Transferring your data from your old Android device to a new one will soon be less daunting, thanks to “Restore Credentials,” a new developer feature for Android which can keep you logged into your apps when you make the switch. While some apps already did this, Google is making it easier for developers to include this experience by implementing a “restore key” that automatically transfers to the new phone and logs you back into the app.
The change should help make going from one Android phone to another more like upgrading an iPhone. Apple users who move from one iPhone to another are used to having everything from email accounts to app credentials transfer to the new phone, but it hasn’t always been so seamless for Android users.
Verge smartphone reviewer Allison Johnson says “This is great news for me, personally.”
Restore Credentials requires less work than the previous approach on Android, and can automatically check if a restore key is available and log you back in at the first app launch. A restore key is a public key that uses existing passkey infrastructure to move about your credentials.
Restore keys can also be backed up to the cloud, although developers can opt out. For that reason, transferring directly from device to device will still likely be more thorough than restoring from the cloud, as is the case with Apple devices today. Notably, Google says restore keys do not transfer if you delete an app and reinstall it.