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Google’s solution to the worst part of setting up a new Android phone actually works
IT & Tech

Google’s solution to the worst part of setting up a new Android phone actually works

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TL; DR

  • The Restore Credentials API addresses the frustration of being signed out of apps when switching Android devices.
  • By implementing this API to silently transfer login tokens, Uber estimates it will eliminate 4 million manual logins for its users annually.
  • While Uber is a great example, more developers need to adopt this API for Android to fully emulate the seamless recovery experience of iPhones.
Last year, Google introduced the Restore Credentials API within Android’s Credential Manager, aiming to solve one of the biggest pain points when switching phones: being logged out of all your apps. A year later, Google shared an update on its progress, and this small change has helped Uber reduce manual logins by an estimated 4 million logins per year!
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Android app recovery problem and its solution

One area where iPhones excel over Android is the app data migration process when switching phones. On iPhones, iOS transfers almost all apps and data, including the login status of apps (except banking apps), making users feel like they never switched phones.

When switching between Android devices, Android transfers apps and some app data but deletes the credentials, forcing users to log back into all their apps to receive notifications. So even as users migrate their data to their new Android flagship, many of their apps have essentially “reset” themselves. Things no longer work “normally” on your new phone: you have to manually launch all your apps, log back into them, and set them up again.

This is where Android’s Restore Credentials API comes into the picture. Thanks to this, users can seamlessly log back into the app when they switch devices and recover their data.

Restore Credentials function

App developers can also allow users to silently log back into the app once the restore is complete, even allowing them to receive notifications without having to open the app on the new device.

How Google’s solution helped Uber

Engineers at Uber remark that it can be an unpleasant and off-putting experience when you open the Uber app on your new phone to request a ride, only to find that you’re logged out at the time you need it.

Uber ultimately used the Restore Credentials API to address this issue. The API generates a unique token on the old device, which is seamlessly and silently moved to the new device when the user restores the app data during device setup. The result is that user account information is transferred securely and seamlessly, without the need for additional user input.

Uber reports that an average of 10,000 unique daily users had signed up for Restore Credentials at the time of the rollout, and this number is expected to double once the company expands the rollout to its entire user base. The company estimates that the change will eliminate 4 million manual logins annually.
Within the context of Uber, users still need to launch the app once on their new phone to restore the login state, but as mentioned, the experience can be even smoother if app developers do their best to restore the login state in the background during device setup.

While Uber is a great example of a popular app that uses this API, we need more developers to adopt it to compete with iOS’s seamless login experience. Hopefully, this success story will provide enough motivation for more app developers to implement the API in their apps.

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