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Comment by hrehhf | Hacker News Reader

I have used the Android development tools to make backups over USB and it is fast. You can install just the command-line tools from https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html#downloads and use:

    adb backup -apk -shared -all -f backupname.ab
    adb restore backupname.ab

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Though be aware that this won't backup everything. (at least on a non-rooted device)

Notably, if you use google authenticator for 2FA, it won't backup and you'll restore a device that will no longer work as your second factor.

Thanks, that is good to know. I wish there was something as easy as the iTunes backup for iPhones. There are Android apps that claim to do a more thorough job but I haven't tried them.

Titanium backup for a rooted device works great. If you have access to recovery you can also do a Nandroid backup which gives you 100% restore capability.

For non rooted this seems very tricky, that's why I asked. Most likely you will spend hours getting your phone to work again.

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