How to combine two mobile phones into one

[JOC4]

Hi, I am familiar with Samsung Switch and have successfully used it several times, however before I try to set up my new phone I have a question.  I have two old Samsung galaxy S7's one has been used with a SIM and account for personal use, the other has been used with a different SIM and account for business use.  With the intent to carry less around each day I have just ordered an S24.  Obviously I intend to use the dual SIM capability and put both the SIMs in the old phones into the new one.  However, the data on each phone doesn't match - each for example has it's own Google account (nearly full), different photos, different music files and each has an installed SD expansion card etc.  I want to lose as little data as possible as I make the transition to the new single phone.  What is the best way of doing this please?  I don't know if Samsung Switch will just overwrite the first lot of data if I use it twice - once on each phone.  Has anyone ever done this and might have some advice for me please? 

[Reylob]

HI @JOC4 

As long as you do not get rid of the S7s, you will not lose the data, meaning you could try and if the results are not what you want, reset the S24 and try another way.

I do not know if SmartSwitch can handle that sort duality. I would think that it will overwrite some of the settings instead of a creating two accounts.

I assume that you have two different google accounts for each S7. My suggestion would be to backup each phone into google and restore them from there, but there is no harm in trying SmartSwitch. You would lose the time if it does not work.

[GoanGeek]

Since you mentioned both the phones have their own Google account, splash on extra Google One account storage for both of them.

Then you can sync all your data to the Google one cloud separately for each account.

So make sure everything is backed up including you sd card stuff to Google one.

I personally don't backup apps or settings as they cause issues sometimes when restoring ( I prefer installing apps as and when I need them.)

So the above will secure your data into both the separate Google accounts and will be accessible when ever you need them.

Only thing will be you will have more easy accessibility with your personal account as I am presuming that will be your main account for the new phone.

The other one you could try setting up under work profile.

Worst case senario you would have to access it's data via a browser.

[GoanGeek]

On a separate note.

Maybe you should just leave your work stuff on your current phone if it's working well.

Or maybe splash on cheaper A55 or something for the work.

Should never mix work with personal life 😉

[Reylob]

I agree with that sentiment. I never use my private for any work related task. It is too easy to send the wrong stuff to the wrong people.

[JOC4]

Thanks for all the tips.  I have bought some 1 drive space today per your advice and have sent phones off to backup everything.  New phone should arrive this weekend so I will post back what has best once I've had a play with things and be able to mark up what works in the thread 🙂

[JOC4 · Accepted solution]

Well, you have to chalk one up to technology!  Sims out of two s7's and sims into one S24.  In the finish it turned out that I actually had the same google login running on both so perhaps signing up to the Google 1 helped some.  I decided to run the smart switch on the business sim phone first.  Per my previous experience it went well.  So after that I spent time with the settings and checked both sims were functional - which they were and I gave them both appropriate names.  Then I thought nothing ventured etc. and did Smart Switch on the other S7 -  I just selected what I wanted and zoom up it all went onto the new phone and I started to gain an amalgamated phone which was what I wanted 10+ years ago!  I ran into a slight hiccup with my pictures.  This prize wally didn't think twice when they emptied the sim trays on the old S7's and also shook out their SD cards, consquently I couldn't work out why I wasn't getting the photos smart switched.  Of course it finally dawned on my and I fed the old S7's with their respective SD cards and smart switched each again just for pictures and across came all my photos.  The duplicate photo eraser sorted out any obvious doubles.   duplicated.  I got most of my accounts and apps sorted.  The only thing I still have problems with is the Microsoft authenticator application.  I followed all the online instructions and am still running into errors trying to shift the accounts.  I'm going to call someone for some help tomorrow.  Possibly it is due to the dual sim setup whereas it is coming off a single sim phone - I only ran it on one of them.  I got as far as installing a backup and then it wanted a QR code, but I have no idea where to get one from.  

However, I am pleased to report that the smart switch application works wonderfully and can be run on mulitple occasions.  It you need to amalgamate two phones just select what you need from each and proceed as though it was the only phone.  That might help someone else.  I can't fault the tech of it - it works just as you would hope it would. 🙂

I wasn't intially overboard about the S24 display, it seemed rather dull, but I found the vivid controls and upped the warmth and now it is closer to the S7 Edge display - though I still think the S7 Edge has better colours - it's icons almost looked as though they were oil painted onto the screen.  I also think the S7 Edge was a design classic, the S24 feels far less rounded in the hand and it is not as slim and I liked the edge tech. on the S7 Edge's which I had.   I wanted the tech in the S24 Ultra and the 1TB storage (and would have paid for it), but when I looked at it in the store it was massive and there comes a time when if you want something that big you buy a tablet!!  It also had nasty square pointy corners!  The designers have obviously not thought about holding it or carrying it in a bag or pocket!   The S24+ was also larger and having lived with S7's since their launch I chose the smaller S24 (256GB) as being closest in size to the S7 that I was used to - possibly I am the only person that buys phones based on their size rather than what they can do LOL!.   I think it will be OK once I am used to its differences, but I still wish the S7 could have continued getting it's upgrades as I would have been happy to have continued using the S7 handsets for another 10 years.  Oh, well I'm upgraded to a S24 now - lets see if I can live with it!