Safe and reliable ways to back up your Android phone

One of the biggest questions when it comes to your own smartphone is, what do you actually have stored on there?

Well, most people don't know the exact answer to this. With sometimes years worth of selfies, documents, notes, contacts and memories stored up, a countless number of people do not know what they had on their phone until they lose it all. 

For many of us, our phones are an important archive of significant moments in our life, special messages and even our entire work for those who use their phone as a dual purpose computer as well. If you lost your phone tomorrow, or all of it's content, would you be able to recover any of it? 

This is an important questions to ask ourselves regularly. For Apple users, many of our important data can be uploaded automatically to iCloud, meaning this is not an issue that you have to deal with. For Android users, much of the same data can be uploaded to cloud servers, such as Google. In this article, we will take you through different ways to ensure your phone is backed up as an Android user to avoid any loss of information and special memories. 

Grab your Android phone and lets dive right into these simple easy steps that could save you a lifetime of memories! 

1. How to back up your photos to Google Photos:

Apart from our contacts, photos are often the most precious and treasured things that we have stored on our phones that are essential to back up so you do not lose them in the case of your phone being lost or storage failing on you. Even if you have thousands of photos, setting up your phone to back them up takes minutes through using the simple app, Google Photos. Follow the steps below to find out how! 

If you don't have it already, go to your Play Store and download it for free, then sign in if it has not done so automatically. 

1. Open Google Photos
2. Tap your profile icon in the top right hand corner and select 'Photo Settings'
3. Select 'Backup and Sync'
4. Switch this to on if it is not so already
5. Tap 'Upload Size' and select what option is best for you. It is suggested to have this at 'High Quality' as this allows for unlimited uploads and you will not run out of space quickly, as you would if you selected 'Original Quality'
6. Ensure that the option for uploading using Mobile Data is switched off as this will use excessive amounts of data
7. You can also backup specific folders on your phone in the 'Back up device folders' at the bottom of the settings. This is commonly chosen to be switched on for WhatsApp.

2. How to back up your contacts to Google:

Your contacts are important. Whether you use your phone for personal use or work use, your contacts are a significant part of your life, even if you do not realise it. Backing them up means there is no chance of any awkward 'New phone, who is this sorry' messages in the future!  Follow these steps below to ensure your contacts are backed up.

1. Go to Settings on your phone
2. Select 'Users and Accounts' (sometimes just 'Accounts')
3. Tap on your Gmail or Google account
4. Ensure that your Contacts are switched on in this section to enable automatic syncing
5. Here you can also turn on other things such as docs, calendars, Gmail and more if you wish these to be backed up also

3. How to back up your WhatsApp conversations: 

WhatsApp is fast becoming one of the most popular alternative messaging apps, especially with those contacting people offshore. However, backing up WhatsApp does not automatically back up and transfer if you happened to lose your data or phone and have to switch to a new phone. But, in saying that, there is an easy and reliable way to have your WhatsApp content backed up every evening so that you can rest easy knowing that none of it will be lost. Follow the steps below to ensure this!

1. Open WhatsApp 
2. Tap the three dots in the right hand corner and select 'Settings'
3. Tap 'Chats' and then 'Chat Backup'
4. Ensure that 'Backup to Google Drive' is switched to 'Daily'
5. Ensure 'Back up over' is selected to WiFi only so that you do not chew through your mobile data

4. How to backup all other settings and apps to Google:

Android also has the ability to backup device data such as connection passwords, call histories and app data (settings and files stored by apps), which is a valuable feature especially when setting up a new phone. You can essentially choose to restore your new phone based on a previous backup of your old phone's settings and apps. To ensure you will be able to do this when you get a new handset, or in the instance of losing all of your data, follow the steps below!

1. Open your phone Settings
2. Scroll and select 'System and Updates'
3. Select 'Backup to Google'
4. Ensure that this is switched on

Following all of these steps will help to ensure you will no longer have anything to worry about when it comes to losing data from your phone, whether that is special photos or important contacts. It is simple. Keep your phone backed up and you won't run into any issues. If you have any questions on how to backup your phone or you are struggling to do so, feel free to get in touch with our DeXTech support team who would love to help you out! 

Here at DeXTech, we are here to help you with your technology requirements. We stock a wide range of Apple products, from the iPhone 4s all the way through to the iPhone XS, plus the iPad range. Along with this, we carry a huge range of Android smartphones and tablets, including Samsung, Pixel and LG. With these devices on hand we are able to offer technical support every step of the way from assisting to get your device setup to dealing with issues such as network issues or software troubleshooting. We have a helpful team who can lend a hand via our tech support email address: support@dextech.co.nz. Do not hesitate to reach out!