Mobile phone memory and Apps

[RaspberryFool]

When I purchased my Android phone (a Motorola Moto G), it only came with a notional 8GB of internal memory. However, that did not seem a problem as the advice at the time was to buy a micro SD card to increase the memory and move any downloaded Apps to the SD card. When one looks at the Apps under Settings, there is often a button to do just that. That worked for a while. However, it now seems that many Apps seem to disable this button, including some that (I'm sure) used to allow it. This means my phone constantly runs out of storage space and I end up having to remove Apps simply to run the software update.
Does anybody know:-
1) Why do some Apps not allow themselves to be moved to the SD card?
2) Has anything changed in recent years that means that Apps now have to be in internal storage only?
3) If I want to reinstall the Apps that I want, is my only option to buy a new phone with a much bigger internal memory?
RF

[UncleEbenezer]

It might be worth checking if you have a vast cache somewhere that isn't getting flushed. For example, a browser cache from your web usage. Another one is unintended photographs or even media clips, if it accidentally got turned on while in your pocket.

[JohnB]

When I bought my first smartphones I would try hard to optimise memory between internal and sd card, fiddling with apps, clearing caches and looking for config options for storage locations. Disk Usage app was useful, as was File Manager +. But it was hard work, and it became easier to buy a new Moto G every 2 years to avoid cruft and get bigger storage. My current Moto G7 power has 64GB memory, battery lasts days and swaps apps very fast. It still has 30GB free after 6 months. All for £160

It just seems easier to buy a new phone.

[uspaul666]

When I bought my first smartphones I would try hard to optimise memory between internal and sd card, fiddling with apps, clearing caches and looking for config options for storage locations. Disk Usage app was useful, as was File Manager +. But it was hard work, and it became easier to buy a new Moto G every 2 years to avoid cruft and get bigger storage. My current Moto G7 power has 64GB memory, battery lasts days and swaps apps very fast. It still has 30GB free after 6 months. All for £160

It just seems easier to buy a new phone.

Ditto this. In particular, that g7 “power” has 64GB of “storage” but 4GB of “ram”. That 4GB allows more programs to be installed and be running. The 64GB is really about space for photos, videos and music. The original moto phone has about 1GB of ram of which a lot is immediately lost to the operating system. The moto g7 power is as little as £125 on Amazon.

[swill453]

Ditto this. In particular, that g7 “power” has 64GB of “storage” but 4GB of “ram”. That 4GB allows more programs to be installed and be running. The 64GB is really about space for photos, videos and music.

That's wrong I'm afraid. The 4GB RAM is only for running apps, they're installed in the 64GB storage (along with photos etc).

Scott.

[jackdaww]

When I bought my first smartphones I would try hard to optimise memory between internal and sd card, fiddling with apps, clearing caches and looking for config options for storage locations. Disk Usage app was useful, as was File Manager +. But it was hard work, and it became easier to buy a new Moto G every 2 years to avoid cruft and get bigger storage. My current Moto G7 power has 64GB memory, battery lasts days and swaps apps very fast. It still has 30GB free after 6 months. All for £160

It just seems easier to buy a new phone.

thats maybe what its all about .........

[JonE]

1) Why do some Apps not allow themselves to be moved to the SD card?
2) Has anything changed in recent years that means that Apps now have to be in internal storage only?
3) If I want to reinstall the Apps that I want, is my only option to buy a new phone with a much bigger internal memory?

The ability to move apps to cards was removed during the lifetime of Android 4 and then restored for a sub-set of devices with, on those favoured devices, the developer having the option to allow the move or not. My recollection is that the upgrade to Android 6 introduced the ability to format the card in a manner that allowed it to appear as if it were internal memory. Relying on a single card for this purpose introduces extra risks but I've got away with it so far.

