Database Develop

Important Notice: Rooted and Removing stock apps

Hello my name is P3Droid,
We (TBH) have a lot of experience in Motorola phones and hacking. This experience dates back to the Razr days.
Here is a word of caution. Do no delete apps from the System partition, I would suggest you only rename them to .bak. When Motorola pushes updates each of the files undergoes a hash check, if the file has been manipulated or is missing the entire update will fail.
Until a system only sbf or similar is released, unless you make a back up with bootstrap and recovery, you will eliminate your ability to take updates moving forward.

You can remove many of the stock apps without rooting just by using the built in app manager.

Those apps are in /data it is the apps that are in /system that count.

jimmydafish said:
Hello my name is P3Droid,
We (TBH) has a lot of experience in Motorola phones and hacking. The experience dates back to the Razr days.
Here is a word of caution. Do no delete apps from the System partition, I would suggest you only rename them to .bak. When Motorola pushes updates each of the files undergoes a hash check, if the file has been manipulated or is missing the entire update will fail.
Until a system only sbf or similar is released, unless you make a back up with bootstrap and recovery, you will eliminate your ability to take updates moving forward.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i take it that all the apps you can delete through app manager are on /data therefore are safe to delete right?

This should definitely be sticky'd.

franciscojavierleon said:
i take it that all the apps you can delete through app manager are on /data therefore are safe to delete right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes anything that you can delete through the application manager is okay to remove, those have no impact on the update process.
And to complete my thought above. When an update is released, and they are coming, then you need to just change the file names back to normal to take the update.

Sound to me like we ned an ap that lets toys select programs to rename and then can change then back when needed. Would make it alot easier. Ill look onto this...also if some one else can confirm this info I might stick it.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

I can confirm that what p3droid is saying is true for all recent Motorola devices, but the point is really that you won't know until an OTA update is released how they have written the updater script in the zip file.
We have been through this with releases for every phone since the Droid X and many people got caught out by it and were stuck until we released SBF files that could safely restore the stock configuration and allow updating to official release versions.
This brings up another important point about modding your phone at this stage in the cycle. Without a full SBF to recover with in the event of a problem that renders the phone unbootable or unable to access recovery, or if you haven't made a complete nandroid, you will be again be stuck and have to return your phone to AT&T/Motorola for warranty replacement. This is never good for anyone.
When we mod our phones against the wishes of the carriers and manufacturers, we should really take responsibility for those actions and not produce a mountain of bricked phones whose cost is passed along to everyone in the form of higher ETFs for smartphones and other ways.
So, until a full SBF is released of the current build, people should be very careful what they change or remove from their phone's system and/or NVM and radio.
I also tried to warn users about this in another thread that was locked before p3droid started this thread. We have watched hundreds or even thousands of users destroy their phones in myriad ways and helped many of them recover them by providing SBF files as a safety net. It's not fun and if it can be avoided it is to everyone's benefit to do so and only requires care and forethought.

Is there anyway we could make a backup of this partition for later use? would each user need to make one or would one for all users suffice?

Assuming a bootstrapped custom recovery is possible, and we know Koush is already working on it, then a nandroid backup of at least the system, userdata and cache partitions would be the first and best step to take. Also assuming that the bootloader is locked/signed and true recovery is not possible, then the boot image and kernel will not be able to be backed up or written to by the bootstrapped recovery. It is always best to make your own backup for your device and store it on the sdcard where you have easy access, but users have also been able to use someone else's nandroid backup to restore their device in many cases as well. The recovery will give you the option to restore each partition separately in the advanced options so that you won't be restoring someone else's data to your phone.
We at TBH have also been able to create our own update.zip files and SBF files to help users recover from various mishaps.
This was because we had access to both official and unofficial files and tools to accomplish those things.
We have no idea if that will be the case here and we will not likely have the device ourselves to work with given we are VZW users primarily.
Again, there are many variables here that are yet to be determined and modes of access to the various partitions and radio baseband will be different with this phone as opposed to previous Qualcomm chipset devices.
All of this means that at this stage extreme caution is advised and being overzealous with root access is very dangerous right now.

