Moving Your 'Non-Movable' Android Apps to an SD Card

Rob Williams · 12-21-2011, 09:07 PM

Have an Android device that's quickly running out of space due to limited internal memory? Have a large collection of apps that refuse to move over to your SD card? If either of these is true, then you need to know about a simple tweak that can be done to forcibly move over many apps to your SD card - all without rooting.

Read through our how-to and then discuss it here!

RainMotorsports · 12-21-2011, 09:25 PM

Good stuff. I keep reading people crying about Adobe Flash being advertised as 4MB and it really being 12 and then the real crying begins.

The Galaxy S2 having 2GB of space for this and the remaining portion of the 16GB to usb storage i have yet to see how I will complain. That said where the heck did the 452 MB of GTA III go since only 12 mb is showing here. Guess they automatically move the payload of some apps to internal storage?

Edit - Yeah apparently GTA III along with some other apps can deploy large payloads to the other internal storage.

Rob Williams · 12-21-2011, 09:38 PM

Large games like that tend to install themselves to external storage automatically, or keep the main game client and installer on the phone itself and then store all the data on the SD card.

I hear you about that Flash complaint, and I can kind of relate. The phone I have has next-to-no storage yet they preinstall tons of useless apps I'll never use, apps that can't even be moved with the instructions in this article. It's as if HTC makes a buck each time I use Facebook mobile or something.

DarkStarr · 12-23-2011, 01:10 PM

Meh, that's why mine is rooted and as soon as the Cyanogen port is polished enough I will toss that on it. I have all bloat crap removed and slimmed down and moved to external thanks to Titanium Backup, much easier than getting the SDK and tweaking IMO. Then again the phone is a midlevel phone so it has 160mb ROM space and like another 160mb internal, then you have w/e is on SD and due to the SD I have quite a bit free on both ROM and Internal.

Rob Williams · 12-23-2011, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkStarr

Meh, that's why mine is rooted and as soon as the Cyanogen port is polished enough I will toss that on it. I have all bloat crap removed and slimmed down and moved to external thanks to Titanium Backup, much easier than getting the SDK and tweaking IMO. Then again the phone is a midlevel phone so it has 160mb ROM space and like another 160mb internal, then you have w/e is on SD and due to the SD I have quite a bit free on both ROM and Internal.

This is an area I've not been too familiar with. I've never rooted a phone, because I've never felt the need to, but I might at some point just to see what's possible. If I had an iPhone you'd bet I'd root it immediately, but Android is far less restrictive from the get-go.

DarkStarr · 12-24-2011, 04:38 AM

You don't know what your missing then, especially on a higher end phone. So many options and custom roms :P

RainMotorsports · 12-24-2011, 07:09 AM

Ive been waiting around to confirm the EK02 update didnt mess with the root methods available. Seems like im good to go doing myne now.

Done. Checked root access and now im going to bed lol. Do some more work on it tomorrow.

Having a bit of trouble getting CWM working. The recovery flash supposedly goes fine. But if i use the reboot option it gives me the android due with an exclamation mark. The stock recovery is there and works fine otherwise.

Permissions are enabled for rom manager. Reading something about possibly renaming a file. Get this sorted later.

DarkStarr · 12-24-2011, 03:33 PM

Oh, theres a file that reloads the stock recovery EVERY boot (actually shutdown I think), the prevail has it too, rename it and your set.

RainMotorsports · 01-01-2012, 03:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkStarr

Oh, theres a file that reloads the stock recovery EVERY boot (actually shutdown I think), the prevail has it too, rename it and your set.

Turned out the app I used to auto root would do it for me.

Been awhile on a stock rooted firmware with CWM5. I just switched to a modded rom based on the latest leaked firmware. Removal of Carrier IQ is one of the highlights of the current firmware leaks but modem speeds and signal strength as well.

Loving this custom rom. Actually being able to use the tether for free for a minute has made me realize I never actually want to use it at all except those rare emergencies

This phone is a mess in that regard not much support for the wifi tether so they hacked the stock application instead.

03-25-2012, 02:07 PM

I like this procedure for non-rooted, thanks. I have a question though, After the procedure and then reverting do the apps that are originally designed not to move stay on sd after future updates?

Rob Williams · 03-25-2012, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I like this procedure for non-rooted, thanks. I have a question though, After the procedure and then reverting do the apps that are originally designed not to move stay on sd after future updates?

As far as personal experience goes, yes. I have quite a few apps that are located on the SD card, and have never had an issue with updating them right where they are.

Doomsday · 03-25-2012, 05:44 PM

Ooh! I can soo use this on me new Galaxy S2!! w00t!

Rob Williams · 03-26-2012, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doomsday

Ooh! I can soo use this on me new Galaxy S2!! w00t!

Yup, do it up!

Kougar · 03-28-2012, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

This is an area I've not been too familiar with. I've never rooted a phone, because I've never felt the need to, but I might at some point just to see what's possible. If I had an iPhone you'd bet I'd root it immediately, but Android is far less restrictive from the get-go.

Yeah, if you did you'd have to be careful that the carrier never upgrades the firmware on you... bunch of Verizon users ended up with bricked Iphones not covered by any warranty for that awhile back!

04-23-2012, 09:14 AM

Your advise worked brilliantly thanks for the help!

