{"id":399946,"date":"2026-01-10T22:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T22:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/399946\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T22:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T22:00:15","slug":"as-an-android-fan-theres-only-one-ios-feature-i-want-google-to-copy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/399946\/","title":{"rendered":"As an Android fan, there\u2019s only one iOS feature I want Google to copy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Android<\/p>\n

Ryan Haines \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

Android has long reached a point of maturity where it does a whole lot of things right for most of its user base. However, there\u2019s always room for improvement, and one area that still frustrates me as an Android user is the process of migrating to a new phone. After using the past few generations of iPhones, I\u2019ve noticed how excellently seamless and straightforward Apple\u2019s iPhone migration process is, and it\u2019s one of the first things I miss when I switch back to Android flagships. Google, it\u2019s 2026, and it\u2019s high time you copied Apple\u2019s simplicity in migration.<\/p>\n

What do you think about Android’s backup and restore process?<\/p>\n

164 votes<\/p>\n

It\u2019s perfect: Everything transfers exactly as it was on my old phone.<\/p>\n

20%<\/p>\n

It\u2019s good, but imperfect: Most things move over, but I still have to log into apps.<\/p>\n

48%<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hit-or-miss: It works well within the same brand, but breaks across different ones.<\/p>\n

17%<\/p>\n

It\u2019s broken: I\u2019ve lost photos, messages, or data during a transfer.<\/p>\n

16%<\/p>\n

Apple gets iPhone-to-iPhone transfers just right<\/p>\n

\"Apple<\/p>\n

Aamir Siddiqui \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re jumping between Android and iOS, you\u2019ll have a headache-inducing experience. But for Apple users who are switching from one iPhone to another iPhone, Apple has made the data transfer experience mind-bogglingly easy.<\/p>\n

You have to place your new iPhone next to your old one, and iOS will transfer practically everything by itself \u2014 including messages, photos, all your apps and their sign-in states (really!!!), your passwords, your home screen, and everything else. It\u2019s like you barely put your old phone down and picked it up again.<\/p>\n

The first time I experienced an iPhone-to-iPhone transfer, it felt like magic in a way that my past Android-to-Android experiences had never even come close to. Every time I switched my primary Android phone, it would invariably involve spending a few hours setting everything back up. I didn\u2019t have to spend any time setting up the new iPhone beyond its migration screens, and that left me speechless.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Part of what makes this magic possible is that all iPhones run iOS. Apple tightly controls the ecosystem, ensuring near-perfect compatibility even if both phones aren\u2019t on the latest iOS version. An Android-to-Android transfer can be between Samsung, Google, OnePlus, or many other Android phone brands, each with its own software quirks, adding more rough edges and points of failure. Adding the complexities of backward compatibility, it becomes clear why perfection may be difficult to achieve in this area. But that\u2019s not a concern for the end user, as they still experience frustration.<\/p>\n

iPhone-to-iPhone migration feels like magic, in a way that Android-to-Android migration never does.<\/p>\n

With the iPhone, you don\u2019t even need to have your new iPhone with you for a seamless transfer. When you buy a new iPhone through Apple, you receive free temporary iCloud storage before your new phone arrives, allowing you to back up all the data from your old iPhone to iCloud for a near-perfect restore on your new phone. This is very handy if you need to hand over your old iPhone for a trade-in at the time of delivery for your new one.<\/p>\n

iCloud backups are also great if you ever lose your iPhone. Apple will back up your iPhone daily when your phone is connected to power and Wi-Fi, and is locked. This ensures you always have a recent backup to restore to your new iPhone. You don\u2019t necessarily need to pay for iCloud to store your backups, but realistically, most of us will quickly exceed the free 5GB storage limit. The cost might be worth it for the peace of mind, especially since you can be back up and running on a new iPhone in no time.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Cimino \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

iCloud backups also include Apple Watch backups, so you don\u2019t have to set up your smartwatch either if you lose it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 2026, and Android-to-Android migration still sucks<\/p>\n

When talking about Android-to-Android migration, I need to break things down into several categories, depending on whether you are migrating within the same brand or across different brands.<\/p>\n

Migrating within the same brand is tolerable, but still imperfect<\/p>\n

When migrating phones between the same brand of phone, such as from a Samsung Galaxy to another Samsung Galaxy or a Google Pixel to another Google Pixel, the migration process is tolerable, yet not perfect. You usually get a usable phone with a few taps (still more than what is needed on an iPhone), but you still miss out on several key features for a complete backup and restore.<\/p>\n

\"Someone<\/p>\n

Joe Maring \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

To start, you will be majorly missing out on app sign-in states. This is personally my biggest pain point, as it means I have to log into every single app all over again. Google did announce the Restore Credentials<\/a> feature last year to keep you signed into apps when you switch phones, and more recently, we\u2019ve seen apps like Uber take advantage of it<\/a> for a better migration experience. But it\u2019s still very much an opt-in process for app developers \u2014 so unless the developer of your favorite app decides to implement it, you\u2019re still going to get logged out of the app, lose all your in-app preferences and settings, and even miss out on notifications.<\/p>\n

