Upgrading to a new phone? Android can now keep your apps signed in after restoring from a backup

What you need to know

• Google is introducing an Android feature called Restore Credentials, which transfers your apps’ sign-in credentials to a new phone.
• The feature copies existing functionality on iOS, and will make the experience of switching from one Android phone to another more convenient, regardless of device brand.
• The process is built into the Android device backup and restore mechanism, so no manual user action is required.

Google is adding a new Android feature that will keep your apps signed in after restoring from a backup or switching to a new device, it announced in a post on the Android Developers Blog . It’s called Restore Credentials, and it’s built right into the existing Credential Manager API. Best of all, it requires no manual action from the user, as it is handled on the app and Android side automatically.

Here’s how it works. When a user signs into their app account on an Android phone, app developers can create a restore key for the user. It’s saved locally, and can be uploaded to the cloud if the user has agreed to back up the app’s data. Then, when a user starts restoring from a backup on a new device, the app’s data and its restore key are transferred. The app can be signed into the app, without the Android user even needing to open it. In other words, your phone should be just how you left it.

Similarly to the iOS feature, it’s likely that not all apps will automatically retain their sign-in status after restoring from a backup. Developers will need to add the new functionality in the Credential Manager API to their app, which may take some time. Google explains how to do this in its post, and recommends developers delete restore keys after a user manually signs out of an app.

Restore Credentials are based on Google’s existing implementation of passkeys, and incorporate standards from the FIDO Alliance.