Database Users

[Q] Market apps backed up by google.

Hey, just had a quick question. I am a crack flasher, I flash many ROMs..and I saw someone recommend a complete flash, not use titanium, and let google backup/restore their apps/data. How do I get thsi to work properly? I have done multiple full wipes, and it has only done it for me ONCE, where I logged into GMAIL and it downladed all my apps back automatically...I tried the "market doctor" feature in Titanium, that didn't help. Anyone?

It has to be a fresh install, and as far as I know, AOSP-based, such as CM. The first time you run the Market, it will download and install anything on your userid's list of installed (or, depending on your sync config, downloaded and later deleted). In the case of CM7 with gapps, which is where I've used it, the Market runs during first boot sequence, but you can cancel it to set up WiFi and/or restore apps from TB and run it later.

jggimi said:
It has to be a fresh install, and as far as I know, AOSP-based, such as CM. The first time you run the Market, it will download and install anything on your userid's list of installed (or, depending on your sync config, downloaded and later deleted). In the case of CM7 with gapps, which is where I've used it, the Market runs during first boot sequence, but you can cancel it to set up WiFi and/or restore apps from TB and run it later.
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Run what later? Market, or a some setup app? If its like a run on first boot, setup app, how do I run it later? And also, when you say clean you just mean, factory/data reset, wipe cache, wipe davlik, flash new rom? I saw something about reformatting in clockwork or something...?

Market. If you install CM7 and gapps, you will be prompted at the startup of Market to Cancel or run. If you cancel, just start Market later...
And by clean, I mean a "factory wipe/reset" -- and in some cases, reformatting /system. Yes.

jggimi said:
Market. If you install CM7 and gapps, you will be prompted at the startup of Market to Cancel or run. If you cancel, just start Market later...
And by clean, I mean a "factory wipe/reset" -- and in some cases, reformatting /system. Yes.
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Thanks... So I went into mounts and storage, should I also format cache and other things in there, or just format system?.. And should I do the format before or after I do a factory wipe?
Also... There isn't a way to turn this back up off so that it won't restore my apps?

You can damage your phone with indiscriminate formatting. It's best if you do some reading and research on your own so that you gain a basic understanding of how your device operates under the hood.
A factory reset formats /data and /cache, it does not do anything else.
YOU should take the time to find out for yourself what information is stored in each partition. Knowledge is safer than blindly following some instructions you find online somewhere, eh?
HTC Glacier running CM7 #31

Yea... I don't get it. I just fully wiped, reformatted system, and reflashed cm7 and gapps, and market doesn't restore nearly all my applications that I had previously installed...? Is there an option somewhere that isn't allowing some apps to be backed up, or restored or what?

This has worked for me with certain phones, but only that the apps were restored. The data for the apps were never restored for me, and I don't think it ever intended to.

To be clear, Google keeps a list of the Market apps you acquire. They don't actually back up any application data. That's yours, and is private. They may know you've aquired a Pr0n video player, but not your particular category favorites. Well, they will know from your Google search terms. But not from your application list, unless there are specific apps dedicated to your peccadilloes.
The FIRST time Market is run with an existing account, the list will be used to download those applications once more. That's all.

jggimi said:
To be clear, Google keeps a list of the Market apps you acquire. They don't actually back up any application data. That's yours, and is private. They may know you've aquired a Pr0n video player, but not your particular category favorites. Well, they will know from your Google search terms. But not from your application list, unless there are specific apps dedicated to your peccadilloes.
The FIRST time Market is run with an existing account, the list will be used to download those applications once more. That's all.
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google should make something like the itune, where you can backup apps, contacts, data and stuff in your computer in one place. this is the only thing i like about an iphone.

[Q] Best Out... ?

I bought a Desire Z about two weeks before the 1.72.405.2 OTA update came along, and I allowed it to update (Yeah I know, this was after all my first Android device).
Anyway, lately my phones been running slowly and apps force closing, so I've decided to downgrade it and root it (psneuter method), and try some different ROM's.
What I was wondering is, what would be the best way without root, to backup as much of my data as possible, apps, sms, files, and also if possible a backup that I can use in case I scew it up, so I can get it back to the way it is now.
I have a copy of:-
RUU_Vision_HTC_WWE_1.34.405.5_Radio_12.28b.60.140e_26.03.02.26_M_release_155556_signed
which I believe is the stock ROM for this device, but as far as I know if it goes wrong I'll be unable to flash this as the update won't allow me to flash an earlier version..
Would I be able to mount and then backup the whole phone using adb or any other method.
I've been reading about it for a while now, and while I have lots of bits of information, I've been unable to find a good solution.
Thanks,
...John...

