Samsung Smart Switch Backup Layout (Observed)

The combined how-to plus this tree is samsung-smart-switch-sp-recovery.md. This file remains the shorter observed-layout note.

Scope

This is a file-tree map of one personal PC Smart Switch backup of a Galaxy S24+ (SM-S926U). Counts, sizes, and folder inventories below are example numbers from that dataset, not a dump of the backup, not typical values, and not a PluralBridge ontology.

Observed backup root (UNC, read in place; do not copy into git):

\\<host>\c_drive\Users\<user>\Samsung\SmartSwitch\backup\<device_model>\<device_id>\<backup_timestamp>\

Sibling notes (do not duplicate here):

• samsung-smart-switch-photo-info-format.md — easyMover PHOTO_INFO.json
• samsung-smart-switch-simply-db-format.md — simply.db JSON shape

Official Simply Plural export JSON and Chap2 Safe Spine SQL notes stay as they are. This tree is a Smart Switch media + one-app backup, not an Apparyllis export.

Current location of this map: Working\Architecture\schema\ in the private repo. Destination if a later pass migrates it: public recovery/ or docs/schema/ — decide then. Do not reshape the public docs/ tree from this pass.

Record Tree Key

• 🟢 Strong recovery for Simply Plural / PluralBridge phone recovery.
• 🟡 Supporting index / catalog: useful to correlate, not a substitute for bytes or simply.db.
• 🟠 Opaque or encrypted: present, not directly readable in this pass.
• 🔴 Not useful, failed, or absent from this tree.

What this backup is

This is one personal Galaxy S24+ PC transfer (MakeOption = WithSelectList, FullBackupMode = false, ConnectType = pc), not a full-phone backup and not a typical inventory. Counts below are from that sample. Manifest CategoryInfoExtra lists 226 device packages that could be offered on that phone; this folder only contains what was actually transferred.

The only app APK + app-data in that sample is Simply Plural 1.11.5, package com.saltypandastudios.frontime (Salty Panda / Frontime). There is no com.apparyllis.simplyplural package, and no loose simply.db at backup root. simply.db is inside the Frontime Android backup envelope (see APKFILE).

Backup root

<backup_timestamp>\
├─ 🟡 backupHistoryInfo.xml
├─ 🟡 ReqItemsInfo.json
├─ 🟡 SmartSwitchBackup.json          (identical SHA-256 to *_back.json)
├─ 🟡 SmartSwitchBackup_back.json
├─ 🟢 APKFILE\                        Frontime / Simply Plural APK + app data
├─ 🟡 Photo\                          131 media files + PHOTO_INFO.json
├─ 🟡 PHOTO_ORIGIN\                    5 photo-editor originals
├─ 🟡 GALLERYSETTING\                album catalog + gallery prefs (zip)
├─ 🟠 SECMP\                          encrypted Samsung media-provider DB
├─ 🟠 MEDIASEARCH\                    opaque gallery-search blob
├─ 🔴 APKDENYLIST\                    unrelated denylist stub
├─ 🔴 ContentBnrResult\                per-category backup result receipts
└─ 🔴 (no USERTAG\ folder)             requested in manifests, not on disk

On-disk file counts / bytes (this tree):

Manifest files (root)

[🟡] backupHistoryInfo.xml

Root element BatchInfomationItem (Samsung spelling). Children: BundleInfo, ItemsInfo.

BundleInfo is a BatchServiceBuldleInformation: mode Basic, FullBackupMode false, Type AOA. ItemsInfo has one BatchInformation per transferred category. Observed FileName values vs this tree:

History FileSize on several categories is a placeholder or pre-pack size (e.g. MEDIASEARCH declared 102400, zip is ~19 MB; GALLERYSETTING declared ~59 MB, zip is 5.8 KB). Trust the files on disk, not those size fields.

The APK BatchInformation names the app Simply Plural, ApplicationID com.saltypandastudios.frontime, version 1.11.5 / code 384.

[🟡] ReqItemsInfo.json

ItemList types, in order: APKFILE, PHOTO (ViewCount 131), GALLERYEVENT, MEDIASEARCH, GALLERY_PET_SERVICE, SECMP, PHOTO_ORIGIN (ViewCount 5), GALLERYSETTING, USERTAG, APKDENYLIST.

