How to save all apps and contacts when upgrading my Android phones

[Big-Rich]

I have two Android phones. One is an old Google Pixel 2XL and the other is a Samsung Galaxy 22+.

I want to get two new Pixel 10 Pro phones and I need to find out how to lose the least amount of apps, login info, and contact data. Best case situation would be to lose nothing at all.

So, my questions are:
1. Can the contacts with phone numbers be imported to the Pixel 10 Pro from either current phones to the respective new phone?
2. Can all the apps be transferred from these two phones to the two new ones without losing any or will they need to be manually reinstalled?
3. If all the apps and contact data can be transferred, will the login credentials be transferred with the apps or do I need to make a list of the original credentials?

I have many apps on each old phone and over 500 contacts on each as well.

 

[bkdodger]

Samsung has Smart Switch you can make a backup S22+ and using Smart Switch on new phones can restore. You can also have your contacts saved to Google account so they follow you on all devices as an extra backup. Apps would usually start restoring on new phones if they are available from Play Store otherwise you might need to find the APK of app if an old one. Logins are tricky bc some need you to login in on new phone and I don't know if you are saving logins in your Samsung phone or Googles password

 

[Big-Rich]

Samsung has Smart Switch you can make a backup S22+ and using Smart Switch on new phones can restore. You can also have your contacts saved to Google account so they follow you on all devices as an extra backup. Apps would usually start restoring on new phones if they are available from Play Store otherwise you might need to find the APK of app if an old one. Logins are tricky bc some need you to login in on new phone and I don't know if you are saving logins in your Samsung phone or Googles password

Wow, "bkdodger", not many of us still around. Me, my brother and my father were Brooklyn Bums fans and I am still a Dodger fan (my father and brother passed away still Dodger fans).

Anyway, I need to understand where my data is. I am not happy with uploading anything to a cloud storage and I assume both "Smart Switch" and "Google" are cloud based. I have no cloud accounts that I use. I believe I made the mistake of creating a Microsoft account and even though I never use it they haunt me with all kinds of suggestions and offers. I created a Google email account many years ago and I track down everything they upload to their cloud service and delete it. I don't recall ever creating a Samsung account but they do haunt me to create one for various reasons and I decline. I have not figured out how to tweak the notifications in a way where I don't block everything, just the garbage. I'm thinking they pretty much own our information and even though we "buy" the phone, they still control it. I have Verizon as my cell provider and they send messages and run apps on my phone too. Between the phone manufacturer and the service provider they use my phone more than I do. Don't get me started on "WiFi Calling" where my cell provider wants me to use the ISP I pay for separately to basically get wireless VOIP while I'm paying for the connection (Internet) they aren't providing.

I bought a private phone backup program or "app" as it's called these days but I've never needed to restore from the backup. More importantly, I haven't needed to import the backup to a phone that is not the same as the one I made the backup from. This is why I'm asking questions here.

In the old days, you brought your phone in and the agent (Verizon in my case) connected your old phone to your new phone and ran a program to transfer your contacts and phone numbers. The only apps were built into the phones. This is the first time I am considering upgrading my phones but the phones are loaded with 600 contacts each and a myriad of apps. Everything from pizza places to government logins for Social Security, the VA etc., etc.

I assume there is no solution without using the various cloud storage?

I don't want to come back from the cell phone store and need to reload and rebuild all the apps and their credentials because I turned in my phone for the upgrade and cannot even refer back to it to see what's missing. I just finished doing a complete rebuild of all my computer programs, pictures and lots of programs onto a new Win11 machine because Microsoft is stopping support for Win10 soon. It took over a month and I had backups from the Win10 machine and access to the Win10 machine to see what I needed to get onto the new machine and OS. All because the new Win11 security will not allow an upgrade on the hardware of my Win10 machine.

If the cloud is the only solution, then I thank you and I will muddle through it and hope they don't suffer another breach as just about every database does eventually.

We live in a totally secure but very un-secure world.