j0hn0n1 said:
I bought a Desire Z about two weeks before the 1.72.405.2 OTA update came along, and I allowed it to update (Yeah I know, this was after all my first Android device).
What I was wondering is, what would be the best way without root, to backup as much of my data as possible, apps, sms, files, and also if possible a backup that I can use in case I scew it up, so I can get it back to the way it is now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without root, a good app to backup your other apps is astro file manager, its available free from the market, you just have to hit menu, tools and it'll back up all the apps on your sd card, in terms of files, just make sure their all on your sd card and they'll be fine
Not sure how to back up SmS but i know their are apps out their, a point you may have forgotten is to make sure you back up your contacts as they all get wiped and I made this mistake, the easiest way to do that is to make sure your contacts sync up with your google account so after rooting, you can just sync them back,
Hope i helped!

Use google to remember what apps you've downloaded from market. Once associated, when you flash a new rom, google will automatically redownload all your associated apps. For sms, i suggest you download GoSMS and use their internal backup feature. It will save to sd and be visible to your stock sms app as well on restore.
Sent from my AOSP Virtuous Desire Z using XDA App

Ya but too many times google starts restoring apps that I uninstalled months ago. Great idea but bad implementation imo.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App

Sorry I haven't replied, was in work all day yesterday.
I have Astro File Manager, but I hadn't even considered it, thanks. I have my contacts sync'd with Google, so it seems that as long as I backup my files and sms everything else should be done automatically anyway.
Go SMS seems worth getting anyway, as the bog standard Android messages app is seriously dull. I'll give it a try.
I had wondered about Google Market restoring apps, but I thought it would only reinstall apps that were installed at the last sync.
If you install an app and it screws up your phone, and do a factory reset then Google will just reinstall the app that caused all the problems in the first place.
Definitely a good idea, but needs more work.
Anyway, thanks for all the info, I'll give it try tonight, when I get back from work.
...John...

I find SMS Backup & Restore to be the best app for this purpose and I wouldn't recommend the backup feature from the market, as you said it is likely to give problems.
Without root though, the backup choices are somewhat limited for apps and such.

I've been using Super Manager by gpc. It works pretty good, plus offers a ton of other features that can be used with or without root.

I've backed up what I could, although it's typical that as soon as it's all gone I realised things that I should have wrote down (I had been using the wallet/pocket app and although I backed up all my apps, I'm guesing it won't have backed up any of the passwords, logins, bank details, etc).
Anyway, I've downgraded and successfully rooted my phone (through gfree), I have CID: 11111111 and S-Off, but I haven't installed and ROM's yet as I read somewhere that you are supposed to wipe everything between ROM's, am I wiping the Davlik cache or doing a factory reset (I mean won't the factory reset just reset my stock ROM back to it's original condition).
I'm also wondering about finding custom ROMs, on my dell streak I had installed ROM Manager and could get a list of any that were available.
I first installed ROM Manager and used it to flash recovery, but this time I've installed CWM first, so would it be safe to install ROM Manager now, will it want to flash a recovery over the one I have already.
Or is it not advisable to use ROM Manager, as I have previously heard of a few problems it may cause.
Thanks ...John...

Rom manager shouldn't give any problems, but for custom roms it's best to take a look at the development forum. If you don't like that you can still use the list in rommanager, it might be just me who prefers downloading roms to my pc first.
But before you install any of them I recommend you make a nandroid backup from recovery just to be safe.

I think the issues were that some people, not all, found problems flashing some of the gingerbread roms via Rom manager. Better to save the Rom to SD and then flash it via CWM.

Right I've done a nandroid backup, and I've saved one to another mSD card which I can keep somewhere just in case (probably a bit over cautious, but...).
I thought that by saving apps to an sd card, they would run from the sd when I restarted my phone, even the ones that I had moved previously with the application manager in settings are not seen.
Still reinstalling the ones I want isn't really that bad.
Seriously, somebody needs to sort out the Markets app backups feature, when I was setting up the phone at first, I specifically chose to not automatically sync with Google and that I would do it manually when needed. Then I went in to the market to get a file manager and the download failed, it was only when I looked at what was going on I realised it was already downloading and reinstalling 96 apps. I looked around for a 'cancel all' option and there isn't any, so I had to cancel them all one by one and then uninstall the ones that had managed to install.
A simple checklist to select the apps you want would be great, oh, and a cancel all button would be a bonus.
Anyway, things are not as much fun when they're too easy.
Thanks ...John...

