I used Samsung Smart Switch to migrate from my old S21 Ultra to my S22 Ultra, only to find that it's not so "Smart":
1. A whole bunch of old photos and videos have seemingly had the dates modified so that they now show up in Recent in Samsung Gallery, but some of them are many years old. Why has Smart Switch now jumbled up all my pictures, videos etc?
2. Internet Shortcuts on my home screen have lost all their associated data and now just open the browser instead of the URL. How has Smart Switch not copied this data?
3. Most of my app settings don't actually get copied across; e.g:
GMail signatures are non existent
configuration settings for LastPass
apps (like AllHomes) think they've never been opened before
almost EVERY app needs to be signed into again, which means you don't get notifications from those apps until you sign into every app on your phone.
My default launcher isn't enabled as default.
My default keyboard is enabled as default.
All my default camera settings are lost.
Users spend hours, years even fine tuning their devices to fit them just right, and when they get a new phone they have to try and remeber every customisation they had done to get it back they way they wanted. I can't belive Smart Switch has been around this long and still is so poorly implemented, and that Samsung have the audacity to call it Smart.
Hi @TeeC, thanks for your feedback. In regard to Smart Switch not transferring app data, this is due to security and certain apps having the data backed up in their own encrypted systems. An example would be WhatsApp chats being encrypted by WhatsApp thus Smart Switch cannot access and copy this over.
For specific app data, I recommend backing up important data such as game progress or log in information to the relevant service before logging in on your new device.
In regard to your device settings not transferring across, I suggest trying Smart Switch again when only selecting 'Settings' to see if this resolves your issue.
I know apps like Whatsapp encrypt the data and can't be transferred, but I said almost EVERY app. Audible doesn't have any of the previously downloaded books. Apps like Galaxy Wear, AllHomes, RealEstate all have lost their data. Yes, you read Galaxy Wear, that is Samsung's app and it doesn't transfer the data, but Smart Switch says has successfully transferred all the data for my apps.
If Smart Switch can't transfer the data, it should at the very least output all the apps that it can't transfer data for. It tells you it has completed successfully which is actually an outright lie.
And you haven't mentioned all the other problems I noted:
Internet shortcuts lost.
Old photos and videos now showing in Recents.
GMail signatures are lost
My default launcher isn't enabled as default.
My default keyboard is enabled as default.
All my default camera settings are lost.
And there's more, my default Messaging app isn't configured. Settings for numerous Samsung apps (e.g Camera) aren't even copied accross. Smart Switch does not copy accross what it says it does.
Just wondering if there is any follow up to my last comment?
I know apps like Whatsapp encrypt the data and can't be transferred, but I said almost EVERY app. Audible doesn't have any of the previously downloaded books. Apps like Galaxy Wear, AllHomes, RealEstate all have lost their data. Yes, you read Galaxy Wear, that is Samsung's app and it doesn't transfer the data, but Smart Switch says has successfully transferred all the data for my apps.
If Smart Switch can't transfer the data, it should at the very least output all the apps that it can't transfer data for. It tells you it has completed successfully which is actually an outright lie.
And you haven't mentioned all the other problems I noted:
Internet shortcuts lost.
Old photos and videos now showing in Recents.
GMail signatures are lost
My default launcher isn't enabled as default.
My default keyboard is enabled as default.
All my default camera settings are lost.
And there's more, my default Messaging app isn't configured. Settings for numerous Samsung apps (e.g Camera) aren't even copied accross. Smart Switch does not copy accross what it says it does.
Hi @TeeC, I can see you also sent these items through as a query to our error reports team. From here, I can see that our team requested further details in order to better understand and escalate your claim.
To view this response, please check your notifications in the Members app.
How about an answer for the rest of us who are suffering from the SmartSwitch inadequacies ? Basically, many of us want a simple clone of EVERYTHING in order to migrate smoothly.
Hi @KennyGLV, as mentioned above, Smart Switch copies over most things except for specific account-related data due to privacy.
E.g it will not transfer and log into your bank account details or social media accounts such as WhatsApp.
If you are having issues with other areas of Smart Switch, I suggest sending through an error report for this to be escalated to our research and development team.
Samsung Members app > Get help > Error reports > select issue category > Describe issue and frequency > Tick ‘Send system log data’ > ‘Send’ in top right.
I'm missing many of the same things and when you ask at a store or talk to support they say smart switch transfers everything as if it clones your phone - it doesn't you have to spend hours going into each app to set it up. ***!
