The following Android Backup Guide has been highly requested. I will walk you through the steps to show you how to back up and restore your device without running into any pitfalls along the way.
Android Backup Guide (non-root)
Google, these days, makes backup pretty simple, however Android does not.
While this may seem like an oxymoron, I will explain some of the reasons. A lot of app like games, for instance, don’t properly implement cloud save support via Play Games.
Please note: I’m going to be showing basics of Android and a fully universal method. I will not be covering proprietary solutions that manufacturers bundle in.
Without further ado, I will show you the way I go about backup on Android without root.
Apps
If the devs stick to Google’s data backup and restore guidelines will keep all your data and restore it on download. In most cases they don’t follow Google’s guidelines, so you’re probably gonna have to set up most apps (upon reinstall) and you will probably lose your saved game files. Be especially careful with apps that don’t have any cloud sync functionality.
All First party Google apps can be backed up and restored if sync is on.
To make sure you have the syncing up to date, go into accounts-Google accounts and make sure everything is checked and then hit sync.
Another setting in newer phones under System-Backup should be set to on as well.
Photos
You should be using Google Photos, If you aren’t already, you can get it here.
Google Photos will automatically backup your camera folder, but you will have to specify other folders. To do that go to menu-device folders. Go into the folder you want to be backed up and turn on backup and sync.
Make sure that Google finished uploading your photos before you reset your phone.
System Settings
System settings are supposed to be covered by Google but in my experience, they aren’t. Therefore, it’s worthwhile to take a screenshot of each part of your settings menu and transfer that to a different device or back it up on Google Photos.
Calls logs, as well as SMS, can all be simply backed up by using backup and restore. This app is awesome. It was , formerly owned by the guys who made Carbonite, and it’s pretty self-explanatory you can get it here.Please make sure you transfer the files to an sd card or different device.
WhatsApp!! Oh how I hate WhatsApp!! You would think a cloud-based messaging service would be hosted in the cloud and you wouldn’t have to worry about backup ……but no.
To make sure you have a cloud backup of your WhatsApp messages, go into WhatsApp settings-chats backup- and click sync now to Google Drive. Make sure that it says backed up to Google Drive and not just locally.
All other Files
For all other files you are going to either have to connect your phone to a pc, or use a file explorer to copy your data over to an sd card. If you are using any apps that don’t have automatic cloud backup please try to switch to one ie Google Keep for notes and Google Docs for documents.
Success
After all this yes its a pain in the neck but you should have successfully backed up your Android phone, and you can now do a full factory reset. Which just like Windows machines is the best free thing you can do to speed up your phone.
Also, Click Here to check out an Ultimate Tech Cheat Sheet of hardware and software that we use and recommend. We conducted this TechReccs after many hours of research on each product.
