A delightful new Android discovery

When we talk about standout Android settings — especially new ones — we tend to talk about the higher-profile, flashier sorts of options.

Maybe it’s the expanded Do Not Disturb Modes system introduced alongside the Android 16 update. Or maybe it’s some of the snazzy new Phone features on Google’s recently released Pixel 10 devices.

Whatever the case, it’s rarely a random-seeming, out-of-the-way setting that you’re likely to use only once, maybe twice, in any given device’s entire lifespan.

And yet, that’s precisely the sort of setting that has me beyond ecstatic to see showing up — quietly and without any fanfare whatsoever — in certain Android environments.

Let me explain.

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The Android moving migraine

First things first, credit where credit’s due: Moving to a new Android phone has gotten a lot easier over the years.

‘Twas a time when setting up a new Android device required all manners of hoop-jumping, with virtually no systems in place to help with any of the heavy lifting. These days, Google’s got all sorts of systems in place to make the act of backing up and restoring important stuff relatively simple and painless, and for the most part, there isn’t a heck of a lot you have to do.

There is, however, one exception — and that’s messaging. For whatever reason, migrating your messages from one Android device to another often seems to go akimbo and fail to properly bring all of your conversations over intact. Or, sometimes, even when it does work right off the bat, a situation arises where you need to repeat the migration a little later — maybe, say, if you set up a new device but don’t actually switch your SIM over to it and start using it right away, so then you want to move your messages over anew some days later when you are ready to fully make the change.

Previously, such a scenario has presented — to use the technical term — a prickly pickle. Android’s native data migration systems have traditionally been designed to work once, as part of the new device setup process, and to never be revisited again until you’re starting over from scratch and setting up a new device once more.

That means anytime you find yourself needing to bring data like messages over from one phone to another after that initial out-of-the-box setup, you’ve got two equally imperfect options:

Rely on a little-known third-party utility like SMS Backup & Restore to do the job — which works, though (a) few normal users (i.e. not the unusually enlightened mega-nerd sorts, like those of us in these quarters) are even aware that such possibilities exist, and (b) with the advent of the more modern RCS messaging standard, such a system ends up losing lots of little pieces, since it’s designed only to support the much older and more limited SMS protocol.

Perform a full factory reset on the phone and set it up anew, from scratch, simply as a way to pull that data over directly once more. Can someone say instant headache?

All of this context sets the stage to say: My friend, there is now — or, depending on your specific situation, may soon be — a better way.

A smarter Android moving mechanism

Whilst poking around dutifully all throughout the bowels of the Pixel 10 phones I’ve been exploring as of late, I happened to notice an eeeeeeeeeenteresting new addition related to this very subject.

It’s buried in one of two backup-related sections in the Pixel 10’s settings. Curiously and somewhat confusingly, those phones have both a “Backup” menu within the System section of the settings — as has typically been the case, even on older Android versions and on earlier devices — and a separate, secondary section called Back Up Or Copy Data.

Both sections show you the same standard stuff about your ongoing Android data backups. But the latter of the two also has a new element called “Copy data using Android Switch.” And that’s where this discovery resides.

The new “Copy data using Android Switch” option, as seen in the Android settings on a Pixel 10 phone.JR Raphael, Foundry

Tap that new option, and wouldya look at what happens?

Android’s device-to-device data copying mechanism — back in action for the first time.JR Raphael, Foundry

You’re presented with a path to copy any or all data from another device again — without having to rely on any not-entirely-reliable external mechanisms or, Goog forbid, factory reset the friggin’ phone again just to make this happen.

Now, notably, the option is available only with the same phone you originally used for the current device’s initial setup. But that’s fine. It makes sense — and if you’re moving something like messages over (or most any other type of relevant and available data, for this purpose), that’s presumably the phone you’d need to use, anyway.

Once you tap the button to begin, you’re asked to scan a QR code on the original phone to authenticate and confirm — and then, you can go about selecting exactly what sorts of data you want to bring over.

You’ll go through a couple more screens of preparations and confirmations, and you’ll then be ready to choose what you do and don’t need.

You can copy all available data or customize and pick exactly which elements you want.JR Raphael, Foundry

If all you want is messaging data, you’d just select the “Customize” path and make sure that’s the only thing selected.

Bringing over only the latest messages is as simple as selecting that one checkbox.JR Raphael, Foundry

Notably, Google says any data copied over in this specific situation is merged with the data already on your new device. That means info that already exists won’t be erased or overwritten — and only data that isn’t already present will be pulled over and added into the existing mix. That makes a lot of sense.

And there really isn’t much more to it: From there, it’s just a matter of minutes (not long at all, especially if all you’re moving are messages) to wait for the transfer to happen. And then, everything from the old phone will be present on the new one — freshly updated and merged with whatever else was already there.

The broader significance

Now, for the million-dollar question: Is this a new Pixel feature, a new Pixel 10-specific feature, or something new at the Android ecosystem level that’ll eventually be available on any phone — no matter who made it?

We don’t have a definite answer yet, but we have some pretty powerful clues.

First of all, look back closely at the way the option is presented in the Pixel 10’s settings: “Copy data using Android Switch.” Android Switch is not a Pixel-specific platform. Rather, it’s Google’s universal system for transferring data to a new Android device — from an old Android device or even (gasp!) an iPhone.

And, in fact, the Android Switch app is probably already present on any reasonably recent Android device you’re using, even if it’s hidden out of sight and not actively visible.

I pulled up the Android Switch Play Store page on multiple older Pixel models and immediately saw that an update was available. I tapped the button to update, then opened the app directly from there once the download finished — and, sure enough, I saw the very same screen show up, offering to import data once more from the phone that had originally been used for each of those devices’ initial setups.

The settings menu integration doesn’t exist anywhere other than on the latest Pixels yet, but the same underlying function can be accessed — if you know where to look for it. And that makes me at least cautiously hopeful that this is the start of something new for Android itself and not just a device-specific feature.

Interestingly, the system doesn’t seem to work on Samsung Galaxy gadgets — yet — but it makes sense that integration in that arena wouldn’t be as simple or easily achieved as what Google can do with its own devices. (The Android Switch app was present and with a similar update pending on Galaxy gizmos, but opening it led to a message saying that Android Switch couldn’t currently be used after setup in that environment.)

I’ve reached out to Google for further clarification around this, and I’ll update this page if and when I hear anything more specific.

For now, it seems like early days for an promising new era in easier Android data migration. If you’ve got a device where the extra migration option is already available, now you know how to use it. And if not, with any luck, we’ll only see and hear more in the months ahead.

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