SOLVED! How to install apps directly to SD card from Play Store

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How to install apps directly to SD card from Play Store is one of the questions that trouble Android users who want to take advantage of their SD card. In most of the cases, you only need to format the SD card then set it as the default storage. Unable to carry out the process on your own and could use some help? Then you should find this article useful. 

How to Make SD Card Default Storage for Play Store?

There are so many SD cards available in the market. The good thing is, it comes in various capacities — 2 GB, 8 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB, and so on. Before buying a new SD card, it’s important to know up to how much expandable memory your phone can accommodate. Once you have the right SD card, the following steps should do the trick.

  1. Go to Settings on your Android mobile.
  2. Tap on Storage and you can find the SD card (external storage).
  3. Navigate to Preferred install location and you have three options — Internal storage device, SD Card, or Let the system decide.
  4. Tap on the SD card and it’ll now be the Default Write Disk in your device.

That’s it! But, then again, since there are different Android phones coming from various makers, the path could differ from phone to phone. Yet, you get the idea.

Simple, isn’t it? However, these steps will work only for certain smartphone models. Not all smartphones are made equal. And, so many Android users are still running around in circles trying to figure out how to make these steps work on their devices.

Setting SD card as default storage or moving apps from internal storage to SD — new Android phones have different stories to tell. In addition, it also depends on the developer of the app. Some allow you to install an app on external storage, yet most apps can be installed internally and can be moved to external storage after.

On Android 5.0 Lollipop, you can store apps on external storage, but it somehow restricts moving the app from internal to external storage. There’s always an exception when you have your device rooted, but this always has a caveat. For those who don’t want to risk, one of the following procedures should help you.

Fresh Set-Up of Your SD Card

Setting your SD card for the first time is pretty straightforward. Simply insert SD card on your device and pop-up notifications will walk you through the proper configuration.

  1. Select on Set up so you can format SD card as internal storage.
  2. You can see the Set up your SD card, then, click on Use as Internal Storage.
  3. Tap Erase and Format. Once formatting is completed, you can move apps or files.
  4. Select Move Now if you want to do it now or Move Later if you migrate data some other time.
  5. SD card is ready will be displayed.
  6. Tap Done to confirm the process.

The next time you download apps or save files, it’ll automatically be saved in your SD card. On the other hand, if it’s not the first time that you inserted an SD card on your device, the next steps will be of help to you.

On Android 6.0 Marshmallow or Later

Nevertheless, you can upgrade your device to Android 6.0 Marshmallow wherein, you have the freedom to utilize your SD card without much of a problem. There’s just one catch. You must have a blank SD or you are willing to have your files wiped out when you’ll use it on your Android device.

For those Android mobiles running on Android 6.0 and later, you can make your SD card as “internal” storage.

  1. Go to the Settings of your device, then select Storage.
  2. Select your SD Card and find the three-dot menu in the top-right corner.
  3. Tap on Settings, then, select Format as internal. (Since you need to format your SD card, this means, you will delete whatever stored in there forever.)
  4. Select Erase & Format.
  5. Reboot your device so that changes can be applied correctly.

The Final Say

Android mobiles are endowed with the fundamental capacity to accommodate expanded storage. Depending on the phone you have, you can insert an SD card as much as you want — for as long as it’s stated in the device’s specifications. You can move apps and files from internal storage to SD card, yet there’s also a way to set the download location directly to the SD card. This article described how to make SD card default storage for Play Store.

Default storage for all Play Store apps is the internal memory, but a few tweaks can be made so you can use SD card as default. Again, it depends on the phone model you have and the permission granted to the app. Rest assured, all the steps above have helped several users to make SD card the default storage. We hope you’ll find them useful and now you know how to change play store storage location to sd card, too.