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[Q] Unable to store apps to internal storage

i have recently got Karbonn A15 phone (an India Company), which supports 2.5GB of internal storage, now the problem is, whenever i try to install app it does not stores the app in the internal storage, it stores in system space instead, which is 581MB only, now when i move the app to the SD Card it do moves the app to the internal storage but still it has some of the portion in system space.
Can anyone tell me how to store full app to the internal storage.
I am not asking for the external storage saving, but atleast it should totally utilize the internal storage, in this case, my internal storage will remain empty and my system space will get full..
Can anyone help me with this.

smartabbas said:
i have recently got Karbonn A15 phone (an India Company), which supports 2.5GB of internal storage, now the problem is, whenever i try to install app it does not stores the app in the internal storage, it stores in system space instead, which is 581MB only, now when i move the app to the SD Card it do moves the app to the internal storage but still it has some of the portion in system space.
Can anyone tell me how to store full app to the internal storage.
I am not asking for the external storage saving, but atleast it should totally utilize the internal storage, in this case, my internal storage will remain empty and my system space will get full..
Can anyone help me with this.
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Click to collapse
follow the link in my signature
Karbonn A15

Which version of Android started disallowing saving apps to an SD card?

At one point you could install and use all your apps from the SD card if you chose to do so.
What was the last version that allowed this? Or is this baked into the phone by the manufacturer?
I'm still learning so bear with me.
EDIT: I've just read that Android 6.0 Marshmallow allows this if the developer of the particular app allows it.
So does that mean that none of the previous versions allowed this function?

If allowed by the app (in app manifest), an app may be installed to external storage rather than internal storage.
As of Android 6.0, apps were restricted to internal storage. However, external storage adopted as internal storage is treated as an external, internal storage device and apps may be moved between or installed to the various (real or adopted) internal storage devices. Apps restricting installation to internal storage are still disallowed from using the external, internal storage.
As of Android 7.0, the "Force allow apps on external" configuration option was added to Settings -> Developer options. The setting is further described: "Makes any app eligible to be written to external storage, regardless of manifest values". Despite, the setting's name and description, one is still restricted to having an app installed as on internal storage or storage adopted as internal storage, but app's (real) internal storage only requirement is no longer enforced.

There is a method to install/move apps to SD?

I've been looking for a method to move or force installation of apps to my 128gb micro SD card and so far I haven't found anything that works correctly, is there some method that actually allows moving apps to the SD card? or any custom rom that allows this? would titanium backup "move to SD card" option work?

You can use adoptable storage. It binds an SD card to your phone so you won't be able to use it with any other devices, but it essentially extends your phone's storage space by that much. Make sure you back up everything on your external SD card somewhere if there's anything important on it because this will wipe it clean.
1.) Open the "Files" app (the Google app with the colorful folded rectangles).
2.) Go to Browse.
3.) Scroll down to the bottom where you see your SD card, and tap on it.
4.) Hit the three dots in the top right.
5.) Click "Storage Settings".
6.) And finally, "Format as internal".
Once you've "adopted" the storage space you can move apps to it freely by going to a specific app's "App Info" page, clicking Storage, and choosing "Change" for each app. If you want to move multiple apps you can use something like "Internal Storage To SD Card" from the Play Store, which helps streamline the process; or even go into Developer Options and enable the option "Force allow apps to write on external storage" near the bottom which will force the majority of apps to favor the external SD card over the phone's.
Here's a bit more info on where your files are kept after this process.
If you want to retain separate access to the external SD Card so that you can use it with your computer or other devices while also storing app data on there, I'm afraid it's not very simple to do so. Android 9/10 has made a lot of changes with file access and how things are managed and stored on your device. I'm still figuring it out for myself, too.

i have a question, it will lose performance?
because i think if the phone is using a UFS 2.0, is the same or better maximum speed of R/W of SDCARD?

Polakiyo87 said:
i have a question, it will lose performance?
because i think if the phone is using a UFS 2.0, is the same or better maximum speed of R/W of SDCARD?
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Click to collapse
Of course, the performance of the external drive will be lower.
However, don't underestimate them.
The performance of modern transflash is quite enough, for example, to run games like Doom, witcher or Skyrim(20+GB distros) from them on Nintendo consoles. The main thing is that the card is good. Like the same Sandisk extreme.

