Dec 152017
This month I switched from a OnePlus X to a Moto G5S Plus. More and more apps have a backup and restore options via the cloud that really helps in transitioning.
You can use List My Apps to get an HTML copy of the apps on your old phone for reference after doing your backups.
If you have purchased apps on a second Gmail family account you can add a second Google account to your Android settings. In the play store, you will then see a drop-down option to select which account to install the app from.
The one app I forgot to do backups of was Smart Recorder. I should just have used Helium to backup all my apps to be sure.
Backup & Restore via cloud notes
- HabitBull synced via email address
- Keepass2Android seamless via database file stored in Google drive
- OurGroceries synced via email address
- Textra uses the stock Android messaging database. I used SMS Backup & Restore to backup messages to Google drive, restored from configurable google drive location and re-synced in-app from Textra Settings > About > Resync
- Telegram seamless via their cloud once you put in your number
- WhatsApp seamless via Google drive
- Cam Scanner seamless backup via email address
Backup & Restore manual notes
- Beep’nGo is invaluable for all your store cards, unfortunately, it was shut down in May 2017, however, I have a copy of it available.
- Enable Developer Options on your phone by pressing the Build number in About Phone 7 times
- Enable USB debugging in Developer Options
- Download & install the apk file
- Backup & restore using Helium which must be installed on your computer & phone, you also need the adb driver installed on your computer
- This post is invaluable to get Helium working on your computer & phone
- Helium creates a *.ab file in internal storage/carbon which you can copy to Google Drive, rename this to the simpler com.mobeam.beepngo.ab
- To restore on another phone, with your phone connected and visible in windows explorer & Helium Desktop not running, from a command line on your computer type adb devices to check Helium is setup, it must list as a device in response. You can then restore Beep’nGo
- In the directory with your backup type adb restore com.mobeam.beepngo.ab
- See this android stackexchange post for more info
- Boxer I just took screenshots of the incoming & outgoing server settings screens. Thankfully, a pro license is no longer needed for multiple accounts.
- Podcast Addict stored backup in google drive & restored from there
- SwipePad has a backup via SwipePad MoreSpace but you need to manually copy the file from Google Drive to the root of your internal storage (i.e. /storage/emulated/0/). I used Astro file manager. You need to remember the mail you used to save your words; the app uses sync to mean restore and you have to “register the email address” on the new phone to sync your words.
- Tasker has a backup option, I then copied this with Astro to Google drive. Prior to restoring you need to do a backup in Tasker first to create the tasker directory, just pick any app. Then copy the backup to /sdcard/Tasker/profiles/<your_backup>.xml
- I use Tasker to keep the screen on when reading in certain apps, it’s easy to setup. I used to use Llama
- Yr did not have any luck saving my locations, even with Helium