I suggest everyone that is rooted use TITANIUM BACKUP to deal with their bloatware issues. The pro version, which you will need, is only a few bucks and is worth it. TB allows you to 'freeze' bloatware apps, which to my knowledge just blocks it fro the system, but does not delete it. The apps you choose to freeze are also removed from the app tray - so no more clutter. This way when an update rolls around, you can run down the list and simply touch 'thaw' to bring those apps back to recognition. This seems like a much more efficient and easy way to go back and forth, rather than renaming the .apk's.
I apologize if someone already mentioned TB in this thread - I just skimmed quickly.

I deleted all the bloat apps using the app manager without root. They were gone!
I did a factory reset on the phone and *surprise* the apps were back!

The things that were not part of the system come back during reset. On the other hand, im ****ed because I went crazy and deleted some actual apps that the system will check. Yay me.

pwndrone said:
The things that were not part of the system come back during reset. On the other hand, im ****ed because I went crazy and deleted some actual apps that the system will check. Yay me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouch. Might not work, but have you tried a hard reset?
We should make a list of what's safe to remove like we did for the Captivate. Might be helpful.

I did a full factory reset and those apps that weren't part of the system came back but stuff like the help center are still missing.
Hopefully there will be a way to load the stock firmware sometime in the future.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

Would an app like "Autostarts" work in this case?

Guys, I can't emphasize this enough: use Titanium Backup to freeze the apps rather than deleting them, it will make your life much easier.

does this apply to using different font files as well? I'd like to use a ttf font that's a little larger than DroidSans. if i rename and use a different font will that impact OTA updates or anything else for that matter? thanks!

before reading about "freezing" apps, i reset my atrix back to factory settings. i need help rooting my atrix again. it keeps me in "Waiting for Device" where before i had no problem rooting. and another thing, when i had reset back to factory settings...i still have superuser installed. do i uninstall superuser in order to gain root access again?

I have not rooted yet. My question is can we use freeze to turn off BlurAccounts or is it fully baked into the Rom?

[Script] Safe bloat removal script (50+ apps) [UPDATED 9/1/2011]

There's been a lot of speculation on what can and can't be removed as well as how to remove them without causing force-closes, boot loops, and other headaches. So I wrote this script that will let you disable all of the bloat with none of the hassle.
After a few prompts to find out if there's anything you want to keep that can't be replaced in the market, it will do its magic -- renaming files to a .bak extension so they are no longer recognized by Android. This will cause some system services to fail and force-close loop until you reboot (and the script reboots for you). Also included is a script that will undo all of this.
If you select every option, including the default launcher and text messaging apps (which are confirmed safe to remove without losing SMS or MMS ability or push notifications), then here's the list of apps removed:
AdService.apk, android-syncservice-app.apk, ArcVideoEditorLite.apk, BackupAssistanceClient.apk, Blockbuster.apk, BlurHome2.apk, BlurSNMessagingEngine.apk, BlurTasks.apk, BlurUpdater_VZW.apk, BooksPhone.apk, CitrixReceiver.apk, CityID.apk, Conversations.apk, DLNA.apk, DlnaSystemService.apk, FriendFeed.apk, gotomeeting-stub-1.0.74.apk, GuidedTours.apk, HelpCenter.apk, IMPresence.apk, IndexingService.apk, Kindle.apk, MessagesWidget.apk, Messaging.apk, MOTOPRINT.apk, MSExchangeService.apk, MyVerizon.apk, NewBayVault_4.2.99.36.Market.apk, NFLMobile.apk, OnlineAlbum.apk, PhotoEditor.apk, PortalStandAlone.apk, Preloaded.apk, RichLocationVzW.apk, SkypeBourbon.apk, Slackerradio.apk, SocialMessaging.apk, SocialShare.apk, StatusWidget.apk, SuggestionsProvider.apk, SuggestionsRuleCheckerCore.apk, SuggestionsServiceScheduler.apk, Swype.apk, ToggleWidgets.apk, UniversalInbox.apk, Upgrader.apk, VCAST_TONES_4_5_7.apk, VCASTMusic.apk, VCASTVideo.apk, VSuiteApp.apk, vzw_vnav_DROID3_rel_PROD_signed.apk, VZWIM.apk, VZWInstaller.apk, WeatherWidget.apk, ZumoCast_1.0.17.apk
Make sure you run these scripts using Script Manager or a comparable app and be sure to enable it to run as root or it won't have permission to make changes to /system/app.
This is version 1 of the scripts -- if any of the apps removed wind up causing problems or more are found, I'll add it to the list. I've tested the scripts back and forth myself and have tested it as much as I can without finding any issues. Also, some apps are removed without asking, such as ZumoCast or VCAST or NFL Mobile. You can find these apps in the market, so there's no point keeping them locked down in system.
Enjoy! Comments are welcome.
UPDATE 9/1/2011: fixed a typo in one of the variables (thanks everyone who reported this), added more options to keep (Swype and Car Dock Voice Commands), split into two versions -- one for the stock 5.5.959 build and 5.6.890 update (late August OTA), added a warning about removing the home screen without a launcher and that it removes the Calendar widget.

