mccApr 9, 2024
Hmm… I would say… this is not a very good error message.
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024

Anybody want to give me advice on how to back up everything important from an Android phone? Assume I have about… eight hours and somewhere in there I have to sleep.

I guess I'm using adb, but I barely know what I'm supposed to be grabbing, also neither adb pull nor the https://github.com/jb2170/better-adb-sync tool google says to use is like… y'know… doing anything…

GitHub - jb2170/better-adb-sync: Completely rewritten adbsync with --exclude

Completely rewritten adbsync with --exclude. Contribute to jb2170/better-adb-sync development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
What I really really REALLY need is an android file extraction tool that, when it hits a permission error on trying to download a file, will skip that file and download everything else instead of hard aborting
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
Failing that, what I'd really really REALLY like is a way to back up my Element/Signal keys/conversations without uploading them to the Element or Signal server. And also ideally without my phone having a screen
Show threadJordan
@mcc Not a general solution, but Signal Android has “export backup to file”, at least. (Only Android, for the time being, for historical reasons that are probably cold comfort to someone whose phone fell in a lake. :-/ )
Apr 9, 2024 at 3:54amWeb
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
@jrose That's great. Question: Does this feature require your phone to have a screen
Show threadJordanApr 9, 2024
@mcc If you can figure out how to turn on voice control I bet you can do it that way. Also I forget how phones work with external displays. But fair point. :-/
Show threadBinaryUnitApr 9, 2024
@mcc @jrose maybe this can help given that your screen is not available (assuming broken or something) https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy
GitHub - Genymobile/scrcpy: Display and control your Android device

Display and control your Android device. Contribute to Genymobile/scrcpy development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
@BinaryUnit @jrose hm, actually this DOES help
Show threadMegApr 9, 2024
@mcc @jrose depending on the phone, if you have a USBC to HDMI dongle around you might be able to give it a screen...
Show threadskryApr 9, 2024

@megmac @mcc @jrose Here are some possibly interesting apps UXRs use in usability testing for Android, in case you’re able to install.

https://www.airsquirrels.com/reflector
https://www.airsquirrels.com/airparrot/

Reflector 4 | Screen mirror Android, iOS & Chrome OS to a bigger screen

Reflector is a wireless mirroring and streaming receiver for Android devices, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and Windows computers and Chromebooks.

Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
@skry @megmac @jrose Found something called "scrcpy". It's in Ubuntu's apt installer. Seems to work pretty well.
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
@jrose I found a screen solution can you confirm that this "chat backup" is also going to back up my contact list? i care more about that than the chat transcripts
Show threadJordanApr 9, 2024
@mcc I…would like to say yes, but there’s the contacts in your system address book and Signal only kind of manages those? …but on the flip side, it’s a file. You can try restoring it somewhere else, and if it doesn’t do what you want, nothing lost.
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
@jrose Hm. I don't know what this means. I have a list of people in Signal who it's verified has Signal and who I can/have keyswapped yet, and when I restore my phone this screen is blank. There is a feature where I can create a server backup by "creating a PIN" at which point it will be uploaded to their server and encrypted with some "secure enclave" snake oil, but I'm on tilt and I don't wanna upload shit to their servers, so… idk
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
@jrose Anyway thanks for help
Show threadJordanApr 9, 2024
@mcc There’s the main chat list and there’s the “New Message” list (pencil icon). But if you restore from a file I’d expect both to be repopulated. Certainly anyone who you have actually ever exchanged messages with and/or marked a key as verified should be there, even if the messages were disappearing.
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
@jrose Thanks
Show threadJordanApr 9, 2024
@mcc (I work at Signal, but not on this. And I realize talking to someone across distraction delay has diminishing returns, so no worries if you stop replying to me while trying to solve your actual problem elsewhere. I passed along those UI glitches too, though; I suspect it’s something to do with the mirrored display.)
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
@jrose I don't think so because I reproduced them without the mirrored display (it is not so much the screen is *unavailable* it's just it is unavailable 80% of the time and the other 20% it is blinking green at 30hz). I believe the problem is a byproduct of the XPeria 5 III having a somewhat unusual aspect ratio. I would be happy to file a detailed bug report at a later time however it is 1 AM and I am desperately attempting to prepare this phone for destruction before my flight in the morning
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
@jrose ps the actual problem with the "please acknowledge your understanding by marking the con" box was I was in the box with the passcode, and there was a checkbox under the passcode, but i did not know i needed to scroll because that kind of popup box is not usually scrollable.
Show threadmccApr 9, 2024
@jrose unfortunately, due to the presence of the passcode in this box, I cannot screenshot it.