My new phone is "out for delivery" according to Fedex. It has to be signed for, of course, but Fedex has shelpfully narrowed the delivery time down to a twelve hour window in which someone needs to be here waiting to sign for it. (and it's super windy here today, I never realized before how much wind can sound like a Fedex truck coming up the lane....)
While I am waiting for the phone to arrive, here's my to do list, in preparation to move all of my files:
First & foremost - Order a case. Even before your new phone ships, order a case. Take this advice from someone who dropped her brand new phone less than 24 hours after receiving it. A brand spanking new phone with a small hairline crack across the bottom of the screen is very frustrating. This time, the new case was here days before my new phone even shipped.
I created a folder in dropbox named "new phone"
And then I moved everything I want to save from my old phone, into this folder.
Including screenshots of how my home screens are set up
On The Old Phone, Before Making The Switch
- Go through all of my apps, delete any I am not really using. When google syncs my apps to my new phones, I don't need it to sync the extras that I'm not really using.
- Transfer all photos & epubs (Books) I am reading to a folder on my computer or in dropbox, to quickly transfer back to my new phone.
- Remember to check the snapchat folder. I have a lot of saved snaps - those are in the snapchat folder, not in my photos folder.
- Make a note of what page I am on in any books I am reading
- Check the downloads folder - is there anything I downloaded that I will want to transfer to my new phone? Upload documents to google drive, or back them up in a folder to transfer back to my phone
- Screenshot each of my phone screens, upload the photos to dropbox so I can see how I had each screen set up.
- Go through your texts. make sure there is nothing important in those messages. Copy important information into a document, or forward them to your email or to a cloud based messaging app such as Whatsapp or Telegram.
- Make a list of frequently used group chats. (when you get your new phone, just message one of the contacts and ask them to send a message to that group chat. You won't have the old messages, but the "group" will now be back in your list of messages)
- Find the contacts app on your phone. Go through the list, merge duplicates, delete the extras (My boys old girlfriends, the contact list from our sons 9th grade football team... I really don't need those numbers anymore, and I can find them all on facebook if I need them!), and then find the option to back up and sync. My numbers are almost all stored in Google contacts, but sometimes some get stored just in Samsung - so I want to make sure they are all backed up before my new phone gets here.
- Look at the apps you use and make notes. Do you use a different calendar app than the built in app? Make a note. Do you use a 3rd party messaging app? Note the name. Google is really good about downloading all of my apps to my new device - but sometimes it misses one, or one is no longer supported. For the important things, that i use often, I like to know what I WAS using, so I can figure out what the issue is, if it didn't automatically sync.
- I copy all of my downloaded ringtones and notifications over too. (I don's use the ones that come with the phone) I don't have to, I can always re-download them, but this saves me from having to search and find them again.
- On your phone screen, press and hold until the wallpaper option appears. Then look at your wallpaper settings and take a screen shot or make a note. (on my phone, I went to wallpaper/themes/ click on the three lines at the top, "my stuff". ) I made a note of which theme I had applied and what the name of the wallpaper I am using is. I may use something new on my new phone, but honestly, probably not. I like the way my phone looks as is.
Update - Both Dan and I bought new phones this month. Both of us were going from Samsung to Samsung, although we have different models. I went from the Note 8 to the S20, He went from the S8 to the Note10. Dan used the cord attachment to transfer from phone to phone, and all of his apps (even his financial apps) transferred, but his books did not. I used the app/wifi option, and all of my books and photos transferred, but most of my apps did not. In both cases, our homescreens and app shortcuts duplicated, although on my phone a lot was missing, including entire folders of apps.
So the apps and cord options work - but I wouldn't fully trust them, in both cases, it missed files. Dan thinks the cord option worked a lot better for him, but he tends to not be as... lets say particular, about his phone, as I am - so things missing will not be nearly as obvious to him. The only thing that really bothered him was that his books would not transfer. (they were easily re-downloaded though, once he remembered what he had). For me, my books transferred seamlessly - but it did NOT save my place, so I was glad I made notes on what pages I was on.
So the apps and cord options work - but I wouldn't fully trust them, in both cases, it missed files. Dan thinks the cord option worked a lot better for him, but he tends to not be as... lets say particular, about his phone, as I am - so things missing will not be nearly as obvious to him. The only thing that really bothered him was that his books would not transfer. (they were easily re-downloaded though, once he remembered what he had). For me, my books transferred seamlessly - but it did NOT save my place, so I was glad I made notes on what pages I was on.
On The New Phone (While on WIFI!)
- Go to settings, system sounds & vibration, shut off all the touch and keyboard (haptic feedback, or vibration) sounds.
- Go to Security, pin, and check the box to confirm pin without typing ok
- Disable as much of Bixby as much as possible. (Varies by phone)
- Change my ringtone and volume settings.
- Go to google play, sync and update all of my apps
- Go to spotify, download my favorite playlists to my phone
- Go to evernote, sync my notes
- Open Ancestry App, download all family trees
- Login to every app. Seriously. I know it is time consuming - but some of them will not download updates or data until you login, so do that while you are on wifi.
- Disable any background apps I don't use (Bloatware installed on the phone)
- Open my books and go to the page I left off on, while I have the notes in front of me.
- Transfer all of my photo albums back from dropbox, or wherever I backed them up
- Open my bluetooth settings, make sure my watch, speakers, etc are all paired.
- Set up all of my homescreens, using the screenshots from my last phone (this was mostly done by the transfer app - but a good bit was missing)
- Group all of my apps into folders (the transfer app did this for me - but it missed so many apps, that I did still have to move all the ones I had to download manually)
- Reset new shortcuts to my google lists. (The icons for these transferred, but none of them worked.)
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