This is a follow up of bug 305766503, due to which many Google Pixel users lost either the data of the applications installed on the phone, or lost access to their data for almost a month.

To handle cases like this in the future, Google Pixel should support a backup solution that creates an image of the phone (as in linux dd image) and a tool to restore such an image. Google should also provide a desktop computer application that will allow users to access their data from such an image.

The only current backup solution is Google One, a paid service by Google. Most Google Pixel users do not pay for this service, accepting the risk of losing data due to losing the device or terminally destroying it. In the case of bug 305766503, the data loss was caused by an action of Google, following a poorely tested Google Pixel update. This means that users can lose data from their Google One account due to a similar, poorely tested Google Cloud update. In any case, Google cannot force people to use the only supported, paid Google service.

Finally, all residents of EU have the GDPR right to portability. Right now Google Pixel does not give us the ability to move our application data to, e.g., a Samsung phone.

Here is what GDPR says:

The data subject shall have the right to receive the personal data concerning him or her, which he or she has provided to a controller, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to another controller without hindrance from the controller to which the personal data have been provided

Issue 310399478

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