figmentPez
Staff member
I'm getting a new phone soon, and I'm wondering if there's a way to transfer my game progress from my current phone to my new one? I'm not even sure where the games save their data.
Transfer Android game progress?
- Thread starter figmentPez
- Start date
figmentPez
Staff member
Is there no way for me to just copy over save files myself? That's really frustrating.
If your phone is rooted, you can use Titanium Backup. If not, root it for this app alone.
Look, I've surrendered like a million times by now. STOP SHOOTING ME.
Titanium Backup (or Pro, and IMO worth it) on the Google Play store.
There is bad news though: if you aren't rooted already, then it will wipe your device when rooting, meaning all your progress is gone anyways, unless it stores it somewhere OTHER than the app's private directories.
For example, the Square-Enix games (Final Fantasy Dimensions, IV, etc) store it in the private root-only directory of "/data/data/com.sqaure_enix.android_googleplay.ffl_gp/files" (this is FF Dimensions). It's that second "data" nesting that's visible to the app itself, and root only. Get the files in there to keep your backup across phone wipes.
But Minecraft Pocket Edition saves its files in "/storage/sdcard0/games/com.mojang/" (sometimes the first part is "/storage/emulated/0/" and not "/sdcard0"). This means that you can always access it with non-root and copy those files around as you need to. One downside here though is that things like Titanium Backup don't "know" about these by default, so you may need to manually back these up, or set up a rule somewhere for your backup utility to grab it.
So to get everything, get Titanium Backup. But check first to see if specific apps are either storing them on the cloud, or are storing them someplace else. A good way to tell if cloud is if you need to login to them, AND you can continue your game on any of your devices (phone AND tablet, and it's the same game).
Either way, always root first. Then you won't need to wipe it just to install a backup utility.
There is bad news though: if you aren't rooted already, then it will wipe your device when rooting, meaning all your progress is gone anyways, unless it stores it somewhere OTHER than the app's private directories.
For example, the Square-Enix games (Final Fantasy Dimensions, IV, etc) store it in the private root-only directory of "/data/data/com.sqaure_enix.android_googleplay.ffl_gp/files" (this is FF Dimensions). It's that second "data" nesting that's visible to the app itself, and root only. Get the files in there to keep your backup across phone wipes.
But Minecraft Pocket Edition saves its files in "/storage/sdcard0/games/com.mojang/" (sometimes the first part is "/storage/emulated/0/" and not "/sdcard0"). This means that you can always access it with non-root and copy those files around as you need to. One downside here though is that things like Titanium Backup don't "know" about these by default, so you may need to manually back these up, or set up a rule somewhere for your backup utility to grab it.
So to get everything, get Titanium Backup. But check first to see if specific apps are either storing them on the cloud, or are storing them someplace else. A good way to tell if cloud is if you need to login to them, AND you can continue your game on any of your devices (phone AND tablet, and it's the same game).
Either way, always root first. Then you won't need to wipe it just to install a backup utility.
figmentPez
Staff member
I've never rooted my phone, and I'm kind of wary of doing so. Especially knowing that it would wipe my phone, which I just spent like a day getting it even close to the way I want it.
It's extremely worth it in the end, if only for the ability to truly back it up. Other reasons too, but still. It's the first thing I do when I get a new phone/tablet (other than updating the OS version of course, which also wipes it). All before I "really" start customizing it. Then no lost effort. The longer you leave it though, the more "i gotta do all THAT again???" that piles up.
Though think of it this way, what if you couldn't do ANYTHING that required a UAC promotion on windows (except installing applications)? You'd not be able to do quite a lot. And imagine not being able to look into the "program files" directory either. Or your %APPDATA% directory (type that into windows explorer if you don't know what it is, capitals are important). That's what running an un-rooted phone is.
This isn't necessarily true. If you unlock the bootloader, yes, it will wipe your device. But if you're just going for root access and don't want to completely replace the operating system, there are usually ways to root the system without touching the bootloader. Depending on the model of phone and version of Android, give www.towelroot.com a try - download and install the app (ignore the warnings about it being unsafe), launch, tap the lambda - presto, root access!
If you do it this way, though, be sure the next thing you do is download a superuser app. Towelroot automatically gives any app that requests it root priveleges, which is a really good way to screw up your device, lose all your money, start thermonuclear war, etc. A superuser app will let you pick and choose which apps get root access.