I have a phone running boinc. The same phone is listed twice, once before a system update, and one for after the update. There are no hardware changes. Why can't I merge these?

I also have a laptop with multiple names on my account. It's the same laptop, why can't I merge it?

---

Devices can only be merged if they have the same name, with the same operating system (platform) and same CPU (brand). You ought to be able to rename the laptop, but you cannot rename the Android device. That's set by Android and/or the client.

Your other Android system is more of a problem.
hostID8006871 showed with full CPU under BOINC 7.4.43;
hostID 8034503 is missing its CPU description since 7.4.51;

I have reported that to the developers, please leave that be for now (don't go back to a previous BOINC for the moment).

---

I gave up on BOINC for that device. Since it upgraded it stopped downloading tasks. I left it for about a week, but nothing changed.

---

I haven't heard back from the developers yet, but will fire another email in their direction. In the mean time, you can easily go back to BOINC 7.4.43 and then ignore the Google Play Store messages that there's an update: https://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/boinc_7.4.43.apk

---

The developer has finally released a new version, 7.4.53 which may fix your problems of CPU detection and downloads of work. Can you test? If it doesn't work, you can always return to 7.4.43

---

I tried the latest version. The interface was back to the old version, meaning I could locate SETI on the main screen and not just the account managers (BAM, etc..). It is still not downloading any new tasks.

---

It's not downloading any work because your cpu is not detected. It's still an empty string. Without a cpu BOINC can't send an application and work.

---