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Comment by gonzalohm | Hacker News Reader

Someone should make an app to offload all your data to a personal cloud before going to the airport and then reload it into the phone after going through customs

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In the case of Apple, couldn't you reset the phone, sign in to a backup iCloud account, and then repeat the process with your real account once you're clear? Not a fast process, but most people have GBs of personal data so nothing would be quick anyways.

In theory that could work (although I have never owned an iPhone) but usually there is stuff that doesn't backup (specially settings for apps, logged accounts, etc.) and it becomes tedious to have to sign in manually.

Ideally we should be able to just snapshot everything and then restore from that state. Kind of like EC2 or Digital Ocean

It's impossible to log in with just a password, you need to okay it on an Apple device. If ICE has that Apple device and a person who knows the password they can do the same.

Also they'll detain you for having a suspicious burner phone and interrogate you about your social media etc.

All backup apps work, no special requirements. Seedvault for my LiniageOS.

Seedvault doesn't work half of the time.

They don't work well in my experience.

What I want is to get my home screen back exactly as I left it: I've not found anything able to pull it off on Android though.

Ideally it would be an exact flash image of the phone.

Adb backup exists, though I haven't tried it, and Google cloud backup does this. However, if you trust Google, you probably already trust the US.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any other app that does this on an unrooted phone.

>Adb backup exists, though I haven't tried it,

It's very patchy, and many (most?) apps opt out, so it's functionally useless.

Google cloud backup has never done this for me. It seems like it'll restore a whole lot of stuff, but details like getting my Nova Launcher screen back (version pinned to before it was sold - alternatives just aren't good enough yet) or a bunch of the little logins and details has never done it for me.

Nothing works on Android. Not even for basic app data. The biggest problem is keystore keys and e.g. bank authenticator apps tied to them.

AFAIK iPhone backups, if restored on the exact same device (i.e. a CPU with the correct decryption key embedded in it) will restore almost everything, including authenticator apps.

The only realistic option for Android is a separate "burner" device.

I agree they could be better; though I do get my home screen restored.

NANDroid dose the exact flash image, but with modern hardware rooted encryption it stopped being useful.

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