Backup game data before factory reset

My battery died whilst some apps were updating and ever since I have been getting a lot of crashes and various other problems.
So I'm thinking of doing a factory reset but I have a couple of questions:
I have used the nexus root toolkit to make backups before but can anyone tell me if this backs up game data such as progress and in particular, in-app purchases?
Does restoring from this backup restore app settings or just put the apps back on?

shaneydroid said:
My battery died whilst some apps were updating and ever since I have been getting a lot of crashes and various other problems.
So I'm thinking of doing a factory reset but I have a couple of questions:
I have used the nexus root toolkit to make backups before but can anyone tell me if this backs up game data such as progress and in particular, in-app purchases?
Does restoring from this backup restore app settings or just put the apps back on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although it back ups the apps etc I had a few issues using the backup tool it was telling me to install apps and that info was missing etc. So the best thing to do is plug your unit into an PC and drag the file data (Android/data) onto your desktop, this way once you have factory reset and done your back up you can drag that file back onto your device and you will have all game progress saved. If you have an emulator installed some of the Memory cards are hidden in the file system meaning you will have to find them in FPse or whatever you use and back them up as well, to be honest I just use root browser and email them to myself :good:

Ugh! Pretty gutted now.
Decided to cover all bases. Did a regular backup using the toolkit. Did another backup with all the shared data using the toolkit and manually copied the data to my computer as suggested above.
After the factory reset I restored the full backup with shared data. Although some games have retained settings, some haven't and NONE have any of the in-app purchase stuff.
So copied back all the data I copied to PC and still nothing.
As an example, Bad Piggies HD. My son bought a load of in-app stuff after the PIN was reset (without my knowledge) and none of the stuff is there and all levels are locked again.
<EDIT>
Tsk! I've now discovered that the restore has only restored about half my apps, let alone settings!

Anyone know of any working NON-ROOT data backup apps for S8?

Hey guys,
I'm running into a couple issues with my phone so I want to factory reset. However, I'm stuck in this tricky situation where I was able to import my data from the S7, but I cannot re-back it up under the S8.
I'd been using Helium ever since I got my S7, since it uses the built-in backup methods without requiring root. However, under Nougat it doesn't seem to work as well. You cannot restore backups that include the .apk anymore, you have to install the apps first then restore their data.
Now I'm getting a bunch of apps where I restored the data from an older version where it was still possible, updated the apps from the Play store, and now I can't back them up again! I was testing this out with the actual adb desktop backup commands... those apps just give me a blank backup file. Examples are Gboard (formerly Google Keyboard) - you always used to be able to back that up with adb, and it still shows up in the list (e.g. they didn't do allow backups=false), but it doesn't work. Helium gives an error, adb just gives me a 1KB file with nothing in it. There's clearly data there...
What gets me is that Helium uses the *official* built-in Android desktop backup protocol. It's like Google started killing that off without telling anyone, and without even having the phone return a message saying the app can't be backed up. It appears to work, but you get a blank file.
I used to be able to just use a custom recovery to make a nandroid backup, so I could easily factory reset and recover if that didn't fix the problem. But since there's no root method for the Snapdragon S8, and AFAIK the stock bootloader can't do backups like that, I'm out of options.
Does anyone use any other methods? I know Google/Android *supposedly* backup your appdata for you, but it never works - every time I try that it reinstalls the app with empty data and I have to set everything up all over again.

I would suggest using Samsung's own Cloud to back up your data. Works surprisingly well, it backs up pretty much everything, even home screen layout. It even backs up apps like OGYoutube or anything 3rd party. Looks like it backs up the entire apk and restores them with your data and logins. Worked well for me when I flashed G950U1 firmware
EDIT: Also if you go this route and factory reset your device for whatever reason, upon initial set up skip restoring apps from Google since Samsung's cloud will restore those apps back. I noticed that if you use both restore methods they will clash and your Samsung apps will be overwritten and your data will be wiped. Don't know if anyone else noticed this, just from my experience.

moises93 said:
I would suggest using Samsung's own Cloud to back up your data. Works surprisingly well, it backs up pretty much everything, even home screen layout. It even backs up apps like OGYoutube or anything 3rd party. Looks like it backs up the entire apk and restores them with your data and logins. Worked well for me when I flashed G950U1 firmware
EDIT: Also if you go this route and factory reset your device for whatever reason, upon initial set up skip restoring apps from Google since Samsung's cloud will restore those apps back. I noticed that if you use both restore methods they will clash and your Samsung apps will be overwritten and your data will be wiped. Don't know if anyone else noticed this, just from my experience.
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Wait, what? How do I do that? I tried the Smart Switch Windows software (not the one that lets you transfer between phones, there's a PC version too), and it only backed up the .apk, not the data.

