topic Re: Apps on sd card not updating in XA Series

Apps on sd card not updating

LANMAN — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 22:00:58 GMT

The apps I have moved to the sd card will not update. Anyone know why this is happening? My Phone is new and up to date. OS Android 8

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

Jeffers69 — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 11:44:48 GMT

Having the same problem. Issue seems to be with Apps that are on the SD card. Moving them to the device memory allows the updates to install. If there are lots of application updates and one fails due to it being on the SD card then the other apps won't update because they get stuck behind teh failing update.

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

LANMAN — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 16:31:46 GMT

Thanks for your reply. The problem I have is none of the apps I have moved to the phone SD card will update unless I move them back to the internal drive. Is it possible to fit an SD card incorrectly?

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

Jeffers69 — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 09:43:55 GMT

Hi LANMAN,

No I don't believe so. This has always worked in the past and all my other data on teh SD card is fully accessible. Indeed after updating the apps I'm able to move them back to the SD card anf they work fine. I think this is a bug in the update software that has been introduced in the past few weeks, probably due to a software update of some kind. I suspect it's an issue with the Google play update software as I've seen this posted for other (non-Sony) phones.

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

ObiMartKenobi — Thu, 09 May 2019 21:25:33 GMT

I have this exact same problem. Sony Xperia XA1. Apps on SD card won't update unless I move apps over to phone. Update, then move back to SD card. Its a real pain, never had this issue before. All data and everything else SD wise is fine. It really does seem that some recent update has messed up. Hope it gets sorted soon, as it's a major ballache

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

aaron_bush_96 — Sat, 06 Jul 2019 07:45:16 GMT

I'm getting the exact same problem with Xperia Z5. I have Azur Lane and Love Live! downloaded on my SD card, and yet those are the only 2 that have problems updating, the rest are on the Internet Memory... these 2 are also over 2GB so they need the extra space. really annoying.

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

Nabemar — Sat, 24 Aug 2019 07:09:36 GMT

I have exactly the same problem on my Xperia Z5 compact.

This did not happen before about last 6 months

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

BigSim1988 — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 06:48:53 GMT

Same issue here with Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, to the point where in the past I formatted my phone and started again. Rapidly running out of internal memory as I don't want to keep moving them back and forth; at one point I had over 30 apps that couldn't update and it took ages to clear space and move them 1 by 1 to the internal memory. Needs sorting asap!!

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

Venutius1 — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 20:02:29 GMT

I too have the same problem and I am wondering how long it will take Sony to respond. The SD card is there to help the internal memory from being full however if you can't update apps on the SD Card without uninstalling and reinstalling the app it's not much good is it Sony

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

pajo100 — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 09:21:20 GMT

I am still on 7.1.1 so last update does not remove anything but still have to keep apps on internal storage or they won' t update,what a pain Sony should have sorted by now or are they deliberately avoiding doing anything.??

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

DLS — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 04:05:56 GMT

Sony support is aware of this problem and has been for several months. I exchanged several emails with Sony support several months ago explaining that if you go into settings, then apps, then Google play store and uninstall play store updates you can then update apps stored on SD card. (Google play store then automatically updates shortly thereafter). It seems to me that Sony has not done a correct update for the new Google play store app. That said, Sony support just kept responding to me with the same old crap to check FAQ's. I couldn't get them to take the problem to the code writers for a response. They eventually stopped responding to me. THEIR CUSTOMER SUPPORT HAS BEEN TERRIBLE. YOU WOULD THINK WITH ALL THE COMPLAINTS HERE AND ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB THAT SOMEONE AT SONY WOULD WAKE UP AND DO SOMETHING. KEEP COMPLAINING FOLKS.

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

pajo100 — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 22:12:22 GMT

Well eventually solved the problem somewhat I moved the apps form the sd card to the internal memory then they updated ok but when internal memory gets full you have to transfer back to sd card.

A bit messy but it works.

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

ColinS — Sun, 05 Jan 2020 08:16:11 GMT

It's astonishing how Sony Support has just ignored all of these entries concerning this matter, i.e., unable to update apps stored on the SD Card, especially since as far as I'm aware (1) this impacts upon the entire Sony Xperia range of mobile phones; (2) we can all pretty much pinpoint when this problem first manifested itself (late February/early March 2019) and (3) Sony Xperia range of mobile phones is the only product in the marketplace to be 'crippled' in this way.

It makes one wonder if Sony have deliberately placed this limitation upon its product to prevent another more serious bug from occurring or if it's just a simple accidental error, but then if it were the latter then one would have expected Sony Support to have addressed it by now....right?

If this isn't fixed by the first anniversary of the introduction of this problem, i.e., late February/early March 2020, then I for one will be binning my Xperia XA for another manufacturers offering, Samsung maybe. I would encourage you dear reader to think likewise.

I once had product loyalty for Sony mobiles but this incident has soured it completely for me. Everyone inadvertently introduces bugs at one time or another, it is sadly a 'quality' of the Human that we occasionally make mistakes, but the acid-test of any Support organisation is how they react when users report these problems. Sony Support have chosen to 'fob us off' and then ignore us; it's a bad show!

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

DLS — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 20:10:43 GMT

Well, it's taken months and many emails and chat sessions, but Sony finally responsed with something that possibly ??? makes sense. I haven't been able to confirm this through Google. See below:

Thank you for contacting Xperia™ support by Sony.

We received your inquiry regarding why is not possible to update application stored in the SD card with your Xperia F5321 and appreciate the opportunity to help you.

Please consider that Google stopped providing the possibility to move apps to an SD card to secure the security and the privacy in Android™ 6. This feature was removed from Android, but Sony Mobile continued to support it for users' convenience for some time. However, we decided not to keep our solution to move apps to an SD card for users' security and privacy.

We recommend users to move photo, video and music data to an SD card to save storage space in the internal memory. To move photo, video and music files, find and tap Settings > Storage > Transfer data to SD card (where available). In phones that don't have this option, you can move files manually using the pre-installed Files app or a file manager app of your choice downloadable from Google Play Store.

Should you need further assistance, our team will always be glad to be of service via email or chat through this link:

https://support.sonymobile.com/global-en/

We are available from Monday to Friday from 10:00 am – 09:00 pm and Saturday from 10:00 am – 07:00 pm EST.

You can also visit our page www.sonymobile.com for latest information about Sony products and services.

Regards,

Danny

Sony Email Response Team

Re: Apps on sd card not updating

DLS — Sat, 28 Mar 2020 21:40:14 GMT

Lanman, This has been going on for over a year. I communicated with Sony numerous times on phone, chat sessions and via email and kept getting same old story to rebute phone, clear app data, reinstall apps on SD card, do backup and factory reset, etc.

Finally, after insisting on talking to a senior executive at Sony, I received a response from Sony that Google had changed Android to not allow update of apps stored on SD cards. Sony claimed Google did it for security reasons. I have not been able to verify this through Google.

Bottom line, you can store things like photos, videos, documents on SD card and even some apps, but the apps will not update.

There is a kind of work-around where you can uninstall Google Play updates in your settings then immediately update the app on the SD card. Google Play then automatically updates itself afterwards. It's a pain but does allow you to keep and update apps on SD card if you are tight on space.