7 Best SD Card Reader For Android

Got an SD card, but don’t have a way to insert it into your camera or computer? Get the best SD card reader for Android and add phone storage capacity. Manufacturers are slowly getting rid of this medium of storage, mostly to make room for other technologies; however, it leaves those who rely on SD card storage out in the water. But don’t lose hope yet — it’s like there’s a hardware accessory to solve every problem, and this time, that accessory is an external SD card reader. These hook up to your computer via USB, and you can use adapters to hook them up to other accessories, such as phones.

Not sure what the best SD card reader for Android is? Follow along below, and we’ll show you some of our top choices. Let’s dive right in.

Best SD Card Reader For Android

1) UGreen SD Card Reader

Coming up as our number one choice, we have the UGreen SD Card Reader. This is one reader for multiple cards. There are actually four card slots, which allow you to read and transfer data from the following formats:

SDXC/SDHC/SD/Extreme I & III, SD/Ultra II, SD/MMC/RS-MMC, Micro SD/TF/Micro SDXC/Micro SDHC/UHS-I, or CF I 3.0/4.0 /Extreme I III CF.  There are a lot of formats it can support, and it’s easily used with laptops, computers, and Android phones. It has a plug and play style, with no drivers needed.

Buy it now: Amazon

2) Unitek USB-C Reader

If your smartphone is running USB-C, you might want to consider the Unitek USB-C Reader. It’s able to easily transmit data from your memory card — whether an SD card or a microSD card, and transmit that onto your phone, or another USB-C device. This one can actually read three different cards simultaneously, allowing for quicker data transfers.

Buy it now: Amazon

3) geekgo SD Card Reader

Next up, we have the SD Card reader by geekgo. This does much of the same thing as other SD card readers, but it works three ways. Geekgo has three different inputs for you to use with just about any device — there’s a lightning input for the iPhone or iPad, a USB-C input for a USB-C device, and even a microUSB input for microUSB phones.

On top of that, the geekgo even offers a USB-A port, for plugging into laptops or computers that are USB-A only.

Buy it now: Amazon

4) COASD Card Reader

Second on our countdown is the COASD Card Reader. Designed for Android phones that don’t operate on USB-C, this one supports micro USB phones, and can plug into a USB-A port on a laptop or computer. The card reader is compatible with all tablets and Android smartphones that support that micro-USB tech.

It’s an overall compact card reader that supports all standard SDHC/SDXC and micro SD/micro SDHC/micro SDXC formats. However, it won’t support cards that are over 64GB in size, mostly because of the limited power current that phones can provide.

Buy it now: Amazon

5) Anker Portable Card Reader

Anker has their own Portable Card Reader as well. This one won’t read directly from an Android phone; however, you can take your phone’s microSD card and put it in this card reader, and then plug it into a laptop or computer in order to extract the files that you were storing externally on your Android phone.

It’s able to simultaneously read and write on two cards, which saves yourself time and the frustration of moving SD cards around. With USB 3.0 technology, you should get data transfer rates that reach all the way up to 5Gbps.

Buy it now: Amazon

6) Transcend Card Reader

Transcend’s Card Reader comes up next, and is a bit larger of a reader than the others we’ve shown you so far. Plug your USB cable of choice into this card reader, and you’ll be able to use it with any Android phone on the market. It supports USB 3.0 speeds, but is backwards compatible to USB 2.0.

This one supports SDHC (UHS-I), SDXC (UHS-I), microSD, microSDHC (UHS-I), and microSDXC (UHS-I). It comes loaded with data recovery software in the event that you have an SD card or microSD card that is faulty, but you want to recover the data off it.

Buy it now: Amazon

7) Samsung 256GB EVO Plus microSDXC Adapter

Coming in as our number five choice on our list, this one isn’t quite an SD card reader. Designed by Samsung, this is the company’s very own EVO Plus microSD card. If you don’t have a way to fit your microSD cards in a normal, full-size SD platform, this one comes with an SD adapter that you can insert any microSD card in.

Then, you’ll be able to use your microSD cards as a normal full-size card. The microSD card this package comes with gives you 256GB of storage. It has really quick data transfer rates inside, allowing you to get around 100Mbps in read speeds out of this. You could see as much as 90Mbps in write.

Buy it now: Amazon

Verdict on the Best SD Card Reader For Android

As far as SD card readers go, they all help you achieve essentially the same means. That said, any one of these will help you accomplish the goals that you’re trying to reach. However, if you’re looking for more of an SD adapter than a SD card reader, you’ll definitely want to go with our last option from Samsung, as that’ll bring you a a microSD card / SD adapter combo that can fit a microSD card in a SD slot.

Do you have a favorite SD card reader setup for Android? Let us know in the comments section below.