The problem compounds with games. If a game doesn\u2019t use social sign-in or cloud backup features (like through Google Play Games), which a bunch of casual games tend to overlook, you\u2019re going to be losing out on game progress, too. Starting over on your favorite and losing hours of progress simply because Android couldn\u2019t get its act together soon enough is a big bummer.<\/p>\n

Then there are apps that we tend to set and forget for certain features, like Google Photos backup, Google Maps location sharing and timeline, and Health Connect. If you don\u2019t actively remember setting them up again on your new phone, chances are that you\u2019ve already forgotten about them. For features like Google Maps timeline<\/a>, you need to remember to actively import your timeline from your old phone and set it to back up on your new phone. The situation is similar for Health Connect and Google Photos backup.<\/p>\n

Migrating across Android OEMs might make you tear your hair out<\/p>\n

\"OnePlus<\/p>\n

Robert Triggs \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re migrating across OEMs, all hell breaks loose. While Google would like you to believe the process is smooth and simple, with numerous ways to migrate your data, the reality is that all of it remains imperfect and hit-or-miss. Not only do all the limitations mentioned above apply, but you also have to deal with migrating basic settings, such as your home screen and ringtone preferences, saved Wi-Fi networks, and Quick Settings toggles, as these settings are rarely carried over perfectly. You practically have to set up your phone as new again, with only your photos, messages, and files carried over.<\/p>\n

You practically have to set up your phone all over again if you switch between Android brands.<\/p>\n

What compounds the issue is that app permissions often get reset in the migration process, and most people (and even the app itself) won\u2019t realize why. For instance, whenever I\u2019ve migrated phones, WhatsApp video calls will display a blank preview until I check the app permissions and realize that camera permissions have not yet been granted on the new phone. The Restore Credentials API is supposed to resolve this issue, but a year after its release, we\u2019re still not there yet.<\/p>\n

Did I say your photos and files have carried over? Check again. If you\u2019ve used an OEM migration tool, there\u2019s a very good chance that your media files have been dumped into a single, flat folder, disregarding any folder hierarchy or creation metadata from the previous phone. So, while you will technically have your photos and files on your new phone, you will likely have to start over with organizing them.<\/p>\n

What if you no longer have your old Android phone? Good luck<\/p>\n

\"Backup<\/p>\n

Edgar Cervantes \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

If you lose your Android phone, there\u2019s a high likelihood that you\u2019ll also lose some data. Google provides Cloud Backup through Drive, but it backs up your apps, call history, device settings, contacts, and calendar. It may sound sufficient, but you\u2019re missing photos (unless you\u2019ve separately set up Google Photos) and files, as well as other smaller details, such as your home screen layout. There\u2019s no single iCloud Backup-like solution from Google, and that\u2019s a shame.<\/p>\n

There’s no single iCloud Backup-like solution from Google, and that’s a shame.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an argument to be made that Google\u2019s unbundling of photo backups into Google Photos is superior to Apple\u2019s bundling of all services with iCloud backup. You can back up and restore one without the other, and Google does make it tough to ignore\/forget to enable Photos backups. To Apple\u2019s credit, you can create iCloud backups without photos, but the steps are not straightforward, so most users simply opt to back up everything.<\/p>\n

For trade-in situations, brands like Samsung do provide temporary cloud backup, so that\u2019s a win for Galaxy users. However, it\u2019s high time Google also considers doing the same with temporary Google One storage for intra-Android migration backups.<\/p>\n

Google needs to rethink Android migration and backup<\/p>\n

\"Android<\/p>\n

Ryan Haines \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 2026 already, and Android backup and migration are still far from perfect. Granted, most users do not routinely migrate phones as I do as a phone reviewer. But on the few occasions that they do have to switch phones, the process is painful enough to create a lasting impression.<\/p>\n

What is the most frustrating part of switching to a new Android phone?<\/p>\n

37 votes<\/p>\n

Re-logging into all my apps.<\/p>\n

57%<\/p>\n

Fixing my home screen and settings.<\/p>\n

24%<\/p>\n

Broken folder structures and media files.<\/p>\n

3%<\/p>\n

Resetting app permissions and notifications.<\/p>\n

3%<\/p>\n

Losing game progress and app preferences.<\/p>\n

14%<\/p>\n

Something else (tell us in the comments!)<\/p>\n

0%<\/p>\n

For people wanting to experience Android\u2019s diversity by jumping between phone brands, the migration process makes them curse this very diversity, as it seems everyone is Doing Their Own Thing. It\u2019s almost like punishing a person for buying a new phone, and that\u2019s not a good experience. For all the efforts that Google has put into making it easier to switch from an iPhone, it\u2019s about time the company takes a look at the Android ecosystem and makes this transition seamless.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/p>\n

\"google\"google<\/a><\/p>\n

Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Haines \/ Android Authority Android has long reached a point of maturity where it does a whole…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[4329,517,47982,168,170,74],"class_list":["post-399946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-android","tag-apple","tag-backup","tag-google","tag-samsung","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}