How to move apps to the microSD card on your Galaxy smartphone
It's a quick and easy way to free up storage on your phone.
Samsung brought back expandable storage on the new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, and continued the optional storage on the Galaxy S8 line.
The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus come with 64GB of internal storage, some of which is used up by the OS and default applications installed on the device. Both devices support a microSD card of up to 256GB, which is more than enough for music, photos and videos.
Another important advantage of having expandable storage on the shiny new devices is the ability to move large apps or games to the added storage space.
The process to move apps is simple and shouldn't affect your day-to-day use of any apps or the device.
Here's what you need to do:
- With a microSD card installed, launch the Settings app.
- Find and select Applications, make sure All apps is selected from the dropdown at the top.
- Select an app you want to move.
- Tap Storage.
- If an app can be moved, a Change button will be present.
- Tap Change > SD Card >then follow the prompts.
With the transfer complete, the app will run and act normally. Should you remove the microSD card from your device, the app's icon will be replaced with an icon indicating it is stored on an SD card. You will be unable to use the app until you place the microSD card back into the device.
Not all apps can be moved. You can easily identify if an app can be moved when you attempt to move an app and the Change button isn't present.
If after moving an app to the SD card you experience performance issues, you can move the app back to your phone's internal storage by following the same directions outlined above and select "Internal storage."
Editors' note: This post was originally published on March 11, 2016, and has since been updated to reflect new devices and information.