I've had my android (non rooted) phone for quite a while and it's set up exactly how I like it. Now the problem is I need to get another phone and I'd like to be able to take a snapshot of everything that is on my phone and how it is set up now and just transfer it all across to the new phone so that when it starts up it is exactly the same as my old phone. Wallpapers, installed apps, the whole works.

I've looked online and from what I can gather the back up/clone apps only back up the usual things like contacts, photos, etc., but I'm unclear if they do what I'd like. Does anyone know if what I want is possible? Thanks.

If they can do it with a sheep, why not? :D

:D

Did they though? I mean sheep all look the same. Just a conspiracy like the moon landings, or half life 3 ;op

Basically, yes. It's commonly called a "NANDroid backup". I use TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project), a replacement for the stock Android recovery, which allows me to create and restore entire backups of the internal storage of a device to a micro SD card. Depending on the specific device, Android system recovery is usually accessed by powering on your device while holding power+volup, power+voldown, some other button combination or by enabling advanced reboot options in Android (if available). It's a good idea to check the recovery software that is on your device first because it may already provide the ability to make full device backups, however most stock recoveries don't. Here is a video that shows a TWRP Nandroid backup in action.

Depending on the state of your device, in order to install TWRP or similar system recovery replacement, you will need a device with an unlocked bootloader (ADB method) or an OS with root access (ROM manager method). I recommend checking or asking around the XDA Developers forum for directions on your particular device.

Another benefit to installing TWRP is that it allows you to easily flash new firmwares to your device. Don't like that stock ROM? You can change it to one that you do like (ie. LineageOS) or, if you have lots of time, motivation and patience, even put together your own from the sources of another ROM or directly from AOSP.

Annoying being required to find a 20-year old Macintosh with an Apple Desktop Bus connector in order to back up a phone that probably has more storage space than the computer though. Also, wouldn't serial be more logical, with ADB being more intended for keyboard and mice?

As I'm not rooted this will be the one for me. Thank you for your help and suggestions.

Although I think I may have jinxed it because now the home buttons and status bar have just given up the ghost before I've even downloaded anything! Probably didn't help that the phone was knocked off the side whilst charging to get ready for the big backup... Anyway still handy info for my new phone - thanks :) This sounds perfect too - I hate the stock ROM that I have - however I haven't got a rooted phone :( I think I may well look into how to getting my new phone sorted so that it is rooted. I'd love to be able to change the firmware at will.

Thank you for your help :)

BTW, I wanted to mark both replies as the solution but GOG won't let me so +1s all round.

Or Belgium.

The missus is steaming, when she gets back to Belgium you are right off the waffles list!

That awkward moment when you're not sure if someone is jesting or truly asking a question, but I'll assume the latter in this case.

The ADB we talk about stands for Android Debug Bridge, which is a command-line tool that pretty much does what it stands for: it helps with debugging Android apps. How much one would actually use it for debugging is another matter.

If I recall correctly, it's multiplatform, for Windows, Linux and Mac. It is bundled with some Android development tools, but you can easily find it standalone on XDA as a nice installer that sets it up for you.

I am jesting, even I realise that different products/technologies can have the same acronym, and that technology has continued to evolve since the 90's. The machines that used ADB didn't have USB built-in (when releasing the iMac in 1998, Apple introduced USB and stopped including serial, ADB, SCSI, and the floppy drive with newer machines), and certainly couldn't run any software related to Android development as it wouldn't exist for several years.