# SD card in Android 9 phone **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 7, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-in-android-9-phone/937399 "2021-03-07T19:06:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-in-android-9-phone/937399/1 "2021-03-07T19:06:53Z")
I really need to be able to move some of my apps from internal memory to SD card on my Android 9 LG Stylo 5 phone. AppMgr (which works fine on DH’s Android 10 Samsung Galaxy A20) says the SD card needs to be formatted as internal. I can find no way to do this. System settings insist that if I format the card, my option is for portable. Using the phone’s app settings also does not get me anywhere at moving apps. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-in-android-9-phone/937399/2 "2021-03-07T19:14:57Z")
Formatting as internal is an optional feature that not all phones support. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-in-android-9-phone/937399/3 "2021-03-07T19:40:33Z")
I strongly suggest that if you reformat your SD card, that you back up your data first, as reformatting your card will delete ALL data from it. Also, if you reformat your card as internal, it will be unusable in another device. So, back up your data first. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-in-android-9-phone/937399/4 "2021-03-07T19:48:50Z")
I made sure I wouldn’t lose anything, but it’s looking from Googling like this phone just will not do what I want it to. May be buying another phone of a different brand as a result of this. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-in-android-9-phone/937399/5 "2021-03-07T20:14:18Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > May be buying another phone of a different brand as a result of this. Gotta be more careful than that, support may differ for different phones from the same company. There are definitely Samsungs that don’t, probably LGs that do. (Of course, if you are getting a new phone, you can get one with more built-in memory.) ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-in-android-9-phone/937399/6 "2021-03-07T20:20:29Z")
I have Boost Mobile and am not interested in changing carriers or switching to iPhone. Best they seem to do for Android phones is 32GB ROM, which is what I’m finding inadequate now. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-in-android-9-phone/937399/7 "2021-03-07T20:27:26Z")
You will need to dig into the specifications for each phone, then. (Some might not support MicroSD at all). ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sd-card-in-android-9-phone/937399/8 "2021-03-08T21:57:11Z")
There are Android apps which can trick your phone into believing an SD card is internal memory. Others can move apps to the SD after they are installed. I can’t remember the name of the one I used last time but I’ve done it before.