this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023
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Seeking Advice on Preserving an Old Android Phone with Sentimental Value (alien.top)
submitted 1 year ago by 1252947840@alien.top to c/datahoarder@selfhosted.forum
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Recently, a beloved family member of mine passed away, and they left behind an Android phone that's approximately 4-5 years old. This device holds significant sentimental value to me, and I'm concerned about its longevity, fearing it may stop functioning in the future.

Currently, the phone operates on a prepaid plan, and I have been regularly topping up its balance. Additionally, I have access to the phone's PIN, allowing me to unlock and use it.

My main question is: Is there a way to effectively preserve this phone, including all its data, in a virtual environment? Essentially, I'm looking for a method to create a virtual replica of the phone that retains all its contents. I'm open to the idea of not using the physical SIM card if this facilitates the preservation process.

Any advice, tools, or methods that could assist in this endeavor would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help and suggestions.

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[–] H9419@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Assuming you don't have an unlocked bootloader or custom recovery, the best shot you have is an adb backup. It can backup app apks and app data to some point. Apps like Whatsapp and Facebook cannot be backed up this way as it requires a specific data migration method and login.

If you do have root/custom recovery, it can make a full backup but the image would have difficulty booting on other phones/emulators. Don't attempt this route if you see a locked bootloader as the process of unlocking will wipe everything

No perfect solution. The best you could do is to migrate/recreate the phone in an emulator and backup the emulator