SDeviceInfoAll.IndivisualTransferSupportItems is a capability list for this phone/session, not a list of what is in the folder.

[🟡] SmartSwitchBackup.json / SmartSwitchBackup_back.json

Byte-identical in this sample. Device + session catalog. Useful fields for recovery mapping (values that are identifiers stay out of git):

IsApp AppNameInfos maps every Frontime split APK name to launcher label Simply Plural.

IsApp includes USERTAG and GALLERY_PET_SERVICE. Neither has a payload folder here.

APKFILE (Simply Plural / Frontime)

APKFILE\
├─ 🟡 AppList.json / AppList.bk
├─ 🟠 com.saltypandastudios.frontime.penc          encrypted base APK
├─ 🟡 com.saltypandastudios.frontime.png           launcher icon (PNG)
├─ 🟡 com.saltypandastudios.frontime_split_config.*.apk   plaintext split APKs
└─ 🟢 data\com.saltypandastudios.frontime\
     └─ 🟢 com.saltypandastudios.frontime.noedata  Android Backup envelope

[🟡] AppList.json

Single Apks[] entry. ApkName = Simply Plural, ApkPkgName = com.saltypandastudios.frontime, VersionName 1.11.5, VersionCode 384, TargetSdkVersion 35, AllowBackup true, IsSelected true. InstPkgName = com.android.vending. DataFile / AppDataFileName point at the .noedata envelope. AppList.bk is a binary companion (not JSON; magic not PNG/ZIP/SQLite).

[🟠] .penc vs split APKs

.penc is not a ZIP (leading bytes not PK). Split configs (arm64_v8a, en, es, xxhdpi) are ordinary APK/ZIP. For recovery, the app data in .noedata matters more than the APK bytes.

[🟢] .noedata — Android Backup, then tar

Header (ASCII, four newline-terminated lines), then uncompressed ustar. Observed:

ANDROID BACKUP
5
0
none

Payload starts at byte 24. Encryption line none, compression 0. This is the live Simply Plural app-data source for this backup.

Android backup path tokens under apps/com.saltypandastudios.frontime/:

[🟢] r/app_flutter/simply.db

Top-level keys on this live file (duplicate case/pluralization, same family as the sibling note): private, Privates, privates, users, Users, Members, members, Channels, channels, FrontHistory, fronthistory, chatcategories, customfields, friends, friendssettings, privacybuckets.

That agrees with samsung-smart-switch-simply-db-format.md. Do not replace that note from this tree. Field tables stay there. This map only records location and that the live object is JSON with those keys.

Other app_flutter files (also .db names, mostly JSON)

Do not copy bodies (messages, queued API payloads, log lines, member names).

[🟡] f/images.db (real SQLite)

SQLite 3, 40,960 bytes. Tables: android_metadata, cacheObject (57 rows).

cacheObject columns: _id, url, key, relativePath, eTag, validTill, touched, length.

URL hosts in this sample (no full URLs, no signed query strings, no system uid):

relativePath values are 40-character .bin names. The blob files are not in this Android backup (typical: image cache lives under cache/, which backup omits). Treat images.db as an avatar-URL index, not as recovered avatar bytes. This backup’s Photo\ tree is a selected gallery transfer, not the avatar store.

[🟡] sp/ shared_prefs (key names only)

Present: FlutterSharedPreferences.xml, FlutterSecureStorage.xml, FlutterSecureKeyStorage.xml, Frontime prefs, Firebase/GMS/messaging XML.

FlutterSharedPreferences.xml key names observed: flutter.uid, flutter.access_key, flutter.refresh_key, flutter.pkAPI, flutter.loc, flutter.loc_country, flutter.lastConfigSync, flutter.listMembers, plus FAQ/how-to and remote-config keys.

flutter.access_key, flutter.refresh_key, flutter.pkAPI, and FlutterSecureStorage.xml values are credentials. Do not copy them into git. They may be useful on a private recovery workstation only.

db/ contains only Google Data Transport events SQLite (not Simply Plural). Firebase installation JSON filenames include an installation id; ignore the id.

