Migration between /e/ devices

Hello,

I’m currently in the process of migrating over my first /e/ S7 refurbished smartphone purchased last summer into a brand new Fairphone 3 with /e/ preinstalled.

I’m currently listing everything I need to do for this migration.
Since I’m using my /e/ cloud account to synchronize my contacts, calendar, tasks and photos, it’s works nicely. I was wondering if I could find a way get back some settings from my previous phone.

On my https://ecloud.global instance, in the files, there is a Devices folder that seems to contains various settings saved here for each devices:

image

For my S7, in a folder named rom_settings:

image

It contains files that seems to contains various global and system settings and also installed application list.

Is there a way to import back some of those settings in my new phone ?

Being able to install all apps in one batch operation would be awesome :heart_eyes:.

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

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This problem has already been reported to the dev team. I think you will have to do it manually

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I’m also curious about this.

@Cricoo, the issues you’ve mentioned doesn’t seem like a fit. it talk about file syncronization, but this is from one device to another.

The desire is to import certain settings, like package/app lists.

I am setting up a new phone and would like to not have to manually load every app I want…
Bonus if some settings can also be transferred automatically…

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You are right. It’s not about file synchronisation but more about phone migration between an /e/ existing device to a new one.

Some features that would be great:

  • Apply system settings from the backup on the new phone. It may not be trivial to do if they use different major OS versions.
  • A way to reinstall quickly all applications listed in the app_list folder on the new phone.

I’m aware that it probably not a mainstream scenario to support yet since there is probably not a lot of people with multiple /e/ devices :sweat_smile:.
Being able to quickly reinstall your phone if you need to replace it for any reasons is a good point.

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A backup/restore system is in testing phase, so we can expect it to come this year (if there is no issue with it).

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Isn’t that Android Q only?

Hm in my mind it was for Pie and Android 10, but I don’t know where I saw this :yum: So this needs to be confirmed.

EDIT : yes it’s for Pie and Q.

Does anyone know if there’s any news on when this might be available?

Migration of apps and settings etc from devices - eg old e to new e, or after an erase and flash from one android e version to another - would be fantastic.

Thanks,

NP

I have recently got a new device, and have been messing about reflashing a few times, so have done ‘migration’ multiple times too. I’ll make a few notes here. Perhaps this should be the subject of a HOWTO on the wiki.

  • With /e/ account, contacts, calendar, notes, photos, e.email and some files synched from ecloud.global
  • Apps - as mentioned in this thread, they have to be manually reinstalled. Not a bad time to not install all those apps that I don’t use now.
  • Install KDEConnect app, can transfer files quickly between phones, phone-PC
  • AndOTP - export and import json with local transfer (contains passwords, so not via cloud)
  • Mail - manually re-added second email account. I see that current Mail app has settings export and import option, so this might work in future.
  • Call logs and SMS - used “SMS Backup & Restore” app (documented in another post somewhere)
  • Music - manual upload from PC via USB
  • AntennaPod - export and import OPML
  • OpenTracks - export and import tracks as GPX files
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On the topic of Music.
The Music folder gets synched to ecloud, so if you don’t have a lot of storage there, you probably don’t want to drop your entire collection into that folder.
I create another folder Music-no-sync for my collection. It will still be found by the Music app, but won’t eat up your cloud storage.

Aside: it would be good to know exactly what does and doesn’t get synced automatically with ecloud.global. This forum has many posts about things not being synchronized properly!

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When migrating /e/ from a FP2 to a Redmi 9 Note Pro it is quite easy to sync calendar, contacts and mail again. I can do it easily with my own nextcloud.

I assume that restoring apps is not yet available via cloud (where I can see a csv with a list of installed apps). Related issue for backup / restore such as Missing on website: how to backup app-data (and later restore on /e/) (#957) · Issues · e / Backlog · GitLab are still open. I like the idea of offering a specific app to migrate via an SD card as suggested here /e/Switch : an app to easily transfer data to /e/OS (#2257) · Issues · e / Backlog · GitLab - but this seems not yet having been even started.

This is a solution which works: rooting both devices with Magisk and then using the OAndBackupX app. Detailed steps for backup and restore:

backup

You root your smartphone with Magisk, then you install OAndBackupX and select apps (including all data) you would like to save.

  1. download Magisk to Laptop GitHub - topjohnwu/Magisk: The Magic Mask for Android
  2. rename apk to zip
  3. copy via USB to external SD
  4. boot into recovery (PowerOn+VolumeUp)
  5. install Magisk-v23.0.zip (or install with adb from your laptop terminal adb sideload Magisk-v23.0.zip)
  6. reboot
  7. install Magisk App (the apk file which you had renamed)
  8. allow in setting root for apps
  9. install OABX (OAndBackupX) from f-droid app store
  10. select folder (use e.g. nextcloud Devices/backup or SD card)
  11. set password (put that e.g. in your keepass to remember)
  12. put android internal apps in blacklist
  13. start saving a backup

restoring

Now we can restore all apps and settings to another device. Just perform the same steps as above so that OAndBackupX can start with root privileges. Then configure the storage folder (same nextcloud or SD card folder) and wait for a minute or so. Apply filters and restore.

Note: The rather old app Titanium backup seems bloated and not to work properly.

See my post in a different thread about the Android Backup and Restore project

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