Best microSD cards for Android 2022

You can easily move files, photos, and music from your phone to another device with the help of a microSD card. If your phone doesn't have a lot of internal storage, you can load it up with more apps, music, and movies with the help of an Android microSD card. Which ones are the best? There is a good selection to choose from.

Most cards have at least two of the different classifications and the straight read/write speeds listed. Here is your cheat sheet to the formats and which ones are better.

• Video Speed Class: Indicated by a stylized V followed by numbers from 6 to 90, this class is one of the newer classification systems and was developed specifically for shooting ultra-high-definition video. For example, V30 starts at 30MB/s write speed, V60 starts at 60MB/s write speed, and V90 starts at 90MB/s, but unless your phone shoots 8K video, you probably don't need a V90 card.
• UHS Speed Class: Indicated by a 1, 2, or 3 inside a U, this class is still used on most cards today. U1 starts at 10MB/s write speed, U3 starts at 30MB/s write speed, and both are perfectly adequate for most Android phones.
• Speed Class: Indicated by a number inside a C, the original classification system for SD cards. Class 10 was as high as this class went, 10 MB/s write speed, and practically every card worth buying today is well beyond this speed at this point, so it's not as helpful an indicator of power/quality these days.

If you see a card with a transfer speed of 100MB/s but not a write speed, that's because it's the lower of the two rates.

If you want to store app data, music, and movies for offline use, you can use a U1 or U3 card. If you want to shoot a lot of photos or 4K video, you might want to get a U3/V30 (30MB/s) or V60 card.

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Check your device before you buy

The days of a microSD card are over. While the best tablets, like the Tab S8 have a microSD card slot, the best phones do not. Before you pick up a microSD card, you need to make sure that your phone is equipped with one first.

The reason some phones like the Note 20 Ultra take up to a 1TB card is because they have to license specific software for certain card formats. Other phones only say they take up to a 128GB card.

I try to stick to the rated sizes when it comes to the Android microSD cards so that if something goes wrong, support can&t blame you for using too big. Unless your phone specifically says it can take a 1TB card, don't waste your money on one, as capacities that high do need a phone rated to handle them.