Not working for me. I've formatted the SD card as internal, but I can't move any apps to the SD card. When I go to the storage screen for an app, it only displays the total, app size, data and cache. There's no option to change storage location.
Yes, I've rebooted.

Same for me.
App mgr III and link2sd did not works even with Root :/
WTF nobody found a solution on a Android 10?

You don't want the apps running off the SD card as it's bandwidth is a lot slower than internal memory! It's a bottleneck to avoid.
Use the SD card as a data drive only.
Internal memory: OS, apps, temporary data and downloads.
SD card: all critical data, backups, music, vids, etc. Everything you need to fully restore the phone after a factory reset should be on it including copies of the apks.
Always redundantly backup the data drive on at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically separated! Or you will lose your data sooner... or latter.

blackhawk said:
You don't want the apps running off the SD card as it's bandwidth is a lot slower than internal memory! It's a bottleneck to avoid.
Use the SD card as a data drive only.
Internal memory: OS, apps, temporary data and downloads.
SD card: all critical data, backups, music, vids, etc. Everything you need to fully restore the phone after a factory reset should be on it including copies of the apks.
Always redundantly backup the data drive on at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically separated! Or you will lose your data sooner... or latter.
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Yes i know ... All my pictures, videos etc are on SD ...
But you don't reply, do you have a solution?
Like millions of android users, i have not enough space for games in the phone. I don't care about slow speed of game. Genshin inpact for example take more of 7gB !
OS takes 15gB ... App takes often many hundred of mB it's WTF...
App are crazy to cache, and snapchat instagram facebook etc can take 1gB each.
The sd limitation is a programmed obsolescence for smartphones (256 gB of microsd are cheap). All people don't care about low performance of specifics app, it's better than the impossiblity to install then.
Normally we should be able to make symbolic links between linux partititons.
That's the same on windows, i install my terabytes of games on an hard drive because my sdd is not enought ... And it works well.

raysar said:
Yes i know ... All my pictures, videos etc are on SD ...
But you don't reply, do you have a solution?
Like millions of android users, i have not enough space for games in the phone. I don't care about slow speed of game. Genshin inpact for example take more of 7gB !
OS takes 15gB ... App takes often many hundred of mB it's WTF...
App are crazy to cache, and snapchat instagram facebook etc can take 1gB each.
The sd limitation is a programmed obsolescence for smartphones (256 gB of microsd are cheap). All people don't care about low performance of specifics app, it's better than the impossiblity to install then.
Normally we should be able to make symbolic links between linux partititons.
That's the same on windows, i install my terabytes of games on an hard drive because my sdd is not enought ... And it works well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be happy for the bump...
You should also post your OS version for solutions.
Maybe a ADB edit could get it.
Lol, I have one game loaded. Most are fair to high privacy/security risks... that could really keep you amused.

I used App2sd earlier with android 7 and devices with 8GB flash , where only 3.5GB we ahve for applications. The result, I was able to install 100 or more apps and games without problem. It will not work in modern android.
I use a script which move all pictures , movies, call recordings to the sd card when I plug in usb-c cable. The card is a place of storing multimedia, nandroid backup and titantium backup.
Modern devices with 64GB+ flash are able to keep all apps inside , of course if all media files will be moved to sd card.

raysar said:
Same for me.
App mgr III and link2sd did not works even with Root :/
WTF nobody found a solution on a Android 10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess xda developers not the same. It is ****. They can't brake a **** Xiaomi? It seems that I have to buy an old phone not Xiaomi and brake it.

Hi, I know I'm late to this but hopefully it will help someone having the same problem.
Tested on Redmi 9a, android 10
1- After you format your sd card as
SeekerofLight.iz said, download this app from Google store: this app basically shows all the hidden settings on all Xiaomi phones.
2- Open the app and type storage in the search bar located at the top.
3- you will see several results, tap at
"Storage Use: Storage use
com.android.settings.applications.StorageUse".
4- A new window will open with a list of all apps installed on your phone. Tap the app you want to move to sd card then "storage and cashe" and you will find the da** "Change" button we all have been looking for tap it and select sd card.
I've attached screenshots for those who prefer them.
And about performance, there was a slight lag almost unnoticeable but games were playable in general.

