Backup of DeltaChat in an Android restricted account is not possible

Mutual Help
1

Hi,
we are using Deltachat (v 1.34) as our primary family messenger and enjoy it very much. Thank you, for

We have an Android tablet on which our kids have restricted accounts and use Deltachat. Now one of them got a smartphone and I installed Deltachat and want to set it up using a backup from the tablet account. Unfortunately, I cannot produce a backup because I cannot input a PIN in the backup dialog. I can type on the keyboard, but no dot shows up in the input line for the PIN and the “Weiter” button remains gray.

Is this the expected behavior for a restricted account? If yes, is there a possibility to export the settings and content and import it on the smartphone in another way? Are there any other hints to do the job?

Thank you
rob

2

Hello :wave:,
I don’t use Android, but it should be possible to modify the restrictions.
Access to files has probably been blocked.
So I would try to give DC permission for that.
Maybe this link can help:

https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/9431959#zippy=%2Ctypes-of-permissions

3

Hello Raiden,
thank you for the hint. I checked that. As main user I am able to enter my PIN, although DC doesn’t have access to files. DC asks after input of the PIN for the permission. With a restricted account and the permission of DC to access files, it is not possible to enter the PIN. So the permission is not the reason.

4

I don’t know anything about “restricted accounts” (and, in fact, never heard about them), but you can:

  • Login normally with email & password on the new smartphone
  • On the tablet, go to Settings → Advanced → Send Autocrypt Setup Message
  • Follow the instructions

How to sync your mobile Delta Chat account with your computer desktop? could be helpful, too.

5

but with the autocrypt setup message only the key is transfered, but not chat history nor contacts/

You could compile android version yourself and remove the pin check (sorry won’t work because needs our signing key), or root your android and extract the files maybe.

6

sad to hear about your issue, would be interesting to test other apps that also ask for the pattern, to confirm is a DeltaChat-specific issue,

some ideas to try to solve the issue with workarounds: can you temporarily disable the restrictions in the account? can you remove the device’s pattern lock?