Photo

Matches PHOTO_INFO.json count = 131 = files.length. Layout:

Photo\
├─ 🟢 data\user\0\com.sec.android.easyMover\files\SmartSwitch\tmp\PHOTO\
│     PHOTO_INFO.json
├─ 🟡 DCIM\SimplyPlural\     29 files
├─ 🟡 DCIM\Restored\         3 files (.jpg)
├─ 🟡 Download\              75 files
├─ 🟡 VZMedia\               21 files (.jpeg)
└─ 🟡 dbr-preview-img\       3 files (.jpg)

[🟢] PHOTO_INFO.json

Path: Photo\data\user\0\com.sec.android.easyMover\files\SmartSwitch\tmp\PHOTO\PHOTO_INFO.json (61,187 bytes).

Field tables, SecmpId bit, and timestamp caveats: samsung-smart-switch-photo-info-format.md. FilePath / FileName describe the packed gallery files. They are not a map of uploaded member avatars.

Path prefixes in this tree (directory only)

DCIM\SimplyPlural extensions in this tree: .jpg 22, .jpeg 3, .webp 3, .png 1.

Photo\DCIM\SimplyPlural is one gallery prefix in this sample, not the Simply Plural avatar store. Download / VZMedia / Restored / dbr-preview are likewise selected photos. Do not catalog personal names, Discord/Gmail attachments, or downloadUri values.

PHOTO_ORIGIN

PHOTO_ORIGIN\data\sec\photoeditor\0\
  <64-hex>_<byteLength>.jpg   (5 files)

Samsung Photo Editor originals, not an SP folder. History XML still calls this PHOTO_ORIGIN.zip. Useful only if an edited gallery file needs a pre-edit original. Hashed names; no personal file names in the tree.

GALLERYSETTING.zip

Three text members:

[🟡] album object fields

Prefixes present in the album catalog and in Photo\:

• /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/SimplyPlural (title SimplyPlural)
• /storage/emulated/0/Download
• /storage/emulated/0/VZMedia
• /storage/emulated/0/DCIM/Restored
• /storage/emulated/0/dbr-preview-img

The album DB also lists many other device albums (Camera, Screenshots, WhatsApp media, trip folders, and similar). Those files are not in this backup. Do not copy personal album titles into git. The catalog is a device map; this transfer only packed the 131 PHOTO items.

SECMP / MEDIASEARCH / APKDENYLIST / ContentBnrResult

[🟠] SECMP.zip

One member: encrypted_backup.db (~56.2 MB uncompressed). Magic is not SQLite. Relates to Samsung sec_media_id / SecmpId in PHOTO_INFO. Do not treat as a Simply Plural database. Not opened in this pass.

[🟠] MEDIASEARCH.zip

One member: backup_v23.bin (~19.3 MB). Opaque binary. Gallery search index, not SP app data.

[🔴] APKDENYLIST.zip

APKDENYLIST.json lists one unrelated package (com.dti.folderlauncher / GamesHub) plus a PNG. Not Simply Plural.

[🔴] ContentBnrResult

Per-category JSON receipts named fail.bk:

USERTAG appears in ReqItemsInfo / IsApp and not in backupHistoryInfo ItemsInfo and not on disk.

Recovery use (this tree)

Work in this order:

1. App state — extract simply.db from APKFILE\data\com.saltypandastudios.frontime\com.saltypandastudios.frontime.noedata (Android Backup header, then tar member apps/com.saltypandastudios.frontime/r/app_flutter/simply.db). Shape: sibling simply.db note.
2. Avatar references — simply.db fields and optional images.db cacheObject.url hosts (spaces.apparyllis.com/avatars/) without committing URLs. Cached .bin files are not in this backup.
3. Gallery Photo\ — selected media only; not the Simply Plural avatar store.
4. Do not treat SECMP, MEDIASEARCH, .penc, Samsung timestamps, or SecmpId as SP source of truth.
5. Do not commit tokens from FlutterSharedPreferences / FlutterSecureStorage, downloadUri values, personal file names, or member names from simply.db.

Not in this tree

• No official Apparyllis/Simply Plural export JSON (see simply-plural-export-format.md if needed; it is a different source).
• No com.apparyllis.simplyplural package data.
• No messages/contacts/calendar/SMS payload folders.
• No Chap2 Safe Spine SQL.
• Cached avatar .bin files referenced by images.db (index only).