How do you backup your phone?

klamann

...since Seedvault fails to back up a lot of apps (more than 50% for me, personally) and I can't use apps like Neo Backup due to lack of root access on GrapheneOS, I don't see any way to backup/restore my phone.

So I'm wondering... what do you do? Simply have no backup? How do you plan to recover in case you break or lose your phone? Only use apps that sync to some cloud? What if you try to avoid apps that sync all your data into some megacorp's cloud infrastructure?

Bachi

klamann

klamann I use FreeFileSync on my PC and I do a backup manually every month

Resonate0765

klamann I follow the 3,2,1 rule for my important files and just screenshot each of my user profile setups and installed apps. Helps that all of the apps I use has an export feature especially obtainium. Some advice, invest in some external drives, you can get a pretty decent capacity for cheap if you opt for spinning mechanical drives.

DeletedUser29

Having a carbon copy of my phone isn't really something I care about, nor need, so I've just got Syncthing running on my main phone, my always-at-home backup phone, my desktop and my laptop. It won't sync everything, but it syncs pretty much everything I care about and simultaneously gives me access to files I might not need to have on my phone at all times due to storage restrictions but like being able to get quickly.

And I also have some unimportant but nice to have files stored online with Filen.

Future plans include upgrading to a proper NAS with a couple of terrabytes of storage for a more energy efficient and stable setup.

EDIT: To clarify, when possible I use automatic local backups that I can save to one a Syncthing folder. Otherwise I use manual backups and update them periodically.

klamann

well, I may not need an exact copy of the entire file system, but without the ability to back up some of my apps that don't have a built-in sync function I'm running at a risk of losing data. It's a real shame that I have to decide between a private & secure operating system and safe storage of my personal data.

Bachi unfortunately, you can't create backups of your app data with this method.

GrouchyGrape

For personal data (photos/notes, etc) I host nextcloud on a cluster of servers at home. For app data, the only apps I care to backup (newpipe, obtainium, and a couple others) thankfully have pretty good native backup/export so I do that fairly regularly and store the backup on nextcloud. I recently had to start from a fresh install unexpectedly and thankfully my system held up. I had my phone back to normal pretty quickly and painlessly.

One thing I've recently trained myself to do that has helped tremendously is to favor PWAs over native apps (I'm aware of most of the pros/cons of this) and also to leave apps at their default settings as much as possible.

Like @Resonate0765 , I also take screenshots of my setup to aid in setup.

brn

This won't help you, since it seems you're looking for a "one-button-push" solution. I don't think you'll find it since I've found that such convenience is lost when gaining more privacy and security. Even with laptops/desktops.

I've accepted and live well with the fact that I have ephemeral messaging history, etc. Trying out new mobile OSes on my "main phone" in the past has also made me live through that a few times.

Additionally, I try to install and use the minimum amount of apps as possible on my phone.

For the important files and photos, I also have a Nextcloud self-hosted server with sync and everything else that's important in terms of setup is documented (in files synchronitez to Nextcloud too), so when I have to setup a new phone it's just following along a document I wrote.

The only "interesting" thing I lose when replacing my phone is a couple of hours and a recent-looking gallery and Signal messaging history.

de0u

brn This won't help you, since it seems you're looking for a "one-button-push" solution. I don't think you'll find it since I've found that such convenience is lost when gaining more privacy and security.

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/6686-seedvault-video/6

Blastoidea

I don’t.

[deleted]

I'm an app minimalist and so I don't really have anything to backup in case anything happens.

[deleted]

I also don't back up anything. If I factory reset I can be up an running in under 30 minutes. I debate every new app on my phone and constantly looking for what can be deleted. That said, if there was a reliable backup solution (paid or free), I'd use it in a heartbeat because restoring proprietary bank and government 2FAs is pretty painful.

[deleted]

[deleted] restoring proprietary bank a government 2FAs is pretty painful.

I don't know what's wrong with such legacy institutions. They can just let the user use any TOTP app (like Aegis, which also allows users to backup their TOTP seeds), but they want to push users to download their own 2FA app for whatever reason.

[deleted]

[deleted] Your guess is as good as anyones.

malatoi

A "one-button-push" solution would be nice for many people. For me this is not necessary: I don't have that many apps and the only really important data are my contacts, which I backup manually once a month. That's enough for me.

Eirikr70

Like @GrouchyGrape , I have set up a server that backs up my main data (contacts and agenda with radicale, photos with immich, ...). So I don't have to choose between privacy and security of my data. But that works only if you are able to make your infrastructure secure.