 

[bkdodger]

Wow, "bkdodger", not many of us still around. Me, my brother and my father were Brooklyn Bums fans and I am still a Dodger fan (my father and brother passed away still Dodger fans).

Anyway, I need to understand where my data is. I am not happy with uploading anything to a cloud storage and I assume both "Smart Switch" and "Google" are cloud based. I have no cloud accounts that I use. I believe I made the mistake of creating a Microsoft account and even though I never use it they haunt me with all kinds of suggestions and offers. I created a Google email account many years ago and I track down everything they upload to their cloud service and delete it. I don't recall ever creating a Samsung account but they do haunt me to create one for various reasons and I decline. I have not figured out how to tweak the notifications in a way where I don't block everything, just the garbage. I'm thinking they pretty much own our information and even though we "buy" the phone, they still control it. I have Verizon as my cell provider and they send messages and run apps on my phone too. Between the phone manufacturer and the service provider they use my phone more than I do. Don't get me started on "WiFi Calling" where my cell provider wants me to use the ISP I pay for separately to basically get wireless VOIP while I'm paying for the connection (Internet) they aren't providing.

I bought a private phone backup program or "app" as it's called these days but I've never needed to restore from the backup. More importantly, I haven't needed to import the backup to a phone that is not the same as the one I made the backup from. This is why I'm asking questions here.

In the old days, you brought your phone in and the agent (Verizon in my case) connected your old phone to your new phone and ran a program to transfer your contacts and phone numbers. The only apps were built into the phones. This is the first time I am considering upgrading my phones but the phones are loaded with 600 contacts each and a myriad of apps. Everything from pizza places to government logins for Social Security, the VA etc., etc.

I assume there is no solution without using the various cloud storage?

I don't want to come back from the cell phone store and need to reload and rebuild all the apps and their credentials because I turned in my phone for the upgrade and cannot even refer back to it to see what's missing. I just finished doing a complete rebuild of all my computer programs, pictures and lots of programs onto a new Win11 machine because Microsoft is stopping support for Win10 soon. It took over a month and I had backups from the Win10 machine and access to the Win10 machine to see what I needed to get onto the new machine and OS. All because the new Win11 security will not allow an upgrade on the hardware of my Win10 machine.

If the cloud is the only solution, then I thank you and I will muddle through it and hope they don't suffer another breach as just about every database does eventually.

We live in a totally secure but very un-secure world.

Oh yes Dad was big Brooklyn Dodger fan Im carrying the last of it haha

You should be able to keep the old phones near the new one and either wirelessly or with cable connect both to transfer over that might be the best way for you. Especially with Google phones

 

[Big-Rich]

Oh yes Dad was big Brooklyn Dodger fan Im carrying the last of it haha

You should be able to keep the old phones near the new one and either wirelessly or with cable connect both to transfer over that might be the best way for you. Especially with Google phones

I'm thinking I could do a lot of experimenting if I have both the old phone and the new one but I'm being offered a free replacement phone. I'm guessing I need to give them my currently owned phone when they give me the new one so I won't have time to do the transfers at my leisure.

They will likely offer to transfer stuff for me but I wanted to get a feel for what I should expect and prepare for before I go there. Like taking your computer to the Geek Squad for repair and all they do is wipe your drive and reinstall the OS. When they're done, it's too late to get your data back. I'm computer savvy (although antiquated) but I've known the Geek Squad to do that to quite few people I know.

I'm thinking it may be no big deal if I were to trade in my Samsung 22+ for a Samsung 25+ but I'm also thinking it may not be as seamless to change to a Pixel 10 Pro from the Samsung 22+.

The other older phone is the Pixel 2XL. My wife uses that one but she has a lot of questions so I thought it would be better to trade them both in and get two identical replacement phones (except each would be a different color for obvious reasons).

Thank you for your suggestions. I think my next step is a "dry run" to the Verizon store to see what they can do and what the limits are from their perspective.