Short answer
To move a formula library to a new phone or tablet, make a complete backup on the old device to a place the new device can reach, restore it on the new device before entering anything new there, then check that everything arrived — counts of materials and formulas, a few formulas opened and compared, notes and pictures — before you wipe or give away the old device. Keep the old device untouched until the check passes, and take a separate export of materials and formulas as a second route. Do not rely on the phone's own transfer tools to carry an app's data unless you have checked that they did.
Before you start
- Install the same app on the new device, and update it on the old one so both run the same version.
- Make sure the old device has enough battery and a reliable connection.
- Decide where the backup will travel: a cloud location both devices can reach, or a file you can move yourself.
- Note a few facts to check later: how many materials and formulas you have, and two or three formulas whose totals you know.
Step 1: a complete backup on the old device
A complete backup carries everything — materials, formulas, versions, collections, notes, settings and attachments — in one package. An export of formulas or materials alone is useful, but it is not the same thing; the difference is explained in how to back up perfume formulas.
Make the backup immediately before the move, so nothing changes in between. If you keep working on the old device afterwards, make another.
Step 2: get it to the new device
A backup stored inside an app's own storage on the old phone does not move with you. It needs to be somewhere the new device can reach — a cloud folder you control, or a file you copy across. Phone-to-phone transfer tools and Android's device backup may or may not carry a particular app's data across, depending on the device, the app and your settings; treat them as a bonus, not the plan.
Step 3: restore before you start work
Many apps' restore replaces all data on the device rather than merging, so anything you entered on the new device before restoring would be lost. Restore first, then work. Read any confirmation screen: it should tell you what the backup contains and when it was made.
Step 4: check that everything arrived
| Check | How |
|---|---|
| Counts | Materials and formulas match the old device |
| Content | Open two or three formulas and compare rows, dilutions and totals with the old device |
| History | Versions, statuses and notes are present |
| Attachments | Pictures or files attached to materials appear |
| Settings | Custom fields, families and preferences came across |
| Connections | Any cloud connection is signed in again and working |
Only when every check passes should you reset the old device. Keep the backup file afterwards.
Step 5: set up backups again
A new device starts with no backup history. Make a fresh backup from it, re-enable any schedule, and confirm it worked. Consider also exporting materials and formulas in an open format (CSV, Excel or JSON) as an independent copy; see exporting perfume formulas.
In RUŌOD Lab
RUŌOD Lab's Backup section has two destinations for the same complete package. A Local Backup is kept in the app's own storage on that device, so it is not the route to a new phone. The route is Google Drive Backup:
- On the old device, connect Google Drive in Settings → Backup and make a backup. It is saved in your Drive, in a RUOOD Lab folder the app creates.
- On the new device, install RUŌOD Lab, connect the same Google account in Settings → Backup, and choose the backup to restore. Sign-in tokens are never part of a backup, so connecting again on the new device is a fresh sign-in.
- The restore screen shows what the backup holds; restoring replaces the data on the new device as a whole rather than merging with it.
As a second route, the Materials and Formulas screens can export your records as CSV, Excel or JSON, and the new device can import those formats. Notes are not part of those exports, which is one more reason the complete backup is the main route. The privacy side of Drive backup — the app sees only the files it creates — is described in the Privacy Policy.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use both devices afterwards?
Not as a synchronized pair, if your tool has no sync. Each device would have its own copy, and the copies would drift. Choose one working device; see backup vs sync vs collaboration.
What if the old phone is lost or broken?
Then the move is a recovery from your latest off-device backup. If there is none, see how to recover lost perfume formulas. The wider plan for keeping a library safe is in the formula data management guide.
Written and reviewed by the RUŌOD Lab team. This article is general education about perfume formulation and record-keeping; it is not legal, regulatory or safety advice, and the examples are illustrations, not validated commercial formulas. How we write and check these guides.