AngryYoungMan said:
Not working for me. I've formatted the SD card as internal, but I can't move any apps to the SD card. When I go to the storage screen for an app, it only displays the total, app size, data and cache. There's no option to change storage location.
Yes, I've rebooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not all apps will support installation on sd card... If u want force it to be on sd card, u can use App2SD Pro app but root needed

How to manage the limited internal memory of a smartphone with whatsapp

Hi, I have an old Redmi6A phone (Lineage OS 17.1) that only has 8GB of internal memory. This is very little if you use Whatsapp. Of course I added a 32Gb SD card, but with whatsapp I have trouble saving my photos on the card. What are the possible workarounds?
1- Is there a difference depending on whether you set the SD card as portable storage or internal storage?
2 - My phone is rooted. I've looked for practical solutions including magisk, but no module matches.
3 - Beyond whatsapp, what should I do: is there an app that allows other apps to be installed on the external media? Is this a good idea? Is it better to limit the storage of data on the SD card to avoid the crash of these "deported" apps?
Just an advice or two would make me happy...

If Android device allows to make external SD-card part of internal storage memory ( keyword: Adoptable Storage ) then you are good. Check it.

I believe that my android device allows me to do this. The French translation does not use the words adoptable storage "stockage adoptable" but the 1st drawing seems to match.
What I have read on the subject indicates that the reading and access time to the data on the external card is much longer than on the internal memory. How does android arbitrate what it stores on the internal or external memory? Can the user control this?
I assume and hope that the most crucial apps are on the internal memory

It's on you how much of the SD-card's storage memory ( in % ) you'll add to internal memory: 1,2,...,100.
Yes, reading / writing to device's "portable memory" basically takes longer. So with regards to file transfer speeds, choosing the right memory card is crucial. Look here:
The best SD cards for 2023: top memory cards for your camera
We've tested and ranked all of the best SD cards you can buy
www.techradar.com
Android by default uses device's internal memory. The least app's allow to store their data on external SD-card: this is set by app's developer.

I tested the 2 options; first the adoptable storage but for some reason it didn't work; I mean the operation was correctly done but the 32Gb was not added to my internal memory; just a few hundred Mb more. I repeated the operation 3 times to rule out the possibility of an isolated incident.
So I was forced to reformat the SD card as external memory. Everything went well. But now I'm back to the original situation.

My search led me to 2 apps (Link2SD and App2SD) to override the restriction to move to the SD card. Those apps don't seem to be really used anymore: their peak corresponds to the 2015-2016 versions of Android (Marschmallow and Nougat) and are quite complex to handle since you have to format the external SD card in several partitions to be able to consider moving anything.
What do you think about this type of solution?

As @xXx yYy already said:
The least app's allow to store their data on external SD-card: this is set by app's developer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thus forget the named 3rd-party-tools that claim they can.
BTW: look inside here
Whatsapp folder in Android: Here's where to find it
WhatsApp folder with all media files in Android can be found on new location if you are on Android 11. Learn here where to find it.
mobileinternist.com

Napafroi said:
I tested the 2 options; first the adoptable storage but for some reason it didn't work; I mean the operation was correctly done but the 32Gb was not added to my internal memory; just a few hundred Mb more. I repeated the operation 3 times to rule out the possibility of an isolated incident.
So I was forced to reformat the SD card as external memory. Everything went well. But now I'm back to the original situation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After an external memory got converted to portable memory it's Android what automatically moves data from internal memory to portable memory as long as they moveable to gain internal memory space. Thus the few 100MB you reported.
You always can configure the amount of portable memory indeed to be used by Android's Storage Manager ( SM ) using ADB.

Well, I think I'm getting used to this adoptable storage which is really confusing since the size doesn't take into account the extra 32Gb (in the storage manager and also in solid explorer).
I don't know if it's a bug but sd maid and its memory analysis function allows me to check that telegram, osmand (including downloadable maps) and vivaldi browser will install directly on the adaptable storage. That's all I ask.
It's still surprising not to be able to view the content of the SD card; maybe it's a bug like others have experienced like on this thread
I wanted to experiment a nandroid backup on MicroSD adopted-storage with TWRP which was refused.
xXx yYy said:
You always can configure the amount of portable memory indeed to be used by Android's Storage Manager ( SM ) using ADB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I understand better the interest to calibrate the portion of adoptable storage...

