Hey! Windows Phone Guru

"ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)" (adabofoppo) 01/08/2014 at 17:04 • Filed to: Windows Phone

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Question:

Are my apps and settings backups tied to my Windows account, or my phone?

T-Mobile just announced killer reasons for me to drop ATT like it's the evil, bastard empire it is. But I'd have to get a new device and I don't want to lose all the apps I didn't pay for.

(I have yet to purchase an app. I just get free ones. Nothing has been critical that I need pay for it yet. But, some of them were free for a day type sales. Can I re download provided I use the same account info?)

Is the Lumia 925 on T-Mo as good as my 920 on ATT? Is T-Mo any better/worse at rolling out updates?

Nibbles > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 01/08/2014 at 17:10

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Apps are tied to your Windows account. Settings and full backups, you may lose.

Make sure you back up all your contacts to your Windows account as well.

As far as the 925 on TMo, I don't know - haven't had the chance to play with it. Seriously considering ditching AT&T with this offer, too. Updates? Bah. Developer preview ;)

Depressoiscool > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 01/08/2014 at 17:10

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i think you might be able to use the 920 on tmo anyway since they have close to the same radios, just get a new sim. And on the apps, id imagine so since that is standard on windows 8 at least and would be even more important on a phone. but as i don't own a wp yet, don't put all your faith in me

Roberto G. > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 01/08/2014 at 17:11

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As far as I understand, your settings and apps are linked to your Windows mail account, since on the phone there's the options of backing them up on your SkyDrive cloud. You need to find the "backup" voice in the "main settings" menu and flag what you want to backup in the "backup settings". What I do not know is if this backup can be loaded into a new, different phone and I have my doubts about this, because some apps may work on a model of phone and don't work on another different one, even if both are Windows phones. You just have to try! As far as I know all the useful free apps (I downloaded a lot of them like the world clock, the converter, the recorder, the self- shooting camera and others, together with some games as well) are still available and no one was removed. For instance, I couldn't make work a compass app, even if on my Lumia 625 I have the GPS. It said it would work nevertheless, and the coordinates were displayed but the needle didn't move. That was an app that I had to remove.

Nibbles > Depressoiscool 01/08/2014 at 17:12

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He can. With TMo's deal though, you have to surrender your [competitor's model] phone.

The best bet would be to install his SIM card in an old phone and "trade" that one in. Then he could keep his 920. There are some radio issues though, but can be easily remedied by performing dev unlock

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Nibbles 01/08/2014 at 17:16

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Hmm. Okay good to know. My settings are pretty basic. Contacts are tied to a Gmail account. No issues there.

Yeah. If we switch, I will probably need assistance getting the developer preview again.

Unless I just have to log in again. That shouldn't be too hard. I'll just have to remember my info.

Nibbles > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 01/08/2014 at 17:18

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Do you have an old phone you can toss your SIM into, and trade that in at TMo? Save your 920 and use it there?

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Nibbles 01/08/2014 at 17:19

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The old phone is an iPhone 3GS, which might not qualify for their trade-in. It's also jailbroken and I use it as a dedicated podcast player with a speaker-base in my house.

We have some ancient iPod touches laying around I could use instead I suppose...

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Depressoiscool 01/08/2014 at 17:20

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Replied to Nibbles, but it's also relevant to your response.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Nibbles 01/08/2014 at 17:21

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Replied in the other post.

I'll take 911 RS for $5000 > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 01/09/2014 at 00:20

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Just did a full restore of my 928. I haven't been backing up photos, but all my apps were tied to my Windows account. I feel like settings were local to phone as I've had to change things like the background since the restore.

Text message backup also works great, but I'm not sure if that's a WP8 feature or a Verizon feature.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > I'll take 911 RS for $5000 01/09/2014 at 09:13

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Text backup is Windows native as I have it on my ATT 920.