drfsupercenter said:
Wait, what? How do I do that? I tried the Smart Switch Windows software (not the one that lets you transfer between phones, there's a PC version too), and it only backed up the .apk, not the data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just go under Settings>Cloud and Accounts>Samsung Cloud and enable backup, check it out in there. It pretty much gives you details of what it'll back up for you.

moises93 said:
EDIT: Also if you go this route and factory reset your device for whatever reason, upon initial set up skip restoring apps from Google since Samsung's cloud will restore those apps back. I noticed that if you use both restore methods they will clash and your Samsung apps will be overwritten and your data will be wiped. Don't know if anyone else noticed this, just from my experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you have to turn off any settings on Google backup before resetting phone ?

moises93 said:
I would suggest using Samsung's own Cloud to back up your data. Works surprisingly well, it backs up pretty much everything, even home screen layout. It even backs up apps like OGYoutube or anything 3rd party. Looks like it backs up the entire apk and restores them with your data and logins. Worked well for me when I flashed G950U1 firmware
EDIT: Also if you go this route and factory reset your device for whatever reason, upon initial set up skip restoring apps from Google since Samsung's cloud will restore those apps back. I noticed that if you use both restore methods they will clash and your Samsung apps will be overwritten and your data will be wiped. Don't know if anyone else noticed this, just from my experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like Samsung will terminate data back up after 11 Jan 2018 - must be a capacity issue.
https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS8/comments/7k2ihz/samsung_will_remove_app_data_backups_in_samsung/

[ROOT] Need help rooting my S8 SM-G950U please!

Hello, I have been looking for a way to root my device without flashing (deleting data on my phone) because I have a lot of data that can not be retrieved through a backup such as chat data that is saved on an app's server or only gives you access to back it up within the app. I cannot open my apps right now due to a malicious APK. My apps constantly crash until I reinstall them from the app store, but upon reinstalling them I lose all my data since I deleted the app without backing up first, I still have all the apps that I want to back up, but as stated they cannot be opened. The Google Play store, Samsung, and app developers cannot do anything to help, I've already been in contact with them numerous times. I want to root my phone so that I can create a Google Drive backup of the information in the apps or be able to copy the data to paste it over a newly reinstalled app. I know something like this exists for KIK.
I have heard that towelroot and framaroot don't delete data on my device when used to root, but I wanted to come here to know for sure. So if anyone can point me in the right direction or even walk me through it I would seriously appreciate it because this has frustrated me for a month now and I want to root it so bad.
Here's my device info;
-Model: S8 SM-G950U
-One ui version: 1.0
-Android 9.0
-Baseband version: G950USQU8DUA2
-Android security patch level: December 1, 2020
-Carrier: Sprint
Thank you for your time and assistance.

have heard that towelroot and framaroot don't delete data on my device when used to root, but I wanted to come here to know for sure.
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Apps like this often install adware on your phone afterwards, so make sure to reflash ROM afterwards.
You don`t need root to copy non-system-related files. So make a backup of folder of your apps and after you will reflash ROM, install these apps and swap data.
Also, I don`t know any app that wouldn`t restore your messages after you reinstall it. Can you name me your messenger so I can try it myself to be sure?
Another option is to install antivirus.

0purple said:
Apps like this often install adware on your phone afterwards, so make sure to reflash ROM afterwards.
You don`t need root to copy non-system-related files. So make a backup of folder of your apps and after you will reflash ROM, install these apps and swap data.
Also, I don`t know any app that wouldn`t restore your messages after you reinstall it. Can you name me your messenger so I can try it myself to be sure?
Another option is to install antivirus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I created a backup with Smart Switch, but I am not that confident in that backup. From what I've seen it backs up most of the data, but I don't know how chat data from messaging apps are handled with backups. Is there a more precise backup that copies over all data exactly as it was on my phone in this current state with all accounts logged into as I am now?
The apps I am concerned for their data are LINE, HelloTalk, KIK, and songs I saved with Shazam since I never linked an account to it. WhatsApp used to be on this list, but a friend told me that WhatsApp locally saves its data to the device's storage so I was able to backup the data just by reinstalling WhatsApp and restoring from internal storage.
It was directly stated that LINE data would not be backed up through Samsung Switch. If you could make an account on these apps, send some messages, and do a backup and restore to see if the messages transfer I would be grateful. I also have no idea if Shazam songs that were found without an account can be transferred as well.

I am sorry, I don't have a Samsung device. What you can do is go to your file manager and copy all folders you see to external storage. Then, after reflashing ROM, get data of wanted messaging apps back by pasting it to internal storage.
What about antivirus?