Screenshot no. 5 shows 2.7 GB of the portable memory ( real capacity 31 GB ) are used.
To get the whole portable memory as internal memory used using ADB try this
Code:
adb shell
sm list-disks -> This cmd returns id of SD-card e.g. 179:160
sm partition disk:179:160 private -> Here you use the id of SD-card
where the numbers are the Android's name of your disk.

I just did this.
Reboot but it didn't change anything. Maybe the card is defective...
EDIT : oh wait, yesterday I inserted this same micro SDcard in an old samsung galaxy tab4 with the "same" custom rom (LineageOS 17.10) as adoptable storage. The 32Gb capacity was not added to internal memory as well. Maybe this rom is buggy for managing adoptable storage.
Sorry for my english

The ( meanwhile outdated ) Lineage OS 17.1 - a Lineage OS 17.10 probably doesn't exist - is based on Android 10 and can "Adoptable Storage" as you initially confirmed.
IMO you are probably doing things wrong
"migrate data" is the 2nd necessary step after 1st step "adoptable-storage" is created. It will ( try to ) move all apps from phone into SD-card ( if app is moveable ), means all new installed apps will directly get installed into SD-card as long as android:installLocation="auto" is defined in app's AndroidManifest.xml.
When 100% disk space got adopted you can't see your SD-card any longer, the only way to check disk usage is from Android's cmd line running df -h /mnt/expand/* ( if Android is rooted consider 3rd party apps like Link2SD instead ).

"Force allow apps on external" not working on Motorola G Power 2021

So I recently ran out of storage on my Motorola G Power 2021, so I bought a micro SD to move some of my less-used but not quite expendable apps. Originally I'd planned to format as internal storage, but my phone doesn't appear to allow this and doesn't even show the option to do so. So I opted for the next best thing, migrating some of the app data over by going to Apps & notifications > All Apps > (app) > Storage & cache, but there's no option to move the app to the external storage device. As per the title, I also turned "Force allow apps on external" in developer settings to no avail. Could Motorola be blocking this too? I've done a little searching, and I can't seem to find any examples of this other than this one which was on a completely different phone brand and this one which seems to have been caused by misunderstanding and resolved.
What I've tried:
Restarting phone - didn't help
Checking other apps - checked about a dozen and none had the move to external storage option
Rooting - can't unlock bootloader as per Motorola's website
Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this, if I can work around it, or even if I can somehow format as internal storage? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Installing apps over to the microSD card isn't supported by all apps. In fact, many don’t support this feature at all. Some manufacturers - namely, Samsung and LG - reviously allowed users to format microSD cards as internal storage. That meant apps and games would be installed there by default. Sadly, this feature is no longer present on newer devices.
Technically, it’s still possible to install apps on the microSD if you’re willing to go through the trouble of rooting your Android phone and afterwareds use Link2SD to move the apps from internal storage to exernal storage.

xXx yYy said:
Installing apps over to the microSD card isn't supported by all apps. In fact, many don’t support this feature at all. Some manufacturers - namely, Samsung and LG - reviously allowed users to format microSD cards as internal storage. That meant apps and games would be installed there by default. Sadly, this feature is no longer present on newer devices.
Technically, it’s still possible to install apps on the microSD if you’re willing to go through the trouble of rooting your Android phone and afterwareds use Link2SD to move the apps from internal storage to exernal storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought the purpose of "Force allow apps on external" was to be able to transfer any app regardless of the developers' wishes. Is this not the case?

you already gave the answer yourself
Wrig9 said:
Originally I'd planned to format as internal storage, but my phone doesn't appear to allow this and doesn't even show the option to do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

alecxs said:
you already gave the answer yourself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it have to be formatted as internal storage to be allowed to transfer apps? I guess I didn't really think about that.
Edit: Just to be sure we're all on the same page, the SD card is formatted, just not as part of the internal storage. I can access any files on it, but I can't put any apps there. I was under the impression that if you formatted as internal storage the SD card would act as a direct expansion somehow and automatically install data there once the integrated storage filled.

I haven't tested that specific option but afaik it overrides android:installLocation="preferExternal" in app manifest. that would allow to move the apk to Adoptable Storage, but requires MicroSD Card formatted as internal.
Only new apps are installed external automatically (based on that setting), for existing apps the "Migrate Data" option is offered.