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.
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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.
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alecxs said:
you already gave the answer yourself
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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.
Related
Right now, it seems as though my main internal storage is full, whereas my 2nd partition ("SD Card") has free space. Every time I try to install an app, it tries to install it to my main internal storage, and thus it gives me an "insufficient storage" error. I used to be able to go into an app on the Apps area of Settings, and attempt to move the app to or from the "SD Card". IIRC, at some point Android decided to drop the idea of having two partitions for internal storage, and now doesn't allow for that type of movement between partitions. The problem is, now I can't seem to install any new apps unless I uninstall my old ones.
Is there any way I can selectively install apps to my "SD Card"? Also, is there any easy way to simply combine my storage? I don't see the point in having it separated out.
I'm running Paranoid Android 4.44. Thanks in advance.
Kitkat removed the ability to move apps to the SD card for whatever reason. There's a couple patches that allegedly fix this issue in the play store but I've tried most of them and haven't gotten it to work. I also can't find a way to merge the internal storage and SD card partitions. I would ask the developer of link2sd for more help on this.
Like @Cryptecks said there comes a point in time where the older devices start to show their limits and unfortunately this is one of them. Sorry...
Ugh. Well thanks at least for the response. It seems pretty silly that this is an issue. I guess i'll see what I can find patching wise, but man, this is gonna be annoying. My main partition is only 2 GB or so
same here, 2.34 GB on my main apps partition which also houses cached data. CM11 will allow me to move some data from certain apps to the virtual sdcard partition that is there with 10 GB and 8 GB FREE SPACE!
merging partitions in ms windows is so easy, why is android so lame with this? I might have to get a new phone
When I first got the phone I set the 32 gb SD card as the primary storage because I read the phone lacks the feature at least in 4.1 to manually manage moving apps to SD card. I thought everything was fine but now I notice in the details of almost all of my apps that they are stored on the local storage. Without an option to move these items to SD how can I force them to move to SD card. I downloaded HiSuite and got it working after I enabled everything but don't see a way to move apps to SD and most of the apps on the play store just direct you to the section where you'd traditionally move the items to SD and the feature isn't there. Is there something I can do to get some of these games/apps to SD card or any chance that once I get nougat in the next month or two I'd at least be able to do so then? Thanks. These forums have been real lifesavers a number of times even though I mostly lurk.
I think ever since Android 5.0 (Lollipop) google stopped allowing apps to be installed to an SD card, therefor you need tricks or apps like Link2SD, which has a paid feature to make symbolic links to the sd card.
I bought a 128gb card, which is basically overkill if nothing can be installed on it. Nice for music I guess, but spotify als refuses to store stuff on the sd card.
eddoc said:
When I first got the phone I set the 32 gb SD card as the primary storage because I read the phone lacks the feature at least in 4.1 to manually manage moving apps to SD card. I thought everything was fine but now I notice in the details of almost all of my apps that they are stored on the local storage. Without an option to move these items to SD how can I force them to move to SD card. I downloaded HiSuite and got it working after I enabled everything but don't see a way to move apps to SD and most of the apps on the play store just direct you to the section where you'd traditionally move the items to SD and the feature isn't there. Is there something I can do to get some of these games/apps to SD card or any chance that once I get nougat in the next month or two I'd at least be able to do so then? Thanks. These forums have been real lifesavers a number of times even though I mostly lurk.
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select External SD as default storage which is present in Settings (settings > advanced settings > memory & storage > last second option > default Location - change it to external MicroSD ..
As I said in my post one of the first things I does was set sd card as default
However when you look at the details on apps almost all of them are still installing themselves to internal. The size on my sd card has only dropped a bit.
Bhargav7 said:
select External SD as default storage which is present in Settings (settings > advanced settings > memory & storage > last second option > default Location - change it to external MicroSD ..
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eddoc said:
However when you look at the details on apps almost all of them are still installing themselves to internal. The size on my sd card has only dropped a bit.
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if this is the case.. i too want to find & learn the solution.. !! Hope we get some real solution..
I've installed XInternalSD (xposed & root [i think] required), which seems to have done the trick. Games like Asphalt 8 now fully install their data on the external sd card.
Not sure if many of you are aware, but the U11 allows you to encrypt portable microSD cards in the settings, which is nice for privacy purposes. The problem is since I did that (I even rebooted after) many of my apps can't properly read or write to the microSD card. I've noticed many of said apps don't implement Google's expandable storage permissions properly either (i.e. they don't ask you to select the root directory of the microSD card in Android File Explorer so they have proper read-write access to everything.)
My questions, therefore, are:
What am I doing wrong? Is there some permission I'm missing?
Are 3rd party apps supposed to be able to work with encrypted portable storage?
Is encrypted portable storage even an AOSP feature? Or something specific to 3rd party OEMs?
Why do so many apps not implement microSD storage read/write permissions correctly?
Any ideas?
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.
Hi,
Do I need to root my phone to do this?
Basically, If I download anything e.g app, video, etc I want to default save location to be on my SD card NOT on the phones internal storage.
I have gone into 'developer options' and toggled on 'Force allow apps to write on external storage' but I'm not sure that is actually working.
Thanks
jinz24 said:
Hi,
Do I need to root my phone to do this?
Basically, If I download anything e.g app, video, etc I want to default save location to be on my SD card NOT on the phones internal storage.
I have gone into 'developer options' and toggled on 'Force allow apps to write on external storage' but I'm not sure that is actually working.
Thanks
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Click to collapse
From my pov, it's back to the app's job to save something in which storage.
Since you've stated that if downloaded file (app, video, etc.) could be saved in external storage, could you check on the app used to download if it support to save the downloaded files directly to sdcard? Some insight here.
jinz24 said:
Hi,
Do I need to root my phone to do this?
Basically, If I download anything e.g app, video, etc I want to default save location to be on my SD card NOT on the phones internal storage.
I have gone into 'developer options' and toggled on 'Force allow apps to write on external storage' but I'm not sure that is actually working.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got some options,
-you can use a download manager app to save on sd, you can use opera browser which does the same thing.
-you can use adoptable storage but it is janky and some apps/games may not work (like realracing 3)
-i recommend this, if you root, you can use an app called link2sd and if you buy plus version(totally recommend) you can move big obb and data files to your sd.
I got a 128gb evo plus sdcard, my x3 is 64gb. I cut around the corner and didnt pay 300-400 turkish liras.
Back in the old days sd cards were slow but now it is worth it. I paid less than what i would pay for 128gb version. So if you need space, root is what i can recommend you.
Btw that toggle doesnt work and will not do anything. Some apps support using external storage like hearthstone game or netflix. Like i have said above, it depends on what you download and what you download with. You can use alternatives which has external support for the apps you use. If you dont want root ofc