Great, but maybe it would be nice to make a y/n option for each .apk where it asks you if you want to delete that apk

script
instructions for use?
thanks

DoubleYouPee said:
Great, but maybe it would be nice to make a y/n option for each .apk where it asks you if you want to delete that apk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You shouldn't delete them -- we don't have an SPF yet. Someone posted the complete /system/app contents and you could restore, technically, manually, but it's a bad idea. Renaming to a .bak is completely effective.
lodisax said:
instructions for use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read the post.
You'll want to use Script Manager -- unzip the two scripts to your SD card (internal or external), launch Script Manager (free version is fine), find the script and click it, then tick on 'root' and then run the script. Follow the prompts from there.

script
thanks for the answer

psouza4 said:
You shouldn't delete them -- we don't have an SPF yet. Someone posted the complete /system/app contents and you could restore, technically, manually, but it's a bad idea. Renaming to a .bak is completely effective.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeh sorry that's what I meant.. Option to y/n rename the apk.
I'd like to use the script once I get my droid 3 but would like to 'keep' some of the apks.

DoubleYouPee said:
Yeh sorry that's what I meant.. Option to y/n rename the apk.
I'd like to use the script once I get my droid 3 but would like to 'keep' some of the apks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's Y/N for anything you'd want to keep. About 6-7 questions in total. Anything that you can't find in the market that isn't definitely bloat has a prompt.

script
script manager that you use?
I use script manager and asked me if I want to remove each apk or not.
There is a script manager that does everything automatically?
thanks for the answer

lodisax said:
script manager that you use?
I use script manager and asked me if I want to remove each apk or not.
There is a script manager that does everything automatically?
thanks for the answer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please read the thread thoroughly -- I'm going to ignore obvious questions like these.

psouza4 said:
There's Y/N for anything you'd want to keep. About 6-7 questions in total. Anything that you can't find in the market that isn't definitely bloat has a prompt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what if I wanna keep DLNA, photoeditor and socialmessaging?

DoubleYouPee said:
So what if I wanna keep DLNA, photoeditor and socialmessaging?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then answer 'Y' to the prompts asking if you want to keep 'DLNA' or 'social messaging'. There are plenty of photo editors in the market, so there's no prompt on that (although if you were so inclined, you could just rename the .BAK's back to their original files). I feel you haven't actually looked at the script or read my post.

psouza4 said:
I've tested the scripts back and forth myself and have tested it as much as I can without finding any issues. Also, some apps are removed without asking, such as ZumoCast or VCAST or NFL Mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the ultimate test is to do factory reset and see how device will go through initialization stage. It can be surprises which are not noticeable during normal use. Without this it is kind of premature to say what is safe to delete and what is not.

serg675 said:
I think the ultimate test is to do factory reset and see how device will go through initialization stage. It can be surprises which are not noticeable during normal use. Without this it is kind of premature to say what is safe to delete and what is not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ehh I agree with you to a point, because i made the very noobish mistake of uninstalling bloat that i knew would not effect daily use; however, I did a factory reset to test a theory for krazy and learned that something I uninstalled makes the setup process FC and wont let you get to the blur launcher, luckily other launchers work and I was able to batch install via adb.
Thing is though is if the phone reboots when this stuff is renamed then it will survive a factory reset, though it may do the same thing mine has done. If it does its no big deal to load up adb and rename the files back so that you can complete the setup.

You forgot the World Clock widget in your removal script; the only clock that thinks it needs a permanently-resident service, regardless of whether it's running or not.

Xenoproctologist said:
You forgot the World Clock widget in your removal script; the only clock that thinks it needs a permanently-resident service, regardless of whether it's running or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That messes with the dock though, so I don't consider it bloat.

