An easier way to restore apps between ROMs.

[thatguychuck]

So I decided to load latest Bugless Beast to check it out, and like a lot of people out there not looking forward to installing all of my apps again. But there I was after the nandroid restore, looking at an blank homepage and empty drawer.

Then an idea hit me. I did a factory data reset on the phone, with the purpose of getting back to the initial Google log in screen. Entered my information, and it began the sync.

If you do this, LET IT SIT! It's doing it's thing. Let it sit even after the sync icon goes away, as long as the 3G is still showing data transfer, TRY NOT TO MESS WITH IT. DO NOT OPEN MARKET, as I think think this interrupts the app restore and you have to do the rest manually. Check your drawer from time to time if you must, you will see your apps coming back. After it finished, I got a notification icon saying "38 Applications Restored." Even got my wallpaper back. Many ROMs will allow you to keep your data, but if you are going between major revisions (like 2.0.1 to 2.1) it works like a charm.

Edit: ALL of my applications that were listed in the "Downloads" section of the market prior to the install came back.

Nice.

[voydas]

:blinks:

I pray this works.

[PhontomF]

Does it restore all applications or just applications that you've paid for?

[thatguychuck]

I just did this, so it should work for you too. You don't get to keep your page setup, but I'm more than happy just having the apps back.
Edit: ALL my applications that were previously listed in the "Downloads" section of the market came back.

[daftlush]

Titanium Backup is your friend.

[ocholoco]

just rooted my phone for first time [ultimate droid v8] and was wondering if i would have to redownload all my apps...luckily i searched & found this. it totally worked!

[droiduser5]

Just noticed that this happened to my phone after I let it sit. So, I now post in this thread to corroborate OP's findings. Very nice.