I love a clean start. There’s nothing like the feel of a smartphone (or PC) after a factory reset.

I’m using my Nexus 5 for almost a year now. For a while, I’ve been wanting to do a factory reset and start clean. The upcoming Lollipop upgrade is exactly the push I needed to do it.

My game plan:

1. Before upgrading:
   1. Perform general app cleanup, so I upgrade only with the apps I want.
   2. Document my settings and configuration (system and apps), so I can re-apply it if needed.
   3. Backup data.
2. Upgrade.
3. After upgrading:
   1. Restore apps, data, settings and configuration, as needed.
   2. Explore what new built-in features can replace 3rd party apps I’m using. I always prefer built-in over 3rd party.

In order to be able to restore all of my set up, layout, customization, etc., I want to document in detail my starting state. This documentation should include anything that I might need to re-apply after factory reset & upgrade. It’s OK to skip things that are restored automatically (cloud-based, etc.). If I’m not sure about something, better be safe than sorry…

The method: Go over everything, and write down and/or take screenshots of anything I want to document.

This process generated a lot of data. Some of it includes sensitive stuff that I don’t want to document publicly (like account names on various services). All of it is highly personalized, and is probably of little interest to most readers. So instead of writing a post with 425 screenshots (really!) (and pixelating out many of them), I decided to just keep a few highlights, and describe the method. Feel free to ask for more details if you’re interested in something specific.

Phone settings

Method: Go over all screens and items in the system settings, writing down or taking screenshots of all the options and values.

Highlights:

• “Owner info” message content.
• Apps with “Device admin” access (for me: Android Device Manager & Secure Settings).
• Apps with “Notification access” (for me: only Pushbullet).
• Sync’ed accounts.
• Developer options I’ve changed (like “Stay awake while charging”).

Total of 66 screenshots for this category.

Home screens layout and widgets

I use a pretty simple 2 home screens layout, with shortcuts for my most-used apps, a few 1×1 widgets, and lots of space.

Notes on the Tasker tasks shortcuts:

• Headset Plugged: A task that launches automatically when I plug in earphones (duh). It opens a small dialog with icons of Poweramp and BeyondPod, automatically starting playback in the selected app. I keep a home screen shortcut in addition to the automated event because I use often it to start playback without plugging in earphones.
• Sec0 / Sec1: One-click enable/disable PIN-code lock screen.
• Toggle Hotspot: One-click enable/disable WiFi Hotspot.

Lock screen layout and widgets

Method:

• Take screenshots of lock screens.
• Document configuration of DashClock lock screen widget.

Highlights:

Total of 20 screenshots for this category.

Apps that should be reconfigured ASAP

There are a handful of apps and web services that I use on a daily basis. These are the things I really need to reconfigure as soon as I complete the system update. It might be useful to have this shortlist of most-important things to take care of, assuming I’m not going to go through everything in a single session.

This is just a checklist. Further details on the configuration for each item follow.

• Google accounts on the device (also takes care of Gmail, Inbox, Keep, Contacts, Calendar, Hangouts IM, Drive, Maps, Google+ & Photos, YouTube)
• Authy
• Chrome sign in
• Call Logs Backup & Restore
• SMS Backup & Restore
• FolderSync
• Evernote
• Feedly
• Pocket
• BeyondPod
• Poweramp
• Pushbullet
• Dropbox (especially camera upload)
• Buffer
• WhatsApp
• Hangouts (SMS)
• Yatse XMBC Remote
• OurGroceries
• Tasker tasks and profiles
• Endomondo
• Facebook (web) & Facebook Page Manager
• Bitbucket (web)
• Play Music

Apps that just require signing in

Method: List the apps. Keep another version of this list that includes also the account name.

• Google Admin
• AWS Console
• Baby Connect
• Box
• Buffer
• Chrome (except for open tabs)
• Android Device Manager (not quite “signing in” – just check that I can access the device from the web console)
• Droidicious
• MightyText
• OurGroceries (sync’ed Oogi lists)
• Facebook Page Manager
• Play Music
• StackExchange
• Trello
• WordPress (for this self-hosted site)
• 10bis

That’s apps. I also need to log in to web-based services that I use from the browser:

• Facebook
• GitHub
• LinkedIn
• Toggl

DayJob-related web services:

• Bitbucket
• Confluence
• Jira

Apps that I need to configure

Method: List the apps, along with the manual configuration details (or screenshots).

The list, with selected highlights:

• Audible
• Authy
  • Enable PIN Protection
  • Verify that external accounts are backed up to encrypted cloud backup (password in LastPass)
• BeyondPod Pro
  • Backup settings and subscriptions

• Calendar (which calendars are sync’ed and which are displayed)
• Call Logs Backup & Restore (schedule & location)
• Dropbox
• Endomondo
• Evernote
• Feedly
  • Subscriptions and read status should all be cloud-sync’ed
  • Document all my reading preferences, like dark theme, start at “Must Reads”, default view is “List”, save with Pocket, etc.
• Gmail
• Google+
• Hangouts
• Inbox
• Lookout (signal flare, no backup)
• Pocket
  • Articles library sync’ed with cloud
  • Document my reading preferences, like dark theme, etc.
• Poweramp Pro
  • Export settings

• Pushbullet (SMS sync, universal copy & paste, etc.)
• Silence Premium (followed calendars, emergency settings, whitelist, etc.)
• Skype
• SMS Backup & Restore (schedule & location)
• Tasker / Secure Settings
  • Give Secure Settings admin access
  • Backup all data (Profiles, Tasks, Scenes) (in /storage/emulated/0/Tasker/userbackup.xml)

• Twilight
• VMware Watchlist
• Waze
• WhatsApp
  • Backup conversations (in /storage/sdcard0/WhatsApp, including media, wallpapers, etc.)

• Yatse XBMC Remote
  • Export settings to sdcard (at /storage/emulated/0/Yatse.settings)

Summary

That concludes my approach for “backing up” personalized settings and configurations before resetting my Nexus 5.

I created detailed documentation (mostly based on screenshots) of everything I may need to start fresh with Lollipop. This included system settings, home screens, lock screen widgets, and app-specific configurations. Knowing that I will not be able to do the entire restore process in a single session, I also created a top-priority list of things that need to happen immediately after the upgrade.

Given the amount and nature of the data I collected in this process, this post included only description of the method and highlights. The full thing is saved in my Evernote account (for future me: “Nexus 5 KitKat: Uncensored config docs”). The screenshots are in that note, and also in my Dropbox account (for future me: under /Projects/LollipopUpgrade).

Stay tuned for the next Lollipop upgrade project posts!