Apps not availabe, are stored on SD card

[Blomsterpigens]

I want to format my Z5 so I transferred apps to SD card. Now I cannot access the apps. Can I move them back to internal storage?

[Jonas]

Hi @Blomsterpigens, welcome to our forum!

I'm sorry to hear about this.

When you move an application to an SD card, only the APK file is moved, that is the file that you download from the Google Play store.

If you moved the apps to your SD card prior to resetting your phone you will most likely have to install the applications again and either keep them on your SD card and move them to free up some space on the internal storage of your phone.

You can try and move them back to the internal storage if you go to Settings > Apps > name of the app > Storage > Change > Internal storage.

Let me know how it goes!

[Jonathanegg]

I have had the same problem with this. I recently was asked by my z5 to authorise a move of 4gb worth of pictures and apps to my 64gb sd card (of which, hardly any of the space is being used), due to a lack of storage space on my phone so I thought "yea great"
Now, all of the thumbnails or icons or whatever you wanna call them are gone so my home screen looks hideous and on top of that, I can't actually use any of the apps or widgets (for example my BBC weather widget is now gone and any games I try playing won't start) so what is the point of even having an sd card in my phone at all?!
Oh yea and I go forgot to mention that a lot of my pictures are now useless, I can't view them properly in the album app. Some of then work but some of them have a blank black thumbnail, other have a grey thumbnail with a triangle and an exclamation mark. Of the ones that I am able to view, if I try to send them to contacts view WhatsApp it gives me an error message saying that the selected file is not a picture?!

Forgive me for posting this on your post, I guess it's only half related to your issue but I'm new on here and don't really know how to use it so I apologise if I'm using it incorrectly.

Thank you

[ligardn88]

That is quite OK. I use Google Photos and Onedrive to upload all my pictures to, so they are safe. But the fact that we follow the suggestion to transfer everything to the SD card and then all is lost is really frustrating. All the apps I moved have the same icon as some of Xperia icons but with a small red icon over it. I have downloaded some of the lost apps and each time Google Play said I already had it. But then I could open it. Some changed to the right icons while some stayed the same but lost the little red mark. I am going to reset my phone. I use Superbackup to store SMS, apps and call logs. That works really well. But the phone has to go back for repair.

[Jonas]

Hi @Jonathanegg, I'm so sorry to hear about this.

Have you tried to move the applications back to the internal storage and move them to the SD card again? There may have been some interference when the application were moved and something went wrong with this process.

To move them back you will have to go in to each individual application in Settings > Apps > name of the application > Storage > Change > put the little dot at internal storage.

Regarding your pictures, have you tried connecting your phone to a computer and see if you can view them as normal? You can also reset the media storage in the phone, this will force the phone to read in all media files again.

To do that, go to Settings > Apps > 3 dots > Show system > Media Storage > storage > Clear data > OK. Restart your phone and wait for the phone to read in all the media again, this can take up to 20 minutes.

When it's done, try opening up the Album application again and see if you are able to view the photos or send them as pictures using WhatsApp.

@Blomsterpigen, I totally understand your frustration. However using the SD card as a backup storage for applications isn't the best thing to do, since the entire application won't be moved and after you reset the phone the search path will be a different one from before the reset.

So moving the applications back to the internal storage > creating a backup with application data to your SD card in Settings > Backup & reset > More > Manual, is the way to go.

Once the reset is complete, you will have to reinstall the applications again.

I'm really sorry to hear that your phone needs to be sent in for repairs again and I hope that this procedure will go as smoothly as possible.

[ligardn88]

Thanks for your advise about not using the SD card as a backup storage for applicationsbackup and

applications. That was an eye opener!:smileyhappy:

On the SD card I can find a list under ANDROID - data with 56 apps. Some of them I have no idea what are, I guess they belong on the phone. When I hook up the phone to my computer I can see 87 apps under ANDROID - data. Så the phone transferred whatever it had it's own mind to do. 

But I give up! After the weekend I will turn the phone in for repair, since the camera does not work.

At least I managed to save all my data and pictures  

Thank you for your input. It's really nice to get feed back when in need 

[Jonas]

@Blomsterpigen, No problem at all!

Application data is no problem to backup to your SD card. Either using the automatic or manual backup in the phone. There is also a setting in Settings > Backup & reset, that is called "Automatic restore" which will restore data and settings for downloaded applications.

For this to work you will need to turn the feature called "Back up my data" on and choose your Google account as "Backup account".

Good luck with the repair and let me know if there is anything else I may assist you with!

[ligardn88]

Thanks - I will get back when I get my phone repaired - or hopefully exchanged.