12-21-2011, 09:07 PM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	Moving Your 'Non-Movable' Android Apps to an SD Card Have an Android device that's quickly running out of space due to limited internal memory? Have a large collection of apps that refuse to move over to your SD card? If either of these is true, then you need to know about a simple tweak that can be done to forcibly move over many apps to your SD card - all without rooting. Read through our how-to and then discuss it here! __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

12-21-2011, 09:25 PM	#2
RainMotorsports Partition Master Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 349	Good stuff. I keep reading people crying about Adobe Flash being advertised as 4MB and it really being 12 and then the real crying begins. The Galaxy S2 having 2GB of space for this and the remaining portion of the 16GB to usb storage i have yet to see how I will complain. That said where the heck did the 452 MB of GTA III go since only 12 mb is showing here. Guess they automatically move the payload of some apps to internal storage? Edit - Yeah apparently GTA III along with some other apps can deploy large payloads to the other internal storage. Last edited by RainMotorsports; 12-21-2011 at 09:35 PM.

12-21-2011, 09:38 PM	#3
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	Large games like that tend to install themselves to external storage automatically, or keep the main game client and installer on the phone itself and then store all the data on the SD card. I hear you about that Flash complaint, and I can kind of relate. The phone I have has next-to-no storage yet they preinstall tons of useless apps I'll never use, apps that can't even be moved with the instructions in this article. It's as if HTC makes a buck each time I use Facebook mobile or something. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

12-23-2011, 01:10 PM	#4
DarkStarr Tech Monkey Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 623	Meh, that's why mine is rooted and as soon as the Cyanogen port is polished enough I will toss that on it. I have all bloat crap removed and slimmed down and moved to external thanks to Titanium Backup, much easier than getting the SDK and tweaking IMO. Then again the phone is a midlevel phone so it has 160mb ROM space and like another 160mb internal, then you have w/e is on SD and due to the SD I have quite a bit free on both ROM and Internal. __________________ Intel Core i7 2700k (4.8 @ 100x48) Watercooled - 16GB Crucial Ballistix @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T 8GB Corsair Vengeance @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T - Asus Sabertooth P67 - Asus Radeon 7970 Ref. (Non Ghz) Heatkiller 79xx Ni-Bl (Soon) @ 1050/1500 - 64Gb Crucial M4 SSD - 3x Hitachi 1Tb - Corsair TX950W Azza Genesis 9000B - 2x Samsung SyncMaster S27A550H - Vizio 32" LCD

12-24-2011, 04:38 AM	#6
DarkStarr Tech Monkey Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 623	You don't know what your missing then, especially on a higher end phone. So many options and custom roms :P __________________ Intel Core i7 2700k (4.8 @ 100x48) Watercooled - 16GB Crucial Ballistix @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T 8GB Corsair Vengeance @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T - Asus Sabertooth P67 - Asus Radeon 7970 Ref. (Non Ghz) Heatkiller 79xx Ni-Bl (Soon) @ 1050/1500 - 64Gb Crucial M4 SSD - 3x Hitachi 1Tb - Corsair TX950W Azza Genesis 9000B - 2x Samsung SyncMaster S27A550H - Vizio 32" LCD

12-24-2011, 07:09 AM	#7
RainMotorsports Partition Master Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 349	Ive been waiting around to confirm the EK02 update didnt mess with the root methods available. Seems like im good to go doing myne now. Done. Checked root access and now im going to bed lol. Do some more work on it tomorrow. Having a bit of trouble getting CWM working. The recovery flash supposedly goes fine. But if i use the reboot option it gives me the android due with an exclamation mark. The stock recovery is there and works fine otherwise. Permissions are enabled for rom manager. Reading something about possibly renaming a file. Get this sorted later. Last edited by RainMotorsports; 12-24-2011 at 08:33 AM.

12-24-2011, 03:33 PM	#8
DarkStarr Tech Monkey Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 623	Oh, theres a file that reloads the stock recovery EVERY boot (actually shutdown I think), the prevail has it too, rename it and your set. __________________ Intel Core i7 2700k (4.8 @ 100x48) Watercooled - 16GB Crucial Ballistix @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T 8GB Corsair Vengeance @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T - Asus Sabertooth P67 - Asus Radeon 7970 Ref. (Non Ghz) Heatkiller 79xx Ni-Bl (Soon) @ 1050/1500 - 64Gb Crucial M4 SSD - 3x Hitachi 1Tb - Corsair TX950W Azza Genesis 9000B - 2x Samsung SyncMaster S27A550H - Vizio 32" LCD

03-25-2012, 02:07 PM	#10
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	I like this procedure for non-rooted, thanks. I have a question though, After the procedure and then reverting do the apps that are originally designed not to move stay on sd after future updates?

03-25-2012, 05:44 PM	#12
Doomsday Tech Junkie Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: KHI, PAK Posts: 1,539	Ooh! I can soo use this on me new Galaxy S2!! w00t! __________________ PSU: Corsair AX850 - Case: Cooler Master HAF X - CPU:Core i7-2600k - Cooler: Cooler Master V6 GT - Motherboard: Asus Z68 Maximus IV Extreme Z - Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB-1600Mhz - GPU: AMD MSI R6970 Lightning - HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB, Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green - SSD: Intel 520 Series 120GB - K/B: Razer Lycosa Mirror - Mouse: Logitech G700 - MouseMat: Steel Series 4HD - LCD: Samsung 2333SW 23" - Speakers: Creative Inspire M4500 4.1 - Headset: Logitech G35 7.1 "Do not look at a man's prayers nor his fasts, rather, measure him by how well he deals with others, the compassion he shows his fellow man, his wisdom and his integrity" - Umar Ibn Al-Khattab

04-23-2012, 09:14 AM	#15
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	Thanks Your advise worked brilliantly thanks for the help!

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