How to transfer applications to SD-Xiaomi card: all the ways and limitations

Owners of Xiaomi smartphones with limited internal memory sooner or later face the need to make room for new applications, photos or updates. SD-But in the modern versions. MIUI (Since 12th, this function is either hidden or it's very limited, and why it happened and how to get around it, we'll go through this article.

Previously, porting apps to an external drive was a standard option in Android, but with the transition to Adoptable Storage (in Android 6.0) and the tightening of Google's security policy, things have changed. MIUI. However, there are ways to get around it – from using it. SD-maps as internal storage prior to manual transfer through ADB Or third-party utilities. Next, let's look at all the current methods, their pros and cons.

Why Xiaomi restricts the portability of applications to SD-card?

The main reason is productivity and safety. SD-Cards (especially Class Class) 10 or lower) are significantly slower than the internal memory eMMC/UFS. This leads to:

• 🐢 Slowing down the launch of applications (lags, hanging).
• 🔄 Frequent read/write errors during heavy use.
• 🛡️ Risk of data loss (SD-Cards are less reliable for storing active files).

Google also tightened the requirements for application permissions with Android 9.0, and many programs (especially system ones) simply do not support external drives due to the limitations of Scoped Storage. For example, WhatsApp, Telegram or Google Play Services are not portable to the main application. SD-map.

However, for some categories of applications (cache games, media players, offline cards), the transfer remains relevant. MIUI.

Method 1: Use of the SD-The card as an internal storage (Adoptable Storage)

This method is suitable for smartphones on Android 6.0-8.1 (in the MIUI 9-11). The point is that SD-The card is formatted as part of the internal memory, and the system can install applications on it automatically!

Instructions:

1. Put it in. SD-smartphone-card.
2. Go to Settings. → Memory. → SD-map.
3. Press Three dots (⋮) → Settings → Formatting as an internal.
4. Confirm the action (all data on the map will be erased!).
5. After formatting, select Transfer Data (optional).

Backup your card | Use a UHS-I (U1/U3) or higher | Charge your phone at least 50% | Disable important notifications during the process

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⚠️ Note: once formatted, the card cannot be retrieved, the system will give errors, and some applications (such as Banking or Google Apps) will still not be able to migrate to it.

Method 2: Manual transfer via ADB (for advanced users)

If your Xiaomi runs MIUI 12/13/14 or HyperOS and there is no port option in the settings, you can use Android Debug Bridge (ADB).

Steps:

1. Turn on Developer Mode: Go to Settings → About Phone → MIUI version and press 7 times.
2. Activate USB Debugging in Settings → Additional → For developers.
3. Connect your phone to your PC, install it. ADB-driver.
4. Open the command prompt (or Terminal on Mac/Linux) and type:

adb shell pm set-install-location 2

This command forces the system to install applications on SD-The default card. To get it back, use it:

adb shell pm set-install-location 0

To transfer already installed applications, use:

adb shell pm move-package com.example.app /sdcard

(Replace com.example.app with a real application package, such as com.whatsapp).

💡

To find out the batch name of the application, install App Inspector from Google Play or use the command adb shell pm list packages | grep "keyword".

⚠️ Note: Not all applications support portability ADB. System utilities, Google services and some games (e.g, PUBG Mobile or Genshin Impact will ignore the team.

Method 3: Manual transfer of cache and application data

If the app itself cannot be moved, you can free up space by moving its cache or offline data (such as Google Maps or Spotify music). Many programs allow you to choose a folder to store files.

Examples:

• 🎵 Spotify: Settings → Storage → Download folder → choose SD-map.
• 🗺️ Google Maps: Profile → Offline maps → Settings → Storage folder.
• 🎮 Genshin Impact: In the launcher there is an option to choose the installation path.

For large-cache games (such as Call of Duty Mobile), you can use the file manager:

1. Open the Files (or Mi File Manager)
2. Go to internal memory → Android → data.
3. Find a folder with the game name (e.g. com.activision.callofduty.shooter).
4. Copy files or obb folder to SD-map.
5. In the game settings, specify a new path to data.

Method 4: Portability Annexes (with reservations)

Google Play has utilities that promise to transfer applications to the Internet SD-map, for example:

• 📱 AppMgr III (App 2 SD)
• 🔄 Link2SD (root)
• 📂 Files by Google (to clean up the cache)

However, most of them do not work on modern Xiaomi for the following reasons:

• 🚫 MIUI Blocks access to system transfer functions.
• 🔒 Android 10+ Restricts application memory management rights.
• 💣 Risk of data damage in case of incorrect transfer.

The only exception is Link2SD with root access, but this requires unlocking the bootloader and installing a custom recap (such as TWRP), which voids the warranty.

Which applications cannot be transferred to SD-map?

Even if you use ADB or Adoptable Storage, some programs don't support external memory, and here are the key categories:

⚠️ Note: Attempting to transfer such applications may result in:

• 🚨 Automatic removal of the program.
• 🔄 Persistent errors during launch.
• 📵 Blocking of the account (in banking applications).

Alternative ways to free up memory on Xiaomi

If the transfer is SD-The card is not possible, consider other methods:

• 🧹 Cache Clearing: Go to Settings → Annexes → Select a program → Memory. → Clear the cache.
• ☁️ Cloud storage: Google Photos (compression photo), Mi Cloud (for backups).
• 🗑️ Removing duplicates: use Files by Google or CCleaner.
• 🔄 Reset to factory settings (last resort, requires backup).

For heavyweight games (such as Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail) you can:

• 🎮 Remove unnecessary language packs (in game settings).
• 🖼️ Turn off the download. HD-texture.
• 📥 Use it. APK + OBB Instead of installing it via Google Play (sometimes you can choose a path).

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Transfer to SD-The card is not always the best solution. On modern Xiaomi, it is more efficient to combine cache cleaning, cloud services and optimization of installed applications.

FAQ: Frequent questions about transferring applications to SD-map