I've had an 1GB/8GB MotoG 2ndGen XT1068 (I need dual-SIM) for approaching 5 years which received the OTA upgrade to 6.0 and has an SD card formatted as 'internal' but recently encountered the same problem as you in that some updates complain about insufficient memory to complete. The card is definitely formatted as 'internal' and is, indeed, partly used by apps but has plenty of available space and I can see the option to convert it to 'portable'. Given the small and static set of user-apps installed I don't know why this has recently become a problem but Google's built-in apps seem to have become very keen on frequent updates of late so I have my suspicions.

I suspect the answer to your Q3 is probably 'yes'. Although I resist buying shiny new things without very good cause, it's a clearer decision in my case as the device seems to be intermittently problematic now (expected SMS messages not received but a reboot downloads a queue plus the odd call being reported as 'missed' while the phone is sat on the desk in front of me) so I'll probably buy a new dual-SIM 3/32 +SD handset for my modest needs and play with LineageOS (without Google Apps) on the MotoG which can become home to two of my other SIMs that are currently parked in a 3330 and a 3510i.

Cheers!

[rabbit]

I've been having the same issues with my ageing moto g, and almost daily cache purges didn't make a lot of difference. So last week I succumbed to buying a shiny new moto g7 power (£140 from John Lewis). It's a great phone, 64GB memory, very clear screen, and a battery that I've only needed to charge once so far. I don't like replacing perfectly serviceable kit, but the new moto g is a huge improvement on the old one and I feel it was worth the upgrade.

[RaspberryFool]

Thanks everyone for the replies.
It looks as if I might have to trawl the Sales …
RF

[UncleEbenezer]

I've been having the same issues with my ageing moto g, and almost daily cache purges didn't make a lot of difference. So last week I succumbed to buying a shiny new moto g7 power (£140 from John Lewis). It's a great phone, 64GB memory, very clear screen, and a battery that I've only needed to charge once so far. I don't like replacing perfectly serviceable kit, but the new moto g is a huge improvement on the old one and I feel it was worth the upgrade.

Coincidentally I too recently replaced an old Moto G with a new g7 (just under £100 from Argos). Mine was an emergency thing, after losing the old one the week I was due to exchange contracts on my new house!

Yes it does everything, has a nice screen, battery more-or-less lasts the week. But there's also one huge downside, that would've ruled it out if it had been a considered (as opposed to emergency) purchase. The old one was already bigger than is comfortable in the pocket, and this one is bigger still. Better suited to those who carry a handbag or wear a deep-pocketed jacket than to those of us who rely on trouser pockets. Also hard work to hold up to the ear (unless perhaps you have the kind of hands that'll span a second octave on the piano), though of course it works fine with earphones.

[Infrasonic]

Small 4G Android smartphones...https://www.unihertz.com/

I did a fair bit of research about a year ago as I'm looking for a pocket sized secondary phone upgrade from my current dumb 2.5G one, and Unihertz seemed to be the only serious contender. Of course if you have fat fingers or your eyesight isn't great then how small you go could be an issue too.
Now that foldable screens are a reality I'm hoping someone brings out an affordable 4/5G smart flip phone, those I've seen announced so far are silly money.

[BobbyD]

1) Why do some Apps not allow themselves to be moved to the SD card?

It's not just the apps themselves which might cause problems, in a bid to make life as awkward as possible BBC doesn't let iplayer store data on sd cards.

[doug2500]

I had the same problem, but in my case it seemed to be WhatsApp videos filling everything up and it will not allow WhatsApp to use the card.

Deleting any videos once watched has kept me going for a while with my old banger.

[Infrasonic]

I had the same problem, but in my case it seemed to be WhatsApp videos filling everything up and it will not allow WhatsApp to use the card.

Deleting any videos once watched has kept me going for a while with my old banger.

WhatsApp has a scheduled Google Drive backup facility if you are comfortable with that. (I use it but there's no sensitive info on my WA account.)
https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/android/28000019/

Likewise Android will sync/backup to Google, the more recent your Android OS version the more it does, although it isn't a 'full' backup like that provided by Titanium (free or Pro) for instance...https://www.titaniumtrack.com/titanium-backup.html