I know its a lot to ask... but can someone either create a comprehensive list of what each one actually does... or point us in a direction to where there already is one?
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk

Seirÿu said:
I know its a lot to ask... but can someone either create a comprehensive list of what each one actually does... or point us in a direction to where there already is one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open the script in a text editor and read my comments -- it gives each one a title.

@psouza4 - nice work, it's about time someone took a more organised approach to figuring out what apks are safe to remove.
I tried to get a similar effort going here :-
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=17004394&postcount=11
but the way people behave on this forum, it's like trying to herd cats.

thingonaspring said:
@psouza4 - nice work, it's about time someone took a more organised approach to figuring out what apks are safe to remove.
I tried to get a similar effort going here :-
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=17004394&postcount=11
but the way people behave on this forum, it's like trying to herd cats.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
Couple of notes, too:
It was asked in IRC why I'm removing 'android-syncservice-app.apk'. This service is the extra backup stuff that Verizon added on (as evidenced inside the package in /assets/system.properties you'll find several references to verizon servers for sync, like sm_connection_url=http://syncba.myvzw.com/syncml). This service doesn't do anything beneficial for you unless you really have a hard-on for Verizon's sync stuff. I've had it disabled since we achieved root and it has no affect on account sync services (contacts, gmail, calendar, reader, etc.) nor SMS/MMS push notifications, etc.
Also, a fellow PM'd me saying he got errors that variable names were invalid -- turns out he had edited the script in Windows, saved it, and that broke the UNIX-style line endings. If you're going to modify the script, use Notepad++, UltraEdit, or something that will maintain the correct line endings. Or just use an editor on the phone, such as in Root Explorer.

Thanks a bunch man, works great. About to run a benchmark to see the results!

[Q] Help with Bionic System App Restore!

Hey all - hopefully I'm not wrong in posting this quesiton - I tried to go through everything I could before posting. (also, first post here )
Okay, so I got a Bionic on release day.. was excited to see that the D3 exploit worked with no problem.
I backed up everything that I messed with using TI Backup Pro- I realize in hindsight that I should have been "Freezing" instead of "uninstalling" bloatware, but it's too late for that.
(To be fair, I'm going from an OG Droid, so I have no experience with having to wade through the ton of bloatware that came on the Bionic).
So, that being said, I only uninstalled a few apps, but it included MyAccounts (a blur program) - I mistook it for a piece of Verizon junk. Now, my "Accounts and Sync" Setting has disappeared.
I thought "Okay, no problem, I'll just restore from TI Backup" - but no dice. It just hangs on "restoring MyAcounts..." I've tried both with and without "System data." I've also tried changing the App handling options (direct, indirect, classic) but nothing.
So I manually pulled the apk out of the TI Backup .tar file - using Root Explorer I moved it to system/app and, after setting permissions, tried to run it... all I get is an "Installation Failed" type message.
I've also tried to adb install it, but I get an INSTALL_FAILED_DEXOPT message.
Same error message with "pm install" from adb shell#
I'm relatively new with this, and I'm kind of out of ideas. I know you'll want to say "you shouldnt have been screwing around with that if you didn't know what you were doing!" And you're right.. I guess I was too sure that TI Backup would be able to fix anything that I screwed up.
So - any ideas? Pretty much willing to try anything.
Thanks a lot

timmyc99 said:
Hey all - hopefully I'm not wrong in posting this quesiton - I tried to go through everything I could before posting. (also, first post here )
Okay, so I got a Bionic on release day.. was excited to see that the D3 exploit worked with no problem.
I backed up everything that I messed with using TI Backup Pro- I realize in hindsight that I should have been "Freezing" instead of "uninstalling" bloatware, but it's too late for that.
(To be fair, I'm going from an OG Droid, so I have no experience with having to wade through the ton of bloatware that came on the Bionic).
So, that being said, I only uninstalled a few apps, but it included MyAccounts (a blur program) - I mistook it for a piece of Verizon junk. Now, my "Accounts and Sync" Setting has disappeared.
I thought "Okay, no problem, I'll just restore from TI Backup" - but no dice. It just hangs on "restoring MyAcounts..." I've tried both with and without "System data." I've also tried changing the App handling options (direct, indirect, classic) but nothing.
So I manually pulled the apk out of the TI Backup .tar file - using Root Explorer I moved it to system/app and, after setting permissions, tried to run it... all I get is an "Installation Failed" type message.
I've also tried to adb install it, but I get an INSTALL_FAILED_DEXOPT message.
Same error message with "pm install" from adb shell#
I'm relatively new with this, and I'm kind of out of ideas. I know you'll want to say "you shouldnt have been screwing around with that if you didn't know what you were doing!" And you're right.. I guess I was too sure that TI Backup would be able to fix anything that I screwed up.
So - any ideas? Pretty much willing to try anything.
Thanks a lot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to let you know, I have a similar issue and have been troubleshooting this problem on a different forum, ofc I can't post the link but it's at droidforums.net, Droid Bionic Tech Support, "HELP! accidentally deleted IMSCServer from Droid Bionic." Someone was actually able to restore a system app, check it out if you're interested.

