Any tips for moving game data from Nexus5 to G5

[tabberkev]

Hi All,

I'm sure a lot of you must have gone through the process of moving apps, game data etc. over to your new G5, and wanted to pick peoples brains. I've been doing a lot of web searching, and it sounds pretty bad. I was iPhone before my Nexus 5, so have never actually moved from Android to Android, and assumed all game data would just be seamlessly copied over. It sounds like unless you root your device and use Titanium backup, things are pretty painful. Lollipop's NFC based Tap & Go says it will resync your app data, but many websites seem to say that very few apps actually support this feature. Unless the app developer deliberately coded their app to sync data, it will be lost.

So, can anyone clarify what my real world experience is likely to be like moving over, and share any useful tips? Is there any kind of knowledge base out there somewhere, which logs which apps copy data, and which don't (And presumably some can do this themselves via Facebook or Google Play, or their own proprietary method), and even better, how to do it manually. If not, someone should create one. Sounds like it would be useful

I'm pretty happy that my contacts, email accounts, text history, will all be copied over via my Google account, but the thought of losing game progress on things i've played for years, is not good.

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[tabberkev]

Well, I finally got my new G5 today.

I can officially say Android totally sucks at moving phones. If this is how good Android backup and restore is, I hope i never lose my phone, as it doesn't restore anything. You basically get your apps and contacts, and that's it. Anything extra seems to be down to the apps themselves saving data somewhere.

The G5 setup will ask you if you want to transfer from another phone, and then you touch them back to back. All this does is transfer your google account info, and the apps themselves (without data) start installing one at a time on the phone. However, they are placed completely randomly, ignoring whatever folders you may have had. Luckily I used Nova for the last half of the phone's life, and there is hope there.

SMS - As I used Google hangouts, I assumed this would copy across. Nope! It copies hangouts conversations, but not SMS. Used an app called SMS backup and restore to copy across via Google Drive. Then restart hangouts, and all is back.
Call history - Nope. But the SMS Backup and restore will copy that for you too. Looks like it all came over.
Nova - On your old phone, backup the layout to google drive, then restore to your new phone. All floders and apps came down, but the dialler and camera were missing, which left 2 blank icons in my quick tray at the bottom. Slightly strange. Maybe Nexus and G5 are different apps. So I had to copy the dialler and camera apps into the tray from the app drawer
Accounts - Only the Google account came across into "Accounts & Sync". I have 11 accounts in total in this section, and only Google made it. Unbelievable. I guess this is a slow process of logging back into every other app.
Mail - This thankfully was all setup from the google account and worked fine, with both my email accounts.
Contacts - Yes, these seem to have come with the google account.
Photos - I use Google Photos, so those are visible, but nothing was copied locally by the back to back sync thing. i understand LG Backup will copy these, as well as CloneIt, and i'm sure lots of other apps do a similar thing. I might just start afresh.
Chrome - had forgotten all bookmarks and history, but once i'd closed and reopened they all came back.
Games - Havent tried many so far, but it doesnt look promising. 2048 - My awesome highscore that took months and months of gameplay, gone. Wordbrain - Probably close to a year of progress, also gone. Skyforce - As soon as I logged into google and facebook account within the game, it remembered everything. phew. Fallout shelter - Gone. But sounds like I can copy a local file.

Google - You need to sort your act out. This is leagues behind what Apple does. Your new phone basically looks exactly like your old one. Yes, I know that's easier for them because they own the hardware and software and there is no choice, but i'm sure we can do a lot better than this sorry tale of woe.

Anyway, I hope that helps at least one person who stumbles across this thread. If I manage to salvage anything else i'll update.

Cheers,
Kevin.

 

[gendo667]

Well, I finally got my new G5 today.

I can officially say Android totally sucks at moving phones. If this is how good Android backup and restore is, I hope i never lose my phone, as it doesn't restore anything. You basically get your apps and contacts, and that's it. Anything extra seems to be down to the apps themselves saving data somewhere.

