How to Back Up Android Devices

Mobile phones have surpassed the stage of being used only as a means to call one another. We store essential aspects of our lives, from important calendar dates, work documents to our favourite family photos.

Backing up our data is usually put on the back burner and can easily be forgotten about, which is why setting up automatic back- up can be incredibly helpful. We’ll be exploring how you can ensure your data is kept safe.

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Contents

Back-Up Files to Google Drive 

Automatically Upload Content to Google Photo Library

Automatically Back-Up Data and Settings

How to Back-Up Text Messages on Android

How to Back-Up Contacts on Android

How to Back-Up Apps on Android

How to Restore Backed-Up Data and Settings on Android

Why Should I Back-Up My Phone?

Accidents tend to arise when we least expect it. As we can’t always prevent them, it’s best to keep your favourite photos and important files safe, just in case.

Manually backing-up your data or arranging an automatic back-up is a sure-fire way to avoid losing personal data. Especially when you encounter an accident such as water damage or dropping your phone.

It will also allow you to easily restore your data when you swap to a new device for a more seamless experience. You can save photos, documents, apps, messages and more.

Cloud Back-Up

Although you can back up your device using an SD card, which will provide a safe place for you to store your data and allow for more space on your device, you might prefer to use an app and upload your data onto a cloud.

By using a cloud platform, you can wirelessly access your files and you will have the added assurance that all of your data won’t be lost along with a misplaced or stolen phone. Although you can transfer your SD card and external storage data to a computer for safekeeping, this would need to be done manually.

How Do I Back-Up My Android Phone?

Below, we’ve included some incredibly easy ways to back-up your device that will only take a few moments of your time.

H3: Back-Up Files to Google Drive

You can upload, view, share and edit files with Google Drive. These files can consist of:

• Documents
• Images
• Audio
• Video

To upload files onto Google Drive you will need to:

1. Open the Google Drive app
2. Select the Add symbol
3. Select ‘Upload’
4. Locate and select the file you want to upload

Your files will then be stored in My Drive until you choose to move them. You will be able to access these through your account on various devices, including desktops.

Automatically Upload Content to Google Photo Library

You can automatically back-up and sync your photos and videos to a storage space called Google Drive, located on your Google Account. You can access your photos on any device by signing into your account.

1. Open the Google Photos app
2. Sign in to your Google Account
3. Tap on your profile photo or initials in the top right corner
4. Select ‘Photos settings’
5. Select ‘Back up & sync’
6. Turn ‘Back up & sync’ on

Automatically Back-Up Data and Settings

This process will enable you to back-up your content, settings and data from your Android device onto your Google Account. This can be useful to ensure your data is saved and ready for circumstances such as restoring your data after resetting your device or moving your data from an old device to a new one.

To automatically back-up your data and settings you will need to:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Select ‘System’
3. Select ‘Backup’
4. Turn on your backup service

You can manually back-up your phone by selecting ‘backup now’ and then ‘continue’.

If the above instructions do not match your Android device, then you may need to search ‘backup’ with the Settings search tool.

How to Back-Up Text Messages on Android

Unlike platforms such as Facebook Messenger, you can’t rely on an account to store and save all of your SMS messages.

To back them up, you will need to download an SMS back-up app from the Play Store. A recommended free app that you can use is SMS Backup & Restore.

To get set up on SMS Backup & Restore you will need to:

1. Open the app
2. Select 'Get Started’
3. Select ‘Set Up A Backup’
4. Select ‘Messages’

How to Back Up Contacts on Android

A great way to avoid losing any important contacts is by saving them as Google Contacts. Google can import, export and restore contact files.

To back-up your contacts through Google:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Select Google and then 'Account services'
3. Select 'Google Contacts sync'
4. Select 'also sync device contacts' and then 'automatically back up & sync contacts'
5. Select the Google account you would like your contacts to be saved to

How to Back Up Apps on Android

If you would like to back up your apps, then you will need to:

1. Open the ‘Settings’ app
2. Select ‘System’
3. Select ‘Backup’
4. Select ‘App Data’

How to Restore Backed-Up Data and Settings on Android

If you have used a Google Account to back-up data to your phone, everything that has previously been backed-up should be available through that account.

Although, it is worth noting that if you were previously using a higher Android version smartphone, you will not be able to restore all your data to a lower Android version.

1. Log in to your Google Account.
2. A list of all of your previous devices should appear.
3. Select the device's data you would like to restore.
4. Select 'Restore'

If you need an upgrade or would simply like a new phone to restore your data on, you can find out more about our refurbished phones on our online store.

For more technical information, you can visit our blog which is packed full of news and useful advice about how to get the most out of your devices.