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The problem is that most apps opt out of backup, so it's effectively useless.

by gruez 3mo ago

prmoustache 3mo ago
Yeah I don't even understand why this is even a thing. It should be user's choice, not app vendor/developer's choice.
- grapheneos 3mo ago
  Android 12 changed the meaning of allowBackup="false" to opting out of cloud backups. GrapheneOS encrypted backups use the device-to-device transfer mode which includes apps opted out of cloud backups. It's similar to the Google Play data transfer feature, not Google's backup system.
grapheneos 3mo ago
Android 12 changed the meaning of allowBackup="false" to opting out of cloud backups. GrapheneOS encrypted backups use the device-to-device transfer mode which includes apps opted out of cloud backups. It's similar to the Google Play data transfer feature, not Google's backup system.
- gruez 3mo ago
  That still doesn't prevent other means that developers have to thwart backups. Chrome and vanadium has a custom backup agent that only dumps out settings, so browsing history and bookmarks aren't backed up at all. I believe firefox is similar unless they changed something recently. Same goes for other apps like signal. Browsers, messengers, and camera are the top 3 categories of apps I use on my phone, and the built-in backup gets 1/3 of them (camera actually works because it's just regular internal storage). That's not very good coverage.
  - grapheneos 3mo ago
    Vanadium will add more data to the device-to-device backups but we haven't gotten to it yet. For Signal, you can set up their own backups locally and they'll be included with backed up home directory data if that's enabled. Signal encrypts their database and encrypts the key used for it with the hardware keystore. A generic backup system can't back that up directly. The encrypted database is useless outside of the current app install since the hardware keystore key can't be exported.
    - hedora 3mo ago
      I wish they had a toggle for this. I'd much rather just have one backup system. Per-app backups is a pain to keep track of, and signal data is by far less sensitive than other stuff on my phone.

The problem is that most apps opt out of backup, so it's effectively useless.

by gruez 3mo ago

The problem is that most apps opt out of backup, so it's effectively useless.

prmoustache 3mo ago

Yeah I don't even understand why this is even a thing. It should be user's choice, not app vendor/developer's choice.

grapheneos 3mo ago
Android 12 changed the meaning of allowBackup="false" to opting out of cloud backups. GrapheneOS encrypted backups use the device-to-device transfer mode which includes apps opted out of cloud backups. It's similar to the Google Play data transfer feature, not Google's backup system.

grapheneos 3mo ago

Android 12 changed the meaning of allowBackup="false" to opting out of cloud backups. GrapheneOS encrypted backups use the device-to-device transfer mode which includes apps opted out of cloud backups. It's similar to the Google Play data transfer feature, not Google's backup system.

gruez 3mo ago
That still doesn't prevent other means that developers have to thwart backups. Chrome and vanadium has a custom backup agent that only dumps out settings, so browsing history and bookmarks aren't backed up at all. I believe firefox is similar unless they changed something recently. Same goes for other apps like signal. Browsers, messengers, and camera are the top 3 categories of apps I use on my phone, and the built-in backup gets 1/3 of them (camera actually works because it's just regular internal storage). That's not very good coverage.
- grapheneos 3mo ago
  Vanadium will add more data to the device-to-device backups but we haven't gotten to it yet. For Signal, you can set up their own backups locally and they'll be included with backed up home directory data if that's enabled. Signal encrypts their database and encrypts the key used for it with the hardware keystore. A generic backup system can't back that up directly. The encrypted database is useless outside of the current app install since the hardware keystore key can't be exported.
  - hedora 3mo ago
    I wish they had a toggle for this. I'd much rather just have one backup system. Per-app backups is a pain to keep track of, and signal data is by far less sensitive than other stuff on my phone.