How do I change the download location on Android?

Last reviewed: September 28, 2026 · Markdown version

There is no one Android switch for this, and Google's own Chrome help for Android (Download a file, read 28 September 2026) does not describe a download-location setting at all. What the vendors do document is narrower: on some Samsung phones you can send downloads to an SD card, a few apps keep a download location of their own, and anything can be moved once it has arrived.

What Chrome's Android help covers, and what it leaves out

The Android edition of Chrome's download page states the destination in one clause — "The file will be saved in your default download location" — and then covers downloading, pausing or cancelling, sharing, deleting and renaming (Download a file, Android, read 28 September 2026). None of those sections tells you how to pick a different folder; on changing the location, that page is silent. Our suggestion: open Chrome's own Settings and look for a downloads entry. If your version shows one, that is where the choice lives; if it does not, Google has not documented another route.

The "default download location" itself is named in Android's developer guide, which lists downloaded files among the collections Android keeps track of and puts them in the Download/ directory (Access media files from shared storage, read 28 September 2026). Finding what is already in there is a separate question, answered here before.

Samsung: the SD card is the documented alternative

Samsung's UK guide to finding downloads mentions an SD-card option in passing: "if you have an SD card you can set your device to download files straight to the SD card" (Where to find downloaded files & my files folder on Samsung phone, Samsung UK, read 28 September 2026). That sentence does not say which app or menu the setting sits in. Samsung's guide to its own browser (Use the Samsung Browser app on a Galaxy phone or tablet, read 28 September 2026) and its browser FAQ (Frequently asked questions about Samsung Browser, read 28 September 2026) do not cover a download location either. So the honest answer for a Galaxy is: the option exists for SD cards, and none of the Samsung pages we read gives the path to it. Check first that your model has a card slot at all — not every model has one.

Apps that let you choose

Some streaming apps document a location switch of their own. Netflix's is the clearest: in the app, tap My Netflix, then the profile name, then App Settings, and "Under Downloads, tap Download Location". Netflix adds that the change is only forward-looking: "Shows and movies you have already downloaded will remain where they are" (How to store downloads on an SD card, Netflix Help Center, read 28 September 2026). YouTube's equivalent is a toggle — Settings, Background & downloads, "Use SD card" — and YouTube says existing downloads cannot be carried across: "there is no option to move downloaded videos between your device’s internal storage and an SD card" (Download YouTube videos to an SD card, read 28 September 2026). Where those in-app downloads actually live is covered on its own page.

One switch looks relevant and is not. Files by Google has a "Save to SD card" setting, but Google scopes it to "files received using the peer-to-peer sharing feature" of that app (Save files to your SD card, Files by Google Help, read 28 September 2026). The page says nothing about browser downloads, so do not expect it to redirect them.

The route that always works: move them afterwards

When the browser gives you no choice, change where the file ends up rather than where it lands. Google's Files app does it from a category: select the category, find the file, tap More, then Move to, then SD card, and either create a folder or pick an existing one (Move or copy files to your SD card, Files by Google Help, read 28 September 2026). The same Move to action works between folders on internal storage — the full walk-through is here.

What an ordinary app cannot do is take over the Download folder through the system picker; Android 11 closed that door, and Google's own wording on it explains why download tools ask for broader access instead.