Even after numerous OS releases, switching between the top Android smartphones is not a hassle-free experience. You can easily migrate your Google account and its associated data between devices, but your app data goes for a toss. While you can transfer files and app data from one Pixel to another, the entire process is a hit or miss as not all third-party apps support data migration. Now, three of Android’s biggest Chinese manufacturers — Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo — have partnered to make the lives of end users easier by allowing app data transfer between their devices.
In an announcement on Weibo, the three companies revealed that the migration tool on their phones would be updated to support third-party app data transfer. So, the next time you switch between phones from Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi, you can do so without worrying about losing app data or having to set up all your third-party apps again.
Right now, third-party app data migration mainly works when switching between devices from the same company. It almost always does not work when you switch to a phone from a different Android manufacturer.
Sadly, the catch is that the migration tool is exclusive to devices in China and won’t be coming to the international markets. On the flip side, with Google’s built-in data backup tool in Android, Google Photos, Google Drive, and other Google services not available in China, this app data migration will be a godsend for Chinese Android users.
This is not the first time three of the biggest Chinese Android manufacturers have come together to offer a better end-user experience. In January 2020, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi collaborated on a unified file-sharing solution to make sending files across their devices easier. A month later, these companies teamed up with Huawei to form the Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA). This allowed developers in China to upload apps to Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo’s app stores simultaneously.
Here’s hoping that Google also works closely with device manufacturers to provide a more reliable third-party app data migration process to Android users worldwide.
