Android will soon automatically log you back into apps when switching to a new phone

Android’s backup and restore experience is getting a much-needed improvement that will soon allow apps to stay signed in when you switch to a new Android phone. With the new "Restore Credentials" feature, Google wants to make moving to a new Android phone as seamless as switching iPhones.

So how does it work? According to Google, Restore Credentials allows app developers to generate a “restore key” that gets stored locally on your device and to the cloud (if you’ve enabled Google Backup). When you set up a new Android phone and choose to restore apps and data, the keys are transferred to the new device and you’re automatically signed into your app accounts at the first launch. And if developers put in a little extra work, apps can start sending notifications and functioning as if they were still on the previous device — even before you open them on your new phone.

This may not seem like a huge deal, but anyone who has upgraded their Android phone and gone through the data restoration process will tell you how painful it is to manually sign in to each app. Google has done its part by laying down the framework, but it’s up to individual app developers to implement the feature into their apps and make this initiative a success. It will certainly be a stretch to expect every app on the Play Store to implement the seamless migration of app logins. But hopefully, most of the popular apps will take advantage of this change to ensure a frictionless onboarding experience for users moving to a new Android device.

The best part is you don't have to set anything up or fiddle with any device settings to benefit from this improvement — it will all happen in the background. However, you’ll need to wait for your favorite app developers to add support for Restore Credentials to their apps. You'll also need a device running Android 9 or higher.