Smart Switch - Honest feedback

[Oddgeir]

I just used Smart Switch to move to my new phone. S22 Ultra to S25 Ultra, same same. That should be a walk in the park. 

To say it the least, the experience was a bit underwhelming. 

Connection was easy but the collaboration and responsibility was lackluster. 
First my new phone complained that the process was interrupted and did not finish. But when I looked at my old it happily stated that it had completed successfully and sent everything to the new phone. 

Then I started using my new phone and almost none of the apps I use were transferred, although they were standard playstore apps. It seems just a random set of old apps were transferred, so basically I got the rubbish but not the meat. 

It managed to bring my images, I hope, but I don't dare to trust it, given that it missed so many of the apps. But it got none of my SMS'es, which should be on top of awareness scale.

I used this for my previous migration too and had equally bad experience then. My hope was that this had improved but I'm a bit disappointed. I remember it was a lot easier when I did this manually. Then I knew what I had, what I copied (or downloaded from playstore), and could have control checks to ensure everything was taken care of. 
Now it seems like having two kids collaborating, where I can't be sure what they've done and what not, but since they have done something I can't just copy all either, because there might be conflicts or duplicates. 

This is how I would Smart Switch to be: 
* Identify what you have. Give a list on what you have identified, so I can check what you relate to
* For each inventory item, report what you have sent (like DCIM/Camera: 64432 images / XXX GB)
* For each inventory request a feedback from new phone on the received numbers and size 
* Provide a report, preferably while running, to show how each item checks off in the new phone
* Be clear on what inventory is NOT replicated so it can be handled some other way
* Make this report available in both sides. When I go to Smart Switch now I found no traces of the previous migration job.

Now I'm connected with both phones through my laptop, so I can check location, files and sizes, and copy manually. I had hoped that in 2025, with all this "artificial intelligence" that two Samsung phones at least were able to agree on what content was worth transferring before the old phone is recycled. 

Update: Since i believed my SMS messages were copied which they were not, I missed the opportunity to do this "the android way" by using the Google backup during setup, so I had to use third party tools to migrate. It feels really unnecessary having to use third party to move such core content from one Samsung Android to another Samsung Android. 

[Joeeye]

My first and most important bit of advice is never use smart Switch to transfer apps from an older generation to a new one. This causes too many problems as most of those apps may either be outdated or incompatible with the newer version of Android. It's always safer and much better in the long run to install the apps manually through the stores.

[Oddgeir]

I have no problems understanding the concern. However, this is yet another reason to avoid Smart Switch, and doesn't address the fact that Smart Switch claims to be the perfect tool to transfer everything, and there is no reason why it couldn't identify the apps, and just facilitate download from Playstore in the new phone. 
My basic complain is that it claims to do everything, only does pieces, and if those pieces are even done bad (like you say) maybe it shouldn't be responsible for them in the first place

[Joeeye]

Perhaps, but we live and learn. It wouldn't be the first bit of software which doesn't do everything it says on the tin, and I know it won't be the last. There's far worse criminal software than smart Switch and tbh it does do the things I need it for decently enough and hassle free (avoiding the apps). Plus it's ad free unlike certain others...

[Oddgeir]

I agree that there are far worse pieces of software out there. But my feedback is to Samsung for Samsung software, to help Samsung improve on their own customer experience. 
And I disagree that it does "decently enough and hassle free (avoiding the apps)", when it doesn't manage to transfer my SMS'es. Basically, apart from having moved many images I can't think of one thing that made my situation easier, although there's probably some pieces of data I haven't thought of yet. 

[Joeeye]

I guess we all have our own experiences. Personally, just transferring my photos, videos, documents, music, call logs, messages etc has been pretty much flawless for me, so I've never had an issue with it.

[Moiramon]

I just use the Google transfer as it redownloads all your apps. It also does all your contacts etc. for documents and photos I just use a laptop to transfer.

[Oddgeir]

Good for you. When looking through the files it seems it has a fairly good track record for the typical storage data, although it missed all of my podcasts, which basically should be standalone files with no issues. In the Android/data department however it seems to be more random. Some places is remembers everything, while other areas only a few of many files are transferred. 

[Oddgeir]

Yes, there are many ways to transfer data. My main focus now is that the tool provided by Samsung has serious "room for improvement", even on their own phones. One should think that Samsung software transferring between Samsung phones would be a safe bet.

[Piper123]

Personally I no longer use SmartSwitch.

Why? Because it brings the exact app versions from your old phone to the new. You new device may require an updated version of the app.

So I use Google to back up images, SMS and call logs and set up my apps from the Google Play Store. Also encourages me to not install apps I no longer use.

I also take the opportunity to update passwords at the same time.