bocastephen

It looks like I may need to do my first factory reset on an Android phone, and unfortunately due to Android's horrific backup and restore process (vs Apple's), I am trying to figure out what I need to do to prepare, and then restore the phone.

I have all my photos and videos saved to, and stored on my SD Card, so images are not a problem (and I can back those up easily). I see an Android backup/restore function, but my online research tells me the process is somewhat unreliable...as is the backup software that shipped with my phone...but again, I can figure out how to backup my text messages...everything else is stored on Google (calendar, contacts) and it's fairly painless to re-add my email accounts to Bluemail and Outlook.

Which leads me to the more critical issue - application data. If I do a reset, all my apps and their settings and data will be removed. If, however, I move the apps to the SD Card, after a reset, the apps are gone anyway - so they still need to be re-installed, making the move to SD Card process fairly useless in my opinion.

So, my question is thus: is there anything else I could or should be doing to simplify the recovery of my apps, and their settings and data after a reset, but without any junk, contamination or crap that might be stuck there now.

I really wish Android had a one-step, simplified backup/restore process that worked on any Android phone in the same manner Apple users can keep their data safe. When I bought my new phone it literally took me 5 hours to re-create all of my settings and apps, while my other half had their new Iphone 6S+ up and running from a IP4 backup in 3 minutes, and that is just really unacceptable.

gobluetwo

I use the Helium app to back up and restore app data that is locally saved. You'll need to install on both your PC and device, attach your phone to the computer and save app data, then do your restore and, once everything is all reinstalled, then you can restore the app data. It's the simplest thing I've found. When moving from an xperia z to galaxy s6, used it with great results. Also used it when I had to reset my s6.

Also a good practice (which I don't follow as much as I should) to occasionally back up your app data to create more recent "restore points" if you will.

bocastephen

Thank you!

I will look into Helium, but I thought it was not possible to do this unless the phone was rooted...did that change with Android 5.x?

gobluetwo

Neither of my phones are rooted and I was able to successfully backup and restore. My TMO Xperia Z is on 4.4.x KitKat and VZW GS6 is on 5.1.x Lollipop.

Need

How old is your Android? I think the newer ones has a backup and restore feature.. calls tap and go?

For example, on my LG G4, Google Backup is enabled by default. All my app data (even the wifi passwords) are backed up to Google server all the time. If I ever have to do a factory reset or get a new android phone, it will have at "tap and go" button at the initial setup screen to restore everything.

bocastephen

It's a brand new phone running 5.1.1 - but maybe Helium is a more reliable option? I am checking

gobluetwo

Here is a nice guide. Wasn't aware of Tap and Go. Thanks for sharing! I had some apps which didn't back up to Google Play, so needed Helium anyway.

canadiancow

Individual apps specify what (if any) of their data gets backed up in that process.

Well-written apps do everything. Poorly written apps do nothing.

bocastephen

Which is a key problem - while Apple set firm standards for their apps, Google created a wild west environment so there is no consistency.

ForhadHossen

Is there any known way by which this default image can be compromised? On Android, by getting root access, can't some malware just outright flash the ROM itself? And how viable is such an attack on a Windows Phone(which doesn't have such superuser accounts)?

ProleOnParole

Any process with superuser access can remount the system partition as writeable and make whatever changes it wants there. This can also be done from recovery mode, by booting an external recovery image that does not even have to be installed on the device. So, not only can the supposedly read-only system image on your device be compromised but it is in fact trivially easy to do so.

If you are unsure whether anything has been altered, you should reflash all the partitions (including boot, bootloader, recovery and system) from trusted image files, and wipe the others (such as cache, data and userdata). On a Qualcomm device you'd be using the fastboot utility on your PC, with the device connected via a USB cable and in bootloader mode. Manufacturers typically accompany these files with a script to automate all this. If you download these files from the manufacturer website, they will provide a checksum such as SHA256. Make sure you trust the website you download the files from and then that the checksum matches the file you downloaded.

There's also the possibility of malware running within the SoC/baseband firmware but that would be much more sophisticated.