Monday, July 20, 2020

Moving from one Android phone to another

These are mostly notes for myself so don't take it as a tutorial. I am sure there are much better out there...

  1. In the old phone I had google back up running, so, it was basically up to date with all the info.
  2. On the new phone, I just had wifi enabled (the SIM was still in the old one). Logged in with my Google acct and a lot of the stuff got transferred in.
  3. I did have to log in Facebook to enable the automatic login in other apps.
  4. Skype and Messenger (Facebook) were straightforward. Just log in those apps and then you can use it in both phones.
  5. WeChat was relatively easy too. Didn't want to lose my contacts/chat history. 
    1. Following those instructions in the old phone, go to Me>>Settings>>Chat>>Backup and migrate chats. It'll show a QR.
    2. Then log in normally in the new phone WeChat. As I didn't remember my password, used SMS to reset it (they get sent to the old phone, but it is ok).
    3. Once in the new phone app, click the top right corner plus sign and an option to scan QR shows up. Do it and there you go! By the way, you'll get logged out of your old phone WeChat.
  6. Line:
    1. In the old phone, open the app, go to the "More" (3 dots), settings icon (top right) >> Chats >> Backup and restore chat history >> Backup to Google Drive
    2. Similar to WeChat, log into your new phone Line. If you forgot password, you can reset with SMS and email assigned to your account. Then it'll warn you that your old phone app is going to disappear and that you should backup. You click ok and as it pulls the backup from Google it disables the older phone Line.
  7. Whatsapp:
    1. In the old phone, go to whatsapp >> 3 dots >> Settings >> Chats >> Chat backup and do a backup.
    2. Then log in the new phone Whatsapp simply with your phone number. Even if the SIM still in the old phone, you get the verification SMS in the old phone and enable the new phone. If you had two factor authentication, it'll as you now. Then you can pull the backup. If you don't do it then, you won't be able to do it later! 
    3. That's it! The old phone Whatsapp will get disabled, like with the other apps...
  8. Signal:
    1. In the old phone, click the 3 dots >> chats and media >> Backups enable. Write down the bunch of numbers it gives you. Then click "Create backup". 
    2. Go now to the old phone internal storage and search for the backup file in signal/backups. Copy it to the same directory in the new phone.
    3. Now install signal in the new phone (I had installed it and then erased it, which left the directory in there). Bottom line, when you install it, it'll see the backup and pull it itself. Will ask you for SMS and pin also (like whasapp). Straightforward...
Cheers!