Not able to restore backups made by this apk on original signal app

[mubaid]

So I switched to johan's signal build a while ago and now I want to go back to original signal apk (ease of play store update). The signal backup done using the default option (Settings -> Chat -> Chat backups) on johan's apk are not being read/imported in original apk? The installation goes fine, but there are no groups / chats / messages. Its all empty as if the backup did not have anything.

If this is not the way to revert to original apk, please advise, what would be the way to go back to the original apk now that I am on johans apk?

johan apk version: 5.3.10 original apk version : 5.3.10

tried with 5.5.0 (5.5.0.0 JW) and the same issue persists. There doesnt seem to be a way to go back to original?

[johanw666]

Those backups should be read fine by the Play Store version of Signal. You just need to use a version that is the same or newer than the version that made the backup but that seems no issue here. What is your problem? Don't you get the option to read the backup file or does it give some error while importing?

The contact colors might get mixed up after restore and you might have to manually set them again but that's all.

[mubaid]

The play store version allows to restore the backup.  There is no error message. After the backup is restored, and the play store version opens, there are no conversations. It's all blank. No group chats, no personal chats, nothing. As if there was nothing imported. 

I tried with same version for both apps 5.5.0 I think, and the issue persisted. To reproduce it :

1. Take signal backup from johanw666 apk and have the signal.backup file
2. Uninstall the app
3. Install the signal app from play store
4. When asked for restore select the signal.backup file
5. Account gets setup fine, but no conversations are restored. 

[Storm43]

same problem here

[mubaid]

So I finally did this to switch back to Signal apk from Play Store, but you will need a spare device:

1. On a spare device, install Signal from Play Store
2. Choose option transfer chats on the spare phone, this allows you to connect to your existing phone and copy the chats to new phone
3. Register the phone number on the spare device
4. This copies all chats/groups correctly to Original Signal Apk (Play store version), on the spare device.
5. Take a Signal Backup on spare device -> move the backup to your existing phone
6. Uninstall johanapk and install Signal from Play Store and restore the backup, and re-register the phone number on the device.

[johanw666]

Why so complicated? Just make a backup, uninstall, install stock Signal and restore the backup.

[mubaid]

Well, that wasn't working for a few months, I am not sure if this issue was fixed recently? If so, I haven't tried. Please check the comment: https://github.com/johanw666/Signal-Android/issues/26#issuecomment-821826177

[ariccb]

I can confirm that the restore was being denied by the play store current version, and I think it's because johanw666's apk has a newer version number. I uninstalled and reinstalled an older version of the forked apk and was able to successfully import sms and then save a backup, which restored successfully to the Google Play Store version. I think the trick is to just start with an older version of the fork to save the backup, otherwise you'll get an error on import

[johanw666]

My versions go similar to the official Signal versions, but I follow the beta versions too. You can always use the firebase version thery push to the beta testers, or download the latest beta manually from Google Play with Aurora Store.

The backup will only refuse to load when the database version is newer than the one used in the installed version, and the database version is only updated if something changes. So sometimes a backup made with a newer Signal version can be restored by an older version but it is not guaranteed.