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> Pixel which encrypt your device backups with on-device hardware encryption.

Can you set up a new android phone from an old phone’s backup? If so, how could this work?

This is a standard way to set up a new iPhone: “restore” from a backup of your previous phone. Especially handy when your old phone is no longer available (lost/broken)

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Yes, decryption requires the original device's unlock PIN/pattern/password:

https://security.googleblog.com/2018/10/google-and-android-h...

Not that I fully understand how hard it is to circumvent.

Oh, I see. Apple has done that since the original iPhone too, and I believe iPod before it. I thought you meant they used a hardware key.

For your backups - but once you use iCloud to sync devices in real time, they just use their service keys, and your iCloud credentials are enough to read your iMessage history.

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