[Channeal]

Hello there! I am hoping there is somebody who knows a lot about Android phones out there who can help me. 

 

Here's the story..... My husband is over 70 and in very bad health. He was never interested in having a smart phone, but some time ago when I got a new phone I gave him my old one, not thinking he would use it much. We are in the UK and it was already set up with the O2 network. He used it for WIFI only, but later we added Giffgaff in case he ever needed to use it away from home. Somewhere along the line he got the phone bug 😂 and now uses the phone a lot, mainly for soccer-related stuff. He has a football app which he really loves! 😊 

 

The phone is an old Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. When I had it, something strange happened to it and the back suddenly shattered for no apparent reason leaving a couple of holes in it! I guess it must have been already weakened somehow, enabling it to just break all by itself. I taped it up at the time and bought a cover for it. 

 

The problem is that it does not have a lot of storage space and is now full. I tried deleting some stuff for my husband, but it soon fills up again. Lots of stuff is no longer working on it - he can't get You Tube and can no longer get into Play Store or Play Services either (it says something about not being supported on the phone). In addition, I think the battery must be going as he gets erratic messages about how much is left and has to keep recharging it, only to find that it has got to 100% ridiculously quickly. It is in dire straits! 

 

Our daughter decided to get her dad a new phone for Fathers Day this year (she persuaded me to go in with her on the cost!) and bought a refurbished Sony Xperia XZ2. I was given the task of setting it up - but therein lies my problem! 

 

I have not done anything so far (apart from thinking hard about it!). I am not 100% confident about how to set it up. Can I just transfer the sim card from the old phone to the new? The soccer app that my husband loves so much is an additional - and perhaps the biggest - problem as it is no longer available in Play Store. My husband has said that he does not want the new phone at all if he cannot still use the app  - so I am very nervous about doing anything that might lose the app for him! 😊 

 

I have attempted to summarise my main questions below: - 

 

1) I have today removed the sim card from the old phone. For some reason, he can still use the old phone - including his precious app! I don't understand how he can use it without a sim card. Please explain. 

 

2) I removed the sim card drawer from the new phone and the sim card will fit in there. Can I just transfer the sim card to the new phone or do I need a new one? 

 

3) I assume it would not be possible to somehow transfer the football app over to the new phone, especially as none of the google-related apps are working? If it is not possible, then I am thinking that if I set up the new phone and then remove most of the stuff on the old phone so there is much more space, perhaps the old phone could be used only for the most precious app and the new one for everything else! 😊 

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

 

 

 

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Have you considered tasking the phone to a phone store people that deal with this sort of issue daily?

[zep516]

Have you considered tasking the phone to a phone store people that deal with this sort of issue daily?

[Channeal]

Thanks for replying, but that is not a solution I am considering at the moment as my husband does not want to do it.

I think what I am going to do is try to set up the new phone with the old sim card, which I think should hopefully work okay. Then when I have got the other stuff he uses - such as emails and Facebook - set up there, I will delete most of the content on the old phone. We will then reconsider the situation as regards the football app and try to ask what can be done elsewhere.

[peterm]

Do you still need help

[Channeal]

Hello peterm and thank you for your reply.

 

I have sought help from a google forum, but have not so far been able to solve my problem with the football app.

 

I did what I said I was going to do and started setting up the new phone and added some of the apps my husband uses most. I am unsure whether I did the right thing in that I did not select the option to copy data over. I did not think this would work anyway, because of the problems on the old phone with google play services etc. I believe that if this was incorrect, it cannot now be remedied and data cannot be copied at a later date. Do you know if that is correct?

 

I am also looking at whether the problem with the google apps on the old phone can be remedied and in this connection, I believe that shortage of free space can account for it saying that these apps are not supported on the device. The phone has a capacity of 16.00 GB and I have so far only managed to free up 1.34 GB. Is this enough? 

 

All the other apps that my husband uses - such as Yahoo Mail and Facebook - are still on the old phone as I do not want to delete them until I can confidently hand the new phone over to my husband.

[peterm]

What is the name of the football app?

Do you know if you have android version 8 or 9?

[Channeal]

Thanks for your reply.

 

If you asked the name of the app in order to try to find it in Play Store, you really can trust my word in that I have searched and searched without being able to find it. There are several apps which have almost identical names, but none of these are the one my husband wants. It definitely seems to no longer be available in Play Store.

 

The Android version of the old phone is actually 6.0.1 so it is pretty old!

 

I am going to try getting an SD card and then attempt to back up the app to it and then transfer the card to the new phone. Do you think that might work?

 

EDIT. After doing a bit more research, it looks as if it is not possible to transfer an app from one phone to another using an SD card.

 

Please can you tell me if you know the answer to my question in my previous post about whether you know if a factory reset would enable me to start completely from the beginning again and give me the option to copy everything  (including the troublesome app) from the old phone?

 

Many thanks.

Edited by Channeal, 06 October 2023 - 01:49 PM.

[peterm]

 factory reset

 

A factory reset will wipe all data and apps from phone.

It definitely seems to no longer be available in Play Store.

 

I was not thinking of Play Store.

 

You could try  Xperia Companion tool.

How to create a backup of your Xperia device | Sony UK

[Channeal]

Hello again!

 

I have Xperia Companion on my computer, but seems to be no use with this problem.

 

Yes, I am aware of what a factory reset does...... I was not sure whether it would give me the option of copying data over, although I guess it does. If I did this though (on the new phone, of course) it would wipe out all the work I have done so far. I would be willing to start all over again, but am really not sure it would work as far as the app is concerned because of the Google problems on the old phone. I hope this clarifies the situation.

 

I am aware that the app is available on Softonic as an APK file. I do not know a single thing about APK apps. Are they safe if scanned with an antivirus program?

 

I guess I will probably end up moving everything else onto the new phone, so that my husband only has to use the old one for the football app.

 

Many thanks.