Develop Bugs

Backing up texts and contacts..

Does anyone know how to backup texts and contacts? So whenever I flash new firmware I can get them back?
Thanks in advance.

There is an app called sms backup & restore in the market. I use that.
And not sure about contacts because I just automatically download them from my gmail account when setting up the phone.

shawon007 said:
Does anyone know how to backup texts and contacts? So whenever I flash new firmware I can get them back?
Thanks in advance.
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Click to collapse
I use MyBackup Pro v2.3.4 (available from Marketplace) as it allows you to backup apk's/apk's and their data, and also things like Contacts, Calendar events, Bookmarks, SMS, alarm, etc. To use it, you will need root access.

Actually, you see, the problem is that I cannot download ANY apps from the marketplace. It stalls and keeps displaying the message "Starting download..". Hence why I am trying to back everything up and reinstall the ROM.
In settings, there is a backup option that saves all contact / texts onto the SD Card. anyone know where that file is located? I'll ever be grateful if someone can post this information. thanks.
EDIT: The option is in Settings > Privacy > Backup settings.

[Q] How to delete backup data from google

Hi everyone, i am very annoyed because everytime i flash a new rom google restores all of my settings and apps from my previous phone (hd2) and i haven't found a way to disable this feature, can anyone help, btw the feature backup/restore data from google accont doesen't work

you
You'd better change you email xP

After flashing a new ROM and when prompted to sign in to Google, skip this part for now (there is normally a skip function, or you can try pressing home or back button).
From there go to your "Settings">"Privacy" and Un-check "Back up my data" and "Automatic Restore".
Then you are free to go to "Settings">"Accounts & Sync">"Add Google Account", to get your Contacts, Gmail and Browser synced.

The scheme with the signing in after unchecking seems to be working but i'm still wondering how to make the information on the google servers go away
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

dstylazz said:
After flashing a new ROM and when prompted to sign in to Google, skip this part for now (there is normally a skip function, or you can try pressing home or back button).
From there go to your "Settings">"Privacy" and Un-check "Back up my data" and "Automatic Restore".
Then you are free to go to "Settings">"Accounts & Sync">"Add Google Account", to get your Contacts, Gmail and Browser synced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was getting mad every time my phone started downloading all those app on its own thank god i have a solution now

Does it still download every app when you first sync up? I thought it just loaded contacts and calender/docs and probably drive stuff now.
The last time I did a full wipe it didn't do this for me. That would be a nightmare because every app I have ever downloaded is in my market library when I got to play.google.com on my laptop. If anything I would like to trim that down and remove selective apps. There are some that are just rubbish now that I would never use. Just downloaded to try for example.

it would be really nice if yo could manage your backup data, select what yo want to restore like wireless settings or wallpapers or ringtones

Although you can not get to actually see the data, have a look HERE On the point of disabling and deleting the back ups through ADB command prompt

dstylazz said:
Although you can not get to actually see the data, have a look HERE On the point of disabling and deleting the back ups through ADB command prompt
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I know this is an old thread, but here is some info from the docs about "bmgr"
http://developer.android.com/tools/help/bmgr.html
Warning! When backup is disabled, the current backup transport will explicitly wipe the entire active data set from its backend storage. This is so that when a user says they do not want their data backed up, the Backup Manager respects that wish. No further data will be saved from the device, and no restore operations will be possible, unless the Backup Manager is re-enabled (either through Settings or through the above bmgr command).
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This implies disabling backup deletes all backed up files on the server.

[Q] Contacts app - any ways to fix?

Background: Rooted phone w/stock image with injected root.
Applied latest OTA (UVDLJC), then recovered root using Voodoo OTA RootKeeper (worked just fine), but noticed contacts not displaying ... well ... any contacts at times. Leaving it up for a while, it would come up with an error (crashed). Rebooting the phone would make all contacts available, again, but only temporarily, then the app won't display them, and back to the crash.
Re-did the UVDLJC (thank you mrRobinson http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1771687), this time directly using the newly uploaded injected root image, but the contacts app still behaves the same way.
While the app is malfunctioning, all incoming calls have no contact identified.
I also installed GO Contacts, but the behavior is the same (not depicting, than crashing) - I assume because somehow this app is using the original contacts "under the hood"?!?
Any suggestions?!? Is there a specific area I could redo, to recover contacts?
TIA,
Stefan

Solution...
I've been mucking with my contacts, merging different sources, restoring backups, using external editors, etc. I've found that a reboot fixes edit changes. Once my contacts are correct then my messaging and call logs show names rather than numbers.

Try wiping Contacts and Contacts Storage.

wiping data, freeze-then-thaw via Titanium Backup Pro - to no avail
Aerowinder said:
Try wiping Contacts and Contacts Storage.
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Tried wiping data, to no avail. It just works for a while, then all of a sudden there are no contacts in the list, and the calls - of course - show no IDs/names. Only reboots seem to temporarily fix the problem, but the issue comes up again, shortly thereafter.
I wonder if there is a way to REINSTALL only the contacts app. I tried to freeze the contacts and contacts storage, then "thaw" them via Titanium Backup Pro, but that did not fix the issue, either. I assume that by removing them via TBPro, and then restoring them, it would end up - if the root cause if some sort of corruption in the app(s) - in the same place I am right now.

How to restore contacts, etc.

