Transferring apps between phones

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dafman

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#98720 5-Mar-2012 11:50

I have a LG P500 and will be upgrading to a Galaxy S2. I would like to transfer some of my apps I have stored on my SD card on the LG across to the new phone. I guess it's not as easy as just transferring the SD card?

n4

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#590561 5-Mar-2012 11:56

Easiest option is just to reinstall from the market, it will remember you have purchased apps on another phone. Otherwise you could use Titanium Backup, but that needs root to function properly.

Samsung Note20 Ultra, on 2degrees

nzgeek

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#590567 5-Mar-2012 12:10

According to this blog post on Android Developers, the app itself is installed to the SD card. However, any data associated with that app is still installed on the internal memory. If the app uses any native shared libraries, those are also installed on the internal memory.

If you want to make sure everything is moved across, I'd suggest rooting your phone and installing some backup software. I've used both Titanium Backup and MyBackup Pro, and of the two I'd go for MyBackup. Not only can it move your apps and their data, but it can also move a bunch of other info too (e.g. SMS messages, contacts stored on the phone, call logs, bookmarks, music playlists).

If you do use backup software to move things across, the one thing you should not move is your system settings. These differ between phones, and even between OS versions on the same phone (e.g. Android 2.3.4 vs 4.0.3). It doesn't take a lot of effort to set these back up afterwards.

Other things to note:

Do the initial setup of your new phone with the SIM card removed. If you have the SIM card in there, you don't get a chance to set up WiFi before it starts downloading apps again.
Turn off WiFi before restoring your apps, otherwise they'll continue to download and install in the background. (Android 4.0.3 downloads in the background. I'm not sure about 2.3.x.)
Reboot your phone immediately after restoring all of your apps.

Enjoy your SGS2. I'm sure you'll love it. (I've certainly been loving mine for the last 11 months.)

stevenz

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#590716 5-Mar-2012 14:53

Some good points there, particularly doing the setup without the SIM, otherwise it'll try to download a bunch of things over the cell network.

2.3.x downloads in basically the same way as 4.0.x

Titanium can backup all the same stuff as well, but it requires a bit of manual pokery to get it to do so - I was surprised when my SMS's from my SGS2 got restored ok onto my Galaxy Note - not that I really cared.

I've found it easier on any major hardware change to just make a note of what apps you need, and then manually re-download them and set them up again. That way you _know_ you're not going to have data issues. Unless you have a HUGE amount of apps, it's not a big deal to do.

You can use SMSBackup&Restore to backup your text messages if you want to keep them, I don't _think_ it needs root to do this. Gaining root on the P500 is a massive pain (I've done it on 2 different phones and had to use different methods on them, t'was painful).

You'll be pleasantly surprised at the performance difference between the P500 and the SGS2!

@KnightNZ

qraider

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#590822 5-Mar-2012 17:45

Appbrain (http://www.appbrain.com)

I have the following App lists:
- Apps on the Acer Iconia A500
- Apps on the HTC Desire
- Apps on the SGS2
- GT-N7000

Plus I can select which device an app is downloaded to.
Very handy site.

Current Phone:
- Android: Samsung SM-G900F Galaxy S5 (XT)
- Win Phone 8: Samsung ATIV S (XT)

Current Tablet:

- Acer Iconia 7" Android Tablet

Twitter: qraider

dafman

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#590896 5-Mar-2012 21:32

stevenz:You'll be pleasantly surprised at the performance difference between the P500 and the SGS2!

I hope so, if Vodafone ever get around to finding some stock for me - the phone is a business purchase - apparently vodafone have S2 in stock for retail , but as a business customer I have been waiting for close on a month! Go figure. telecom beckons for future purchases, me thinks.

Thanks for all the advice - sadly rooting the phone is not an option as it's a work phone. I guess I will be downloading and starting the apps off from scratch again.

toyonut

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#591021 6-Mar-2012 08:19

As noted, dont set up till on wifi. You dont need to remove sim for this, just skip putting in your google account at the android setup then add it in account settings after you have wifi set up.

Use https://market.android.com/?hl=en for app installing, just log in, select my library at the top and install apps you want to new phone after google account is logged in and registered. will send them to your phone over wifi/internet.

Try Vultr using this link and get us both some credit:

http://www.vultr.com/?ref=7033587-3B