install the Google Android SDK on your computer.
• After downloading and installing it, Plug your phone into your PC using the USB charging cable.
• From the options, select File Transfer.
• On your phone, go to Settings.
• Select Developer Options.
• Scroll down and Tap USB Debugging.
• On your computer, open the Platform-tools folder and open a CMD window within the folder. (If you’re on Windows it might be under a folder like this: C:\Users\User1\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\platform-tools).
• Type ‘adb devices’ to view all connected devices.
• Type ‘adb shell pm set-install-location 2’ to set the install location to external, SD card in this case.
• Type ‘adb shell pm get-install-location’ to view the location where apps are installed.
• If you see 2 [external] in the CMD window, you’re all set. If you don’t, try again.

With the exception of apps that the creators have configured to only install on the phone, you will install apps directly to your SD card in the future.

How can I install Apps directly on external SD card on Lenovo A10-70 Tablet

Lenovo A10-70 device allows Apps to be installed on either internal storage memory or the external SD card. This is done due to the limited space of internal storage. Therefore, installing larger Apps on the external SD card may be preferred.

Here is how to install apps directly on Lenovo A10-70 external SD card. Insert the SD card into the device, then use the following steps to get started:

Am going to share with you 2 methods in doing this:

Method 1: How to install apps directly to SD card from play store on Lenovo A10-70

• Step 1: Touch File Browser on Home screen.
• Step 2: Tap Apps.
• Step 3: On Apps, select the App to be installed.
• Step 4: Tap OK to install the App to SD card.

Method 2: How to move apps to SD card Lenovo

• Step 1: Tap Settings on Home screen.
• Step 2: Tap Storage.
• Step 3: Check to turn on SD card.
• Step 4: Set SD card as the default storage place.

Why can’t I install apps on my SD card after changing location on my Android phone?

This usually occurs due to lack of space in your device. If you transfer data in your phone (Apps, Images, Music files, etc.) into the SD card space will be free on your device and then you can install more apps.

What is the best app to move apps to SD card?

Link2SD is an application manager for Android 2.0+ devices that makes it simple to move applications to the SD card. It allows you to effortlessly manage your apps and storage.

Link2SD creates a secondary partition on your SD card that serves as additional internal storage.

This is the wrap up on How to install apps directly to your SD card

I know that you must have found one or two methods that work best for your Android phone after reading all of the options. And I believe how do I install apps directly to my SD card is no longer a problem for you.

You can root your device, but you can also install apps directly to your SD card without rooting the phone. Go ahead and give it a shot. Move apps to SD card using application manager is one.