MASTG-TECH-0128: Performing a Backup and Restore of App Data

Using the Backup Manager (via ADB shell)¶

Run Backup Manager (adb shell bmgr)

When using the cloud transport variant, each app's backup is managed and stored independently in the user's Google Drive. In our case we're interested in the local transport variant, where bmgr stores each app's backup data in a separate .ab file within the /data/data/com.android.localtransport/files/ directory on the device. To extract the file run:

adb root
adb pull /data/data/com.android.localtransport/files/1/_full/org.owasp.mastestapp org.owasp.mastestapp.ab
tar xvf org.owasp.mastestapp.ab

The extracted backup directory (apps/) is stored in the current working directory. For instructions on how to inspect it, see Inspecting an App's Backup Data.

Using ADB Backup¶

Warning

adb backup is restricted since Android 12 and requires android:debuggable=true in the AndroidManifest.xml.

You can run adb backup to back up the app data. Approve the backup from your device by selecting the Back up my data option. After the backup process is finished, the file .ab will be in your working directory.

The extracted backup directory (apps/) is stored in the current working directory. For instructions on how to inspect it, see Inspecting an App's Backup Data.

Note: The behavior might differ between an emulator and a physical device.

Using Android Backup Extractor¶

You can use Android Backup Extractor to extract the backup data. For more information, refer to its GitHub repo.