General Old and clueless, my first smartphone .

Is it a Boost Mobile, metroPCS, Family Mobile or Cricket version?

You'd need to root the phone first and then install Link2SD in order to move app's to the SDcad.

 

You called yourself "old and clueless" and said this is your first smartphone so, with all due respect, I don't think you should try to root the phone. Even those who are "young and daring" can sometimes render a phone useless when trying to root it. To see if an app can be uninstalled or partially moved to the SD card, go to System>Apps and click on an app name. If the app can be uninstalled there will be an "Uninstall" button. Also, if the app can be partially moved to the SD card there will be a "Move to SD card" button.

 

Those apps you can't delete or move to your microSD card are probably apps that are functionally tied to the Android operating system or apps added by LG. In either case you do need to root your phone to manipulate them. While a lot of apps you install on your own can be moved, some just can't be. It's actually more involved but on the surface it's an issue where they need to stay in your phone's internal storage so they function properly. Even when you 'move' an app from internal storage to a microSD card it's actually only taking parts of that app, some will always remain in your phone's internal storage.

Even if you don't want to root your phone (most people don't) you did add that 32GB microSD card so that alone is a good upgrade for your phone. With only 8GB of internal storage you do need to be judicious with what you do on your phone. Note that moving apps will help some, but typically the biggest savings to open up your phone's internal storage space is to keep your photo, music, and video files on your microSD card. Those are types of files that take up most space, especially in comparison to apps.

As for the partitioning issue, you really do want to just leave that as is. The Android operating system on your phone needs a specific file structure to work properly and part of that is based on various partitions that are designated for specific functions. Having just one big drive isn't a real practical set up, that's basically how a Windows PC works. By having separate partitions for the operating system and for regular user storage, it's a more secure way to isolate the two from each other.

 

The advice from @svim and @psionandy is excellent. We may be old (I'll be 77 in June) but we're not clueless; we can still learn new things. I've owned a number of phones and the LG G Stylo is the best phone I've seen for the price, although I wish Cricket sold the same version as MetroPCS with more memory and a better camera. Don't try to load too many apps on your phone. I find that I rarely use most of the apps on my phone. Finally, as Andy said, "Have Fun".

 

And always remember to go into setting's > storage and to clean it out regularly, just like a pc's recycle bin, it can get bogged down and hog up storage space, if ya want easier cleaning method I'd suggest SD Maid or CCleaner, don't fall for any of those Clean Master or 360 Security cleaning app's, they're bull-larky and can't be trusted for their dirty business in Asia leaking users passwords tracking users stuff and selling the info etc.

 

Now you got me worried on the topic of shady cleaner apps (my credit card info was recently stolen). I've been using Power Clean for quite some time (link below) and really like it. The link to the company seems legit. Do you think it may be a shady one? Thanks,

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lionmobi.powerclean&hl=en

 

Well just to start off with, the memory booster/optimizer/whatever topic has been discussed many times in this forum. This thread is a good example and worth reading through so you can decide for yourself:
http://androidforums.com/threads/pu...k-killers-ram-optimizers-and-the-like.896663/

As for Power Clean, it appears to be legit and its Google Play page is very well written. But looking into its developers, LionMobi, you should think about it's validity (and again, if it's even necessary):
-- Their web site 'About Us' link tells you absolutely nothing about them. No background, no names, no places, no history, although like their Play page it does have some impressive marketing-based verbage.
http://www.lionmobi.com/about_us/
-- Their Facebook page indicates they're based out of Hong Kong. Still don't know much about LionMobi other than whomever works there gets to eat at really excellent restaurants.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/LionMobi-Holding-Limited/352899328247437
-- LionMobi does get several negative points (as far as I'm concerned) simply because Netcraft does indicate it uses GoDaddy as its domain registrar
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://www.lionmobi.com

 

That thread is 17 pages long! So not going to read it all, but it is obvious that there are very strong opinions on both sides of the fence. I use power clean for 3 things, to clear cache/junk, to show me what apps I can "Move to SD", and to tell me when I uninstall an app that there is junk left over to delete.

Thanks for looking up the data on LionMobi and giving me your opinion. I may try SD maid and CCleaner and see if they provide the 3 features I use from Power Clean (and hopefully not take up that much more space). Thanks

 

I'd steer clear of anything from the whole continent of Asia(Except hardware!! LoL), just because of how notorious so many other dev's from there are known for leaking info around there, but I'd say try All-in-One Toolbox (I asked svim and he said they're clean and he couldn't find anything bad about them in another thread) if ya really must have one of those types of app's it does those 3 things also has a app ad detector and a bunch more stuff but it also has a memory task killer/manager which is a oxymoron to use in Android or use Piriform CCleaner seems to be a lot safer and doesn't have any dirty history to try and hide from everyone globally. I don't use any of those app's anymore and the only one remotely close to it I use is SD Maid Pro.

 

Cache cleaners are not really necessary. If you do need to clear cache, you can do it in setttings or in the app settings. You can also clear your cache partition in recovery.

Again, app settings shows you what you can move to SD.

SD Maid is a good app and can show you what junk is leftover after an uninstall. It also clears cache, if needed.

These Power Cleaning apps do nothing that Android can do for you. Don't waste any time or space with these "cleaning apps". SD Maid is the only one worth using.

 

I realize I can clean cache and "move to SD" in the app settings, but that is 1 app at a time. I want to do them all. Also, don't want to look at each app to see if I missed moving one to SD. It is faster to run the Power clean and let it show me any apps I may have missed moving to SD (or to clean all the cache) - which I can't even do all the way now due to the jank version of 6.0 Boost has that stops moving apps to SD around 500MB (even though 32GB SD has 25GB free). With the limited memory on the Boost version, there have been times that I could install an app because "Not enough space" so I run the cleaner to quickly clear out some space so I can continue. Thanks.

 

Clearing app caches is for the most part a pointless and only temporary task. As soon as you use said app again, it just rebuilds its cache. Wiping an app's cache is worth doing for troubleshooting purposes but doing it as some kind of general maintenance routine is of little real consequence, what you're deleting is needed by the app and only gets restored again.

As for leftover 'junk' after an uninstall, yes some developers are a little looser and an app might not clean itself up entirely but you can also just keep your phone a little cleaner yourself -- when you're in your Settings >> Application manager, before you do tap that 'Uninstall' button, tap the 'Force stop' button and then the 'Clear data' button. That should clear any settings data and the app's cache.