Restore backup on "new" phone with older operating system?

[adamnmurad]

Hi team,

I have a Google Pixel 2 XL running Android 9. I just ordered a Blackberry KEYone, and I want to give it a try; from what I can see online, it looks like the most current OS the Blackberry runs is Android 8.1.

From Google's help page, they say you can't restore a backup on an older operating system - is this true? If so, do you have any advice for restoring as much of the Pixel 2 XL as I can on the Blackberry KEYone?

Thanks!

 

[Rukbat]

You can use TWRP (if you have it installed on both), back up just the data (and with Tipatch for TWRP, back up the sdcard - that's the internal one), and restore it to the BB. Otherwise, you can use an app like Helium (if you're not rooted, you have to download a little program to a PC, run it and connect the phone to the PC until Helium gets permission to run - I have no idea why they did that) and back up your apps and data, then restore them on the BB.

I don't know how you got "you can't restore apps and data to an older version of Android" from Google's site. Maybe you can't restore an older Google sync to an older version of Android. (I may try that - I've hard-bricked this phone so many times that once more won't matter - the Pixels are about the easiest phones to unbrick.)

 

[adamnmurad]

I don't know how you got "you can't restore apps and data to an older version of Android" from Google's site. Maybe you can't restore an older Google sync to an older version of Android. (I may try that - I've hard-bricked this phone so many times that once more won't matter - the Pixels are about the easiest phones to unbrick.)

This is what I was looking at:

Important: You can't restore a backup from a higher Android version onto a phone running a lower Android version. Learn how to check and update your Android version.

 

[Bla1ze]

You can use TWRP (if you have it installed on both), back up just the data (and with Tipatch for TWRP, back up the sdcard - that's the internal one), and restore it to the BB. Otherwise, you can use an app like Helium (if you're not rooted, you have to download a little program to a PC, run it and connect the phone to the PC until Helium gets permission to run - I have no idea why they did that) and back up your apps and data, then restore them on the BB.

I don't know how you got "you can't restore apps and data to an older version of Android" from Google's site. Maybe you can't restore an older Google sync to an older version of Android. (I may try that - I've hard-bricked this phone so many times that once more won't matter - the Pixels are about the easiest phones to unbrick.)

Won't have much luck getting TWRP on a KEYone.

 

[Rukbat]

You're right - I didn't look. There's no one working on any BB (although the bootloader can be unlocked).

But a TWRP backup of the Pixel is just a nandroid backup - all the apk files and data files can be extracted from it (using 7-zip or your favorite unzip program) and if the BB is rooted (which can be done with Towel Root), installed on the BB.