Budget prepaid smartphones offer a great value for money & these days they are fast enough to cater the daily needs. However, low internal storage is a deal breaker for many. It’s not that the storage space cannot be increased with a memory card, the issue is with the android system which plays unfair and leaves a little space for android apps. There are thousands of android apps on play store but very little space is reserved for android app installation.
The android system (up to Lollipop) is such that it won’t let you install the app directly to SD card no matter what. The most you can do is move a portion of app data to SD card after installation. You have to do this manually for each app you wish to move to SD.
This issue is taken care of in Marshmallow with adoptable storage where the apps can be installed directly to memory card . However, as of now,there is no 6.0 update for Tribute 5 and it seems highly unlikely looking at the Sprint’s past track record.
So the question is how to install the app downloaded from play store directly to sd card ?
To achieve this, first thing is rooting your LG Tribute 5
Once rooted, we’ve to add a 2nd partition to SD card which will be used for app installation.
The second step is to link the newly created partition to internal storage. An app can be linked to SD card via Link2SD app. With Link2SD you can also set SD card as your default app location. This way your new android app will automatically install to SD card. Now let’s check out the actual procedure
LG Tribute 5 – How to install Android apps directly to SD card
Aparted – Create 2nd Partition
Download and install Aparted from Play store or from below link
It is recommended to use at least Class 10 micro SD card to create the second partition as apps will be loaded from it. I’ve partitioned my 64 GB Class 10 SanDisk ultra SD card. The size of my first partition is 52GB and that of the second partition is 12GB. I’ve used approx 20% of space for 2nd partition as it’ll be used for apps and games only. Let’s see how to do this –
Open AParted app and if prompted allow Superuser root access
Click on “Settings” Tab on top right corner.
Uncheck ” Protect internal Partitions” and accept the warning.
Now move to First Tab i.e “Create” and click on “ADD” to create the first partition.
When you’re on first partition page, It’ll say Part 1. Slide the bar towards the right to assign space to the first partition. My first partition size is 51794 MB.
Note that the first partition type is “FAT32”
Again click on “ADD” to create the second partition.
Now the page will say “Part 2”
Space left after creating the first partition is 12070 MB. You can either use this complete space to create 2nd partition or reserve some space for 3rd partition.
I’ve used the remaining space to create 2nd partition. To do this slide the bar to the extreme right.
The 2nd partition type should be ext2 so click on “FAT32” to change partition type
Select “ext2” from the list
Click on “APPLY” to create the two partitions. Accept the Warning and Proceed
You may be asked to remove and reinsert the sd card. Do the same and wait for process to complete
Check the last screenshot above with partition details.
if i cant get the link2sd plus what can i do?
Can the LG Tribute5 support a 128gb micro sd card ?
No it says it says on the sprint sight it can only support if 32gbs
Thank you very much for the clear explanations and the accurate visuals! I’ve had trouble setting up Link2sd in the past as well as Aparted, because they both aren’t clear on how to set up. You made it much easier!
NOW… if we only had TWRP or Clockwork and maybe a custom mod?? lol