Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo are collaborating to make switching phones easier

If you’ve ever tried switching phones on Android, you know how much of a hassle it can be. While you can easily migrate your Google account data and apps between devices, transferring app data is often not possible. This can be frustrating since not all third-party apps support data migration, leaving you with the hassle of setting up all your apps again.

Now, to solve this problem, Chinese smartphone manufacturers Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo are collaborating to make transferring third-party app data easier when switching between their brands of phones. This means that Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo users can switch between devices without worrying about losing their app data or having to set up all their third-party apps again.

“In order to bring users a better replacement experience, Xiaomi has reached cooperation with Vivo and Oppo. In addition to system data such as photos and contacts, Xiaomi has newly added support for migrating third-party application data from Vivo and Oppo phones, so you don’t have to worry about your chat records when switching phones,” read the Weibo blog post.

Exclusive to China

Unfortunately, there is a catch. The migration tool will only be available on phones produced for Chinese consumers, not on those made for the international market. Therefore, users outside of China may still have to set up their third-party apps manually when switching between different Android phones.

However, this is not the first time that these Chinese companies have worked together. In 2020, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo created a unified file-sharing solution that enables users to share files between phones made by these three brands.

They further expanded this cooperation by creating the Global Developer Service Alliance (GDSA), allowing developers to upload their apps to Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi’s app stores simultaneously.

While this news is exciting for Chinese users, there is still a long way to go before providing a reliable third-party app data migration process for Android users worldwide. Hopefully, Google will follow suit and make the switching experience more convenient for Android users.