Is there a good, catch-all way to move apps to the SD card?

[SolidSonicTH]

Just a simple, all-in-one, "doesn't-matter-how-the-app-treats-the-SD-card" way to put apps and their associated data (particularly games, which often have huge accompanying files that can burn space like napalm) on an SD card?

I think Link2SD seems pretty good but I'm hesitant of spending money on the paid version without a little feedback first.

 

[B. Diddy]

I don't have a direct answer for you, but just thought I'd ask to clarify--are you rooted?

 

[SolidSonicTH]

No but I'm definitely leaning towards it. I've researched the method, I just need to do it.

 

[Steeltooth493]

I don't have a direct answer for you, but just thought I'd ask to clarify--are you rooted?

Generally speaking, is gaining root access the only way to move large apps like games to an SD card nowadays? I know that Google started locking that down and limiting what people could do with SD cards a long time ago, but I've been out of the loop for a while. Similarly, what's the advantage of having an SD card slot if you can't use it the way you want to? Wouldn't it be better to have only one internal memory source like on the GS 6?

 

[B. Diddy]

As far as I can remember (i.e., back to the days of Froyo and Gingerbread), one could only move a portion of an app to the SD, not the whole thing--and the portion was often relatively small. The more recent SD restrictions that started with KitKat were aimed more at what kind of data on the SD card an app had permission to access.

SD cards have always been most advantageous for storing media files--photos, videos, music. Most well-designed media apps will have the proper SD permissions. But you're right--it's always better to have more internal storage, if you can afford it. This is most obvious when people buy a phone with only 4 or 8 GB of total Internal Storage, and find that after accounting for the OS and any bloatware, they only have about 1-4 GB of usable storage where they can actually install apps.