How to transfer app settings to a new phone?

[gexicide]

I am moving from a Samsung Galaxy S5 running Android 6.0.1 to a HTC U11 running Android 7.1.1 and of course, I simply want to copy all apps, data, and especially app settings to my new phone.

It seems that Android has a builtin mechanism for this. During the first start-up of the phone, you can select a phone from which the apps/settings should be restored. In detail, I followed this How-To, which describes the necessary steps:

https://www.androidcentral.com/how-restore-your-apps-and-settings-new-android-phone

But it simply does not work! The apps are restored fine, but not their settings! I have to enter my credentials into every single app (My mail accounts are no longer in the gmail app, Outlook which I use for my work mails no longer knows my account, WhatsApp neither,... no single app remembers my log in credentials or any settings it seems).

I also tried the HTC Transfer tool, which transfers apps and photos via Wifi. Same result: Apps and photos are transferred, but not any app settings/credentials.

So how can I really restore my app credentials and settings from an old to a new android device? And what use is the built-in Android app restore mechanism, if it does only restore apps but not their settings?

Or more broadly asked: What is the easiest way to bring a new Android phone to more or less exactly the same state the only phone had, so it feels like the same phone?

 

[Rukbat]

Try Helium. Back up the data only (the default) if you already have the apps installed on the new phone (it's faster than backing up the apps and the data). then move the folder named carbon (the app's old name) to the new phone and restore using Helium on that phone.

Unless a phone is rooted, you need to download a file to a PC for Helium to work (the link is in the app when you run it), and you need to connect the phone to the PC. (It's legitimate - I've done backups and restores many times.)

 

[tuckertje01]

I agree, Helium will do the job.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I used Helium last month when I got a new phone. Mine wasn't rooted. The PC file was easy to install, and I had no issues restoring to my new phone.

 

[gexicide]

I tried Helium and it somehow worked, but not very well: My most important apps, e.g. Outlook, were all marked as "does not allow backup". The G-mail app does not even appear in the app list, so it was not restored, obviously !

Whis is this all so cumbersome? Isn't moving to a new phone a super common use case that should be supported seamlessly? Why do I need a third-party app that needs to connect to a computer and even then is not able to restore all app data? Why isn't the whole Android community raging about this, so google is forced to change something about this? Am I the only one who wants to do this?

This is really frustrating . I am tinkering with the thought of moving to an IPhone. At least, Apple seems to be able to restore all settings to a new phone.

 

[hallux]

Whis is this all so cumbersome? Isn't moving to a new phone a super common use case that should be supported seamlessly? Why do I need a third-party app that needs to connect to a computer and even then is not able to restore all app data?

Google is trying to make this easier. The problem is that the app developers are not jumping on board. https://www.androidcentral.com/how-restore-your-apps-and-settings-new-android-phone It's also not compatible for backup from devices older than Marshmallow.

I have 135 apps installed on my Nexus 6p (according to the Play Store), 82 items show in that app backup list in Google Drive but some are system items that are not in the Play Store.