The G5 setup will ask you if you want to transfer from another phone, and then you touch them back to back. All this does is transfer your google account info, and the apps themselves (without data) start installing one at a time on the phone. However, they are placed completely randomly, ignoring whatever folders you may have had. Luckily I used Nova for the last half of the phone's life, and there is hope there.

SMS - As I used Google hangouts, I assumed this would copy across. Nope! It copies hangouts conversations, but not SMS. Used an app called SMS backup and restore to copy across via Google Drive. Then restart hangouts, and all is back.
Call history - Nope. But the SMS Backup and restore will copy that for you too. Looks like it all came over.
Nova - On your old phone, backup the layout to google drive, then restore to your new phone. All floders and apps came down, but the dialler and camera were missing, which left 2 blank icons in my quick tray at the bottom. Slightly strange. Maybe Nexus and G5 are different apps. So I had to copy the dialler and camera apps into the tray from the app drawer
Accounts - Only the Google account came across into "Accounts & Sync". I have 11 accounts in total in this section, and only Google made it. Unbelievable. I guess this is a slow process of logging back into every other app.
Mail - This thankfully was all setup from the google account and worked fine, with both my email accounts.
Contacts - Yes, these seem to have come with the google account.
Photos - I use Google Photos, so those are visible, but nothing was copied locally by the back to back sync thing. i understand LG Backup will copy these, as well as CloneIt, and i'm sure lots of other apps do a similar thing. I might just start afresh.
Chrome - had forgotten all bookmarks and history, but once i'd closed and reopened they all came back.
Games - Havent tried many so far, but it doesnt look promising. 2048 - My awesome highscore that took months and months of gameplay, gone. Wordbrain - Probably close to a year of progress, also gone. Skyforce - As soon as I logged into google and facebook account within the game, it remembered everything. phew. Fallout shelter - Gone. But sounds like I can copy a local file.

Google - You need to sort your act out. This is leagues behind what Apple does. Your new phone basically looks exactly like your old one. Yes, I know that's easier for them because they own the hardware and software and there is no choice, but i'm sure we can do a lot better than this sorry tale of woe.

Anyway, I hope that helps at least one person who stumbles across this thread. If I manage to salvage anything else i'll update.

Cheers,
Kevin.

I've never used a backup tool (other than LG Backup), but I know there's plenty in the Play Store. Maybe Google best backup app. Read a little bit.

I went from a Nexus 5 to a G4. What Google didn't backup I just set up from scratch. Save passwords in Keep. Wallpapers in Google Photos.

On my G4, I used LG Backup when performing factory resets. Helped a lot setting up the G5 as as well.

 

[tabberkev]

I've never used a backup tool (other than LG Backup), but I know there's plenty in the Play Store. Maybe Google best backup app. Read a little bit.

I went from a Nexus 5 to a G4. What Google didn't backup I just set up from scratch. Save passwords in Keep. Wallpapers in Google Photos.

On my G4, I used LG Backup when performing factory resets. Helped a lot setting up the G5 as as well.

Yeah, i've been doing a lot of research. It seems most of those backup programs don't backup the app data when you delve into the comments. Does LG Backup to your knowledge ? Might be useful for the future if it does.

Tonight i've spent 2 hours getting Helium backup to work, which does copy app data, but needs adb usb drivers, and setting up USB debugging using a PC. I have successfully restored a couple of apps - wahoo! It was a world of pain to get it working. It looks like a lot of people give up from the play store comments, so it feels like quite an achievement I might do a proper thread on it tomorrow in case anyone else has issues with it and their G5.

 

[gendo667]

Yeah, i've been doing a lot of research. It seems most of those backup programs don't backup the app data when you delve into the comments. Does LG Backup to your knowledge ? Might be useful for the future if it does.

Tonight i've spent 2 hours getting Helium backup to work, which does copy app data, but needs adb usb drivers, and setting up USB debugging using a PC. I have successfully restored a couple of apps - wahoo! It was a world of pain to get it working. It looks like a lot of people give up from the play store comments, so it feels like quite an achievement I might do a proper thread on it tomorrow in case anyone else has issues with it and their G5.

With LG Backup, I don't even have to log back into my apps. I do have to redownload podcast. I never really have that many on my phone at one time.