Is it possible to transfer one app from my old phone to my new if my phone is not rooted?

Question

I have recently purchased a Galaxy S5. I would like to root it, but so far, it seems that the "Towelroot" approach does not work on my model (purchased in Japan from Docomo), and other options are at this point too complicated for me.

So, my old phone, an S2, is rooted, but my new phone, an S5, is not.

Cut to today when I discovered that the calorie counter app I preffered, Calorific, is no longer available, and has been replaced with a feature bloated new version that ruins everything I liked about the previous version.

I still have that previous version on my old phone, so, if possible, I'd like to move that app over to my new phone.

Of course, I've looked on this forum for solutions, but other questions I've seen so far presume either that one's phone is rooted or that one is trying to completely recreate all settings from phone to another.

I would like at this point to just move one app. Is that possible?

My previous phone has Titanium Backup Pro, if that helps.

Answer 1

Do you want to just install the specific version of the application you have in your old phone? If so,

a) run an application like Titanium Backup on the rooted phone

b) backup the app

c) find the .apk in the backup folder

d) transfer the .apk to your new phone

e) run the .apk to install the application on the new phone. I believe some phones do not do it out-of-the-box and you might have to download some kind of app (search for "apk install") to do it. Try without an app first, though.

In case you also want your data to be transferred along with the app, I'm not sure whether TiBu can do this for non-rooted phones. Someone else will be better suited to answer.

Answer 2

I use App Backup & Restore.

It's fairly easy to use, you will get the required APK file on you SD Card and you can transfer it onto your new phone, where you can manually install the apk.

1. Open App Backup & Restore
2. Set Backup Path
3. Select your app and click Backup
4. Transfer apk file from Backup Path to your new phone
5. Make sure Unknown Sources Setting is turned on under Security Settings
6. Select the apk file from file manager
7. Follow installation instructions

But older versions of apps might not work properly with new versions of Android, so keep that in mind.

Answer 3

For CLI:

1. Download and install the Android SDK Package
2. Add a path to these two directories of the package install ([installedpath]/tools and [installedpath]/platform-tools for a full SDK installation).

3. Now, with the Android plugged in via the usb, run this to get the full list of installed apps:

   $ adb shell 'pm list packages'
   

   You now have a list the names of all your install apps.

4. Use the -f parameter to get the full pathname of a desired package by specifying a search string found in the previous list:

   $ adb shell 'pm list packages -f reader'
   

5. Now pull the full pathname of the package you want to get with:

   ## adb pull [filepathname] [destination path] ##
   $ adb pull /data/app/com.ebooks.ebookreader-2.apk ~/mybackupdir
   

For GUI you can use the app Airdroid.

NOTE: 'pm' can be executed on the device, directly, with a Terminal Emulator, in order to locate the apk files. They can then be copied directly to the SD card, without computer intervention, nor the SDK. (note that 'cp' may not exist, so use e.g. 'cat file.apk > /mnt/extSDCard/file.apk')

Answer 4

When you want to send an installed application from one mobile phone to another you can install "Bluetooth file transfer" application on your old phone and then easily send any installed app file to other devices through bluetooth.