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You don't. Google backup is partial and very limited compared to what apple does, plus privacy issues and you don't get access to app folder without root. (I kn

You don't. Google backup is partial and very limited compared to what apple does, plus privacy issues and you don't get access to app folder without root. (I know about adb but then you can't push the files back there). So it's a shitshow as usual with Android, it all depends on the app. My weight lifting app it can backup on Google cloud. Great. My 2Fa on the other hand it only backup to the 'external' storage, need to transfer it to the computer then. Some app don't have backup option. Some app give backup option but then break when you restore it, like moon reader. Some books just disappeared from the backup. And so on, and so on. At the end I focus on photo, obsidian vault and 2fa. Everything else is just bonus if I backed it up.

XorNot 2y ago
Yeah Google's implementation here objectively sucks. I should be able to toss my phone in a river, buy a new one and get it back exactly the way it is. Syncthing handles the stuff which matters to me, but it can't get apps back exactly the way they were.
dismalaf 2y ago
Last time I had an Apple device the only way to backup was plugging it into a desktop with iTunes. How do you figure Google's backup (which backs up contacts, messages, photos, mail, and remembers which apps you have installed) is bad? What more could it do or should it do in your opinion? Also Google Authenticator now backs up to your account and you can recover it through a logged in browser.
- K7PJP 2y ago
  > Last time I had an Apple device the only way to backup was plugging it into a desktop with iTunes. Apple's supported full iCloud backups and over-the-air restore for at least 11 years, maybe 13 years.
  - dismalaf 2y ago
    Yeah, I would have figured. My actual question is how is Google's backup lacking?
    - Krutonium 2y ago
      It backs up... Photos, basically? With an iPhone you can take a complete image of the device, and never lose a file again. With Android, solid chance you'll never migrate to a new phone and not lose stuff. It's such a fucking shitty thing that doesn't need to be.
      - dismalaf 2y ago
        I've gone through like 5 Android phones back to back. Photos, documents, emails, installed apps, contacts... It's all seamless and works, literally just with Google's defaults. What do you think you lose?
        kasabali 2y ago
        App data. Play store simply reinstalls the apps but they're in a clean state. Some apps supposedly back up and restore their data from Google cloud but that's rare.
        dismalaf 2y ago
        Honestly, I can't think of a single app that doesn't back up its own data. Meta apps have their own backup mechanism, games all backup either through their own servers or Play Games service, pretty much everything I use is a service of some sort. But yeah, I guess Google isn't backing up the state of the offline chess app I downloaded 10 years ago...
        Tainnor 2y ago
        It's nice that you don't have this problem with the apps that you use, but others do.
- eadmund 2y ago
  > How do you figure Google's backup (which backs up contacts, messages, photos, mail, and remembers which apps you have installed) is bad? It uses Google. I have servers, desktops, laptops and phones, all of which are computers and all of which are on a local network. It should be possible for me to move all the data on my phone to a server, desktop, laptop or other phone without once sending a single byte outside of my network.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  > Last time I had an Apple device the only way to backup was plugging it into a desktop with iTunes. That hasn’t been true since 2011 with iOS 5. I remember it well. I upgraded my iPhone 4 on AT&T with iOS 5 using iTunes. Shortly afterwards, I had an iPhone 4s shipped to me from Verizon. I logged into my Apple account on my iPhone 4s and after it restored everything, it looked and worked just like my iPhone 4 with all of the settings and app icon positions bring in the same place. There is also internal app data that gets backed up

XorNot 2y ago

Yeah Google's implementation here objectively sucks. I should be able to toss my phone in a river, buy a new one and get it back exactly the way it is. Syncthing handles the stuff which matters to me, but it can't get apps back exactly the way they were.

dismalaf 2y ago

Last time I had an Apple device the only way to backup was plugging it into a desktop with iTunes. How do you figure Google's backup (which backs up contacts, messages, photos, mail, and remembers which apps you have installed) is bad? What more could it do or should it do in your opinion? Also Google Authenticator now backs up to your account and you can recover it through a logged in browser.

K7PJP 2y ago
> Last time I had an Apple device the only way to backup was plugging it into a desktop with iTunes. Apple's supported full iCloud backups and over-the-air restore for at least 11 years, maybe 13 years.
- dismalaf 2y ago
  Yeah, I would have figured. My actual question is how is Google's backup lacking?
  - Krutonium 2y ago
    It backs up... Photos, basically? With an iPhone you can take a complete image of the device, and never lose a file again. With Android, solid chance you'll never migrate to a new phone and not lose stuff. It's such a fucking shitty thing that doesn't need to be.
    - dismalaf 2y ago
      I've gone through like 5 Android phones back to back. Photos, documents, emails, installed apps, contacts... It's all seamless and works, literally just with Google's defaults. What do you think you lose?
      - kasabali 2y ago
        App data. Play store simply reinstalls the apps but they're in a clean state. Some apps supposedly back up and restore their data from Google cloud but that's rare.
        dismalaf 2y ago
        Honestly, I can't think of a single app that doesn't back up its own data. Meta apps have their own backup mechanism, games all backup either through their own servers or Play Games service, pretty much everything I use is a service of some sort. But yeah, I guess Google isn't backing up the state of the offline chess app I downloaded 10 years ago...
        Tainnor 2y ago
        It's nice that you don't have this problem with the apps that you use, but others do.
eadmund 2y ago
> How do you figure Google's backup (which backs up contacts, messages, photos, mail, and remembers which apps you have installed) is bad? It uses Google. I have servers, desktops, laptops and phones, all of which are computers and all of which are on a local network. It should be possible for me to move all the data on my phone to a server, desktop, laptop or other phone without once sending a single byte outside of my network.
scarface_74 2y ago
> Last time I had an Apple device the only way to backup was plugging it into a desktop with iTunes. That hasn’t been true since 2011 with iOS 5. I remember it well. I upgraded my iPhone 4 on AT&T with iOS 5 using iTunes. Shortly afterwards, I had an iPhone 4s shipped to me from Verizon. I logged into my Apple account on my iPhone 4s and after it restored everything, it looked and worked just like my iPhone 4 with all of the settings and app icon positions bring in the same place. There is also internal app data that gets backed up