[DEPRECATED] Migrator - Android Backup Solution and Data Migration Utility

THIS PROJECT IS DEPRECATED. I HAVE AN ALTERNATIVE HERE.
Documentation: https://github.com/VR-25/migrator/blob/master/README.md/
Releases: https://github.com/VR-25/migrator/releases/

Reserved for jokes.

It seems really interesting, thumbs up man :good::good::good:

Okay I still don't quite understand the method technically even after reading the description.
The thing is if dev say clean flash(wipe data,system,cache,dalvik) is a must before installing a rom,etc.Then will this adk solution can be used instead of titanium backup?Because you wrote that adk more efficient than tb maybe I'll use this instead of tb

handers1234 said:
Okay I still don't quite understand the method technically even after reading the description.
The thing is if dev say clean flash(wipe data,system,cache,dalvik) is a must before installing a rom,etc.Then will this adk solution can be used instead of titanium backup?Because you wrote that adk more efficient than tb maybe I'll use this instead of tb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All you really need to understand are the setup steps. This module prevents app data from being deleted when you use TWRP's "wipe data/factory reset feature".

This sounds too good to be true, lol almost like a proof of concept. Can just binding the new dir with the old make it so there are no issues whatsoever? Will test later this week cause I romhop a lot.

My phone's storage is almost full.The thing i want to ask is if this procedure will need more data space inside /data/media.

alvinator94 said:
This sounds too good to be true, lol almost like a proof of concept. Can just binding the new dir with the old make it so there are no issues whatsoever? Will test later this week cause I romhop a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And indeed it is true. No issues whatsoever -- I'm using it myself.
foxmcc8 said:
My phone's storage is almost full.The thing i want to ask is if this procedure will need more data space inside /data/media.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No extra space is taken, as data is moved, not copied.

I installed this and it erased all my app data, ironically enough. Make sure you have a backup before installing.

After typing "adk" it finds all the apps, but after typing "." it lists every app with "pm: not found". After a reboot, the apps are not installed. Am I doing something wrong?

soren25 said:
I installed this and it erased all my app data, ironically enough. Make sure you have a backup before installing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lmao same thing happened to me. Figured the module was buggy and uninstalled it. Maybe i did something wrong too, which im not sure how considering how easy the install instructions are

soren25 said:
I installed this and it erased all my app data, ironically enough. Make sure you have a backup before installing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jungle35 said:
Lmao same thing happened to me. Figured the module was buggy and uninstalled it. Maybe i did something wrong too, which im not sure how considering how easy the install instructions are
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's really f**ked up... same to me. I think there was no error on my side while following the "install-reboot-forget" process. Only the lib folders had been moved/binded somehow to the SD folder, no base.apks and no odex-blobs(?).
The result was a totally broken system. Sorry, but IMHO the Dev should not proclaim it that way as long as the script seems to be in pre-alpha ... All log files in /data/media/adk/logs/ are empty, too!
Really don't know whether LMAO or :crying:
Sent from my OnePlus3T using XDA Labs

Please add an alpha into the title. Same happens to me.... and titanium can't restore accounts anymore...

The XDA link in the module description takes you to the forum section rather than this thread.

