What happens when a phone powers off while moving apps to sd card?

[Android Central Question]

Like some others on this site, I've had trouble with app storage. Due to meager internal storage, I place as many apps onto my SD card as I can. However, after some apps update (like Facebook, Messenger, or Netflix), they return to internal storage for whatever reason. As a result, I've been forced into a routine of sending all movable apps to my SD Card, like some digital Exodus.

I've done this several times now, but today was different. I went through the same process, like always, but today a glitch (?) appeared. I buffered movement for several apps and left my phone for some time. When I returned to find a deluge of notifications remained, each made to signal their respective app's movement, I sensed something fishy. All were past 90%, supposed proof that the process remained undone. Yet, a check within the storage settings suggested that the process was complete; app properties displayed 'in external storage' with obvious clarity. "Moving [app]" the notifications still said, in mocking concert.

As of writing this, at least an hour has passed since the "glitch" appeared. I'm still left with a screen full of "moving [app]" notifications, and I don't even know if it's a bug. I know that most notifications disappear after a restart, and I wonder if these are any different. Yet, I also know that data can easily corrupt, especially when interrupted by shutdowns. This entire move-to-SD-card process was trouble at the start, and I'm a finger press away from just MOVING ON. Please tell me a power down is no big deal.

 

[Rukbat]

1. You don't actually move the apps to the card, you move lots of little pieces of the app to the card, and there's a pointer left in internal storage for each piece. If the piece happens to be about the same size as a pointer (or smaller than one) you don't save any internal storage.

2. The reason they appear to "move back" is that "updating" replaces the current version on your phone with the new version - and installation is always to internal storage.

3. The really bad news is that if a move operation fails in the middle, you've probably lost both the pieces in internal storage and on the card, and you'll have to install them again. (Which probably means that anything the apps saved will be gone, so first find them, copy them to a PC [you probably won't be able to get them back to the phone, but at least you'll have them] then install the apps that are missing.)