Hello everyone,
I have been running the 4.3 stock ATT ROM, rooted, for the last few years, and I recently decided to try out a custom ROM. I ran CyanogenMod on my last Android phone (Aria) and as pretty happy with it, so I decided to try it first. I synced everything with Kies, backed up my OS with CM, and used the CyanogenMod installer to install CyanogenMod 11.0. Everything went well, but when I tried to connect to Kies to restore my contacts, I discovered that it's not compatible with CyanogenMod. Not too surprising, but annoying nonetheless. I also discovered that my backup disappeared; apparently CM was set to backup to internal memory and I failed to move the backup off before installing CyanogenMod. I'm wondering if anyone knows any way to get my data, especially my contacts, back. I'm sure I could flash back to a stock ROM and sync with Kies, but then I'm unsure how to best export the data and import it into CyanogenMod. What I'd really prefer is some way to extract the data from Kies and import it to CyanogenMod without having to go back to stock ROM. Any suggestions or solutions?
Thanks

I've never tried this tool (or kies at all for that matter), but it sounds promising for your situation. http://www.mobile-phone-transfer.com/extract-data-from-kies-backup-sbu-file.html

Thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded the program and tried the free trial version. It found multiple backup files with text messages and call logs in them, but said there were no contacts in any of them. I guess I'm going to flash stock rom to see if the contacts are really in the backups or not. Any suggestions for how to export and transfer them if I get everything restored to the stock rom?

falec_illmore said:
Thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded the program and tried the free trial version. It found multiple backup files with text messages and call logs in them, but said there were no contacts in any of them. I guess I'm going to flash stock rom to see if the contacts are really in the backups or not. Any suggestions for how to export and transfer them if I get everything restored to the stock rom?
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Click to collapse
The contacts app on the phone should be able to export them to a .vcf file. You can keep the file as a backup and use it for import/export from contacts on other ROMs. I don't remember exactly how to get there on touchwiz, but if you poke around contacts settings a little bit I don't think it will be too hard to find.

jason2678 said:
The contacts app on the phone should be able to export them to a .vcf file. You can keep the file as a backup and use it for import/export from contacts on other ROMs. I don't remember exactly how to get there on touchwiz, but if you poke around contacts settings a little bit I don't think it will be too hard to find.
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Click to collapse
Thanks again. For anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation, here's what happened. I did find how to export contacts to vcf file; it's pretty easy to find in the menu of the contacts app. I wanted to take my text messages and other settings, so I looked into programs to do that. I tried GO backup, but the upgrade process to the pro version is broken and support not responding, so I went with Titanium Backup. I flashed back to the stock 4.3 rom as described in a thread here (sorry I can't post links yet), restored all my data with Samsung Kies, but made the mistake of letting the phone install a software update. This put me at 4.4.2 with Knox active, and Titanium Backup needs root access. I regained root access by installing CWM using Odin 3.07 in dl mode as described elsewhere, pulling the battery after install to prevent stock recovery from reinstalling, booting to CWM recovery, and installing supersu binary. Then I installed supersu from the store and allowed it to update itself and block Knox, and disabled Knox as follows: (this is quoted from elsewhere, I can't post links yet)
"I installed Android Terminal Emulator from the Play store - granted it SuperSU access - and proceeded to type the following command(s):
su [enter]
pm disable com.sec.knox.seandroid
*NOTE - the above to lines require you to go to a new line after typing "su", the [enter] is only a reminder, DO NOT type [enter] after su"
At this point, I had stable root access, so I installed Titanium Backup Pro to backup by data. Unfortunately, I discovered that 4.4.2 has problems with permissions; Titanium Backup couldn't write to any location on my phone. After some more research, I installed SDCard Fix from the store and let it fix my permissions. This let me access my SD card with Titanium Backup, and I backed up everything I wanted. Then I installed my backup zip of CyanogenMod that I made before returning to 4.3 stock from CWM recovery and was back to CM and able to restore my data and apps from Titanium Backup.
Hope this helps someone else, but I would strongly suggest that before trying out a new ROM you use Titanium Backup or similar, and save a nandroid backup off the phone. That would have saved me a lot of trouble, but things have changed a lot since I last played with custom ROMs about 5 years ago, and I didn't do enough research first.

Or you could just use a google account and have all your contacts sync with no hassle.

elatllat said:
Or you could just use a google account and have all your contacts sync with no hassle.
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Click to collapse
I do have a Google account, but when I switched to CM Rom and told it to sync with Google, I got a lot of my apps re-installed (not all of them), but no contacts, SMS or MMS, etc. Not sure why I didn't get any contacts, possibly the old OS wasn't set to sync contacts to Google. Just reinforces being thorough in research and preparation before trying to change ROMs.

Recover deleted text messages?

Hello,
I'm trying to recover some deleted text messages off my phone. I tried a dozen windows programs without any luck. Is there an easy way to scan the files on the phone and pull deleted text messages? Usually Easeus is my go to for data recovery but that software wants me to use kongo root; research shows me that is only good to android 5.0 and this is running 8.0
I tried google, youtube, etc so I'm guessing I'm out of luck.
Any options for me out there?

Sorry for the delayed reply. As I know, most such recovery softwares need us to root our phones first. Then we can use them to help us scan out the deleted text messages and recover them back. Please remember to stop using your phone when the text messages deleted without backup. Cause if they are overwritten, there is no way to recover them back. Of course, if there is a backup of the deleted text messages, you can recover from backup files directly.