Seemed interesting and installed
But I lose all app data ,
found no logs and nothing just like fresh install of everything
Keep a backup before trying this
I was on magisk 16.7 ,
Redmi note 3 AEX N

Do not install! I lost everything like everyone else. Pictures I just took on vacation of my kids gone. All texts gone. All app data gone. Wtf man. This needs to be pulled. I lost 3gig of data

JohnFawkes said:
Do not install! I lost everything like everyone else. Pictures I just took on vacation of my kids gone. All texts gone. All app data gone. Wtf man. This needs to be pulled. I lost 3gig of data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never ever try magisk stuff without nandroid or other backup in backhand.

I, like everyone else posting here, fell for this extension and lost all my app data.
I'm not sure if this extension is buggy or if we are simply too stupid to get it running but here is what I did:
install
reboot
forget (about all my app data as all apps seem to have lost their data)
I then opened a terminal, typed adk as instructed and am getting:
permission denied. Can't create /data/media/adk/logs/res_apks_verbose_log.txt: permission denied
typing su before adk does indeed give me a list of apps which seems to get longer every few minutes.
Maybe its still busy copying? I'll give it some more time. Not sure what's up though, are we supposed to wait for the ap to copy all app data over then do an initial restore? Or is it not correctly "linking" the apps to the new app data storage?
###edit###
I did not immediately remove this extension as I thought to give it some time. I then rebooted and its now hanging at the boot screen saying: "Starting up ... please wait" - this section usually only takes a few seconds but I've been staring at this screen for minutes now. I'll give it 30 minutes, maybe it is still busy copying all my APKs and app data to the SD card? I mean I was already wondering how this can only need one simple reboot to be ready...
I'll update this thread if I have any new findings as the extension description sounds quite logical so maybe we're all doing something wrong

Dev RECOMMENDED app data backup in first step even BEFORE INSTALLING it through magisk or twrp.
I think nobody is doing it

J4jks said:
Dev RECOMMENDED app data backup in first step even BEFORE INSTALLING it through magisk or twrp.
I think nobody is doing it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're right he did. I didn't say I don't have a backup I only said the extension isn't behaving as advertised OR I don't get how to use it.
Also, he should change that sentence from "recommended" to mandatory if his app wipes app data
---------- Post added at 02:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:18 PM ----------
I have disabled the extension and rolled back my backup. I'm still wondering what went wrong here as the extension actually created the right folders on my SD card. Somehow the links seem to have been missing. I didn't dare try a restore via "adk ." as it was unclear what else could have gone wrong.
I would however appreciate some feedback and clarification from the author.

Lost Data Files After Update

After the update last night, all my folders with data files (files I created, documents, shortcuts, etc.) are gone. My program files are OK. I have searched and cannot find a way to get them back. I believe I have backed them up somewhere like Google cloud or the Samsung option. But I can find no way to restore them. So, I am lost...

did you update via Odin or OTA ?

3mel said:
did you update via Odin or OTA ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I'm not sure what those mean. The update happens overnight oh, so if OTA means over-the-air it would be that way

3mel said:
did you update via Odin or OTA ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting the feeling that night ended up in a developers forum. Maybe this was not the right place.

ADKRKV said:
I'm getting the feeling that night ended up in a developers forum. Maybe this was not the right place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is the exact right place to ask.
if you have backups made the check the settings menu or use the search to look for backup restore

Thanks for the replies. I think I know the problem. I found one of the back-ups on OneDrive. It restored all programs and settings. It did not restore data files. I believe that is because they were not backed up, my bad. I can't seem to find a back-up on Google, so I must not have done that. At least I didn't lose anything critical, just a lot of shortcuts and websites I bookmarked.

ADKRKV said:
Thanks for the replies. I think I know the problem. I found one of the back-ups on OneDrive. It restored all programs and settings. It did not restore data files. I believe that is because they were not backed up, my bad. I can't seem to find a back-up on Google, so I must not have done that. At least I didn't lose anything critical, just a lot of shortcuts and websites I bookmarked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh right, I understand you more clearly now. I don't think you can backup app data in such a way. the only method that can do this without root is by ADB which has to be done one app at a time. some apps can be backed up by copying there folders from /storage/emulated/0/Android/data or /Android/media but even then that might not be everything you need for a full backup.
any folders apps create outside of the Android folder can be copied to external memory and copied back later. I have to do this to guarantee that my messaging apps will have all the media I've previously downloaded.

I downloaded a program called GoodLock which saves the items on your home screen and supposedly back them up. I don't know if that just means the icons or it backs up the data. I hope I never have to find out