How to Take a Complete Backup of Android Phone?

Data is one of the most critical assets in today’s era of technology. Data backup refers to copying files (documents, images, video, audio, etc.) to a secondary location/server from your primary device. Backup preserve the files and help to restore even if you lose your Android phone. Depending up on the situation, you can back up your Android phone in different ways and we will explain all possible ways in this article.

Backup Android Phone

Data backup has two parts – one is to keep your files like documents, images, videos, etc. and other is to backup apps, settings, etc.

1. Making a Backup of the Android Phone with Google

Over the recent years, Google has made tremendous updates in Android to make life easier. Each new update comes with a bug fixation or more handy tools. Today, backing up your data with Google has become pretty straightforward. A collection of simple steps is all it takes to ensure the safety of your data. For various/different data types, you have to use distinguished and specified Google services to make their backup. unfortunately, there is no one-click backup way currently, but it is expected in the near future. Some of the Google services that help you in making backups are:

Google Photos

You can use this app to make a backup of your photos. Google Photos comes preinstalled with most of the Android models. Otherwise, you need to download the app from Google Play store and install the app in your phone. To make a backup of your photos, first you need to sync the app with your photos saved in phone’s gallery.

• Open the Google Photos app, and a dialogue box pops up asking for your permission to access photo media on your device.
• Tap the “Allow” button, and then the app will ask you whether you want to “Turn on Backup” in the next step; choose that option.
• You can also change the Google account (If you’re logged in with more than one account on your device) with which you want to sync your photos.
• The app will ask you how you prefer to upload your pictures by giving you two different options. One is the “Storage saver” which reduces the quality of images to store more at a slightly reduced quality. Second option is “Original quality” which keeps the photos as they are without any compression.
• You can also limit the app to only use Wi-Fi when making the backup of your images.

If the app is already preinstalled on your device, open and tap on the profile icon on top right corner. Go to “Photos settings > Back up & sync” option and upload/backup your photos. The server can also backup your photos automatically and saves you from the trouble. Google offers a free 15 GB storage space and you can purchase additional space/storage if you want.

YouTube Music

The YouTube Music app allows you to make a complete backup of all the music files saved on your Android device. Open the YouTube Music app on your browser, make sure you are logged and then click on your profile option from top right corner. Select “Upload Music” option from there, pick the song you wish to upload (make a backup of) and select “Open.” You can download the YouTube Music app from the Google Play store and easily listen to the uploaded music.

Google Drive

This is a cloud service from Google allows you to make a backup of any file like documents, images, video, audio, etc. Once you have the backup on your Google Drive, you can access the files from any other device by logging in with the same Google account. You can also download and install Google Drive app from Google Play store like any other app.

• Open the app and press the + icon showing just above the bottom navigation menus.

• It will show you various options. The “Folder” icon gives you the option of creating a new folder in your Google Drive storage. You have to select the “Upload” option and choose the file you intend to create a backup of. The free space provided to the users is 15GB which can be increased with a payment.

From the alternate perspective, you can consider Microsoft’s OneDrive especially if you are using it with your Windows PC. Microsoft 365 subscription comes 1 TB of OneDrive storage with all Office apps. So, this is the best option if you do not like to use Google Drive. You can also consider using Amazon Photos for backing up your photos.

2. Making a Backup of Android Phone from Phone’s Settings

You can make the backup of your settings, installed apps, SMS messages and the complete call history from your phone’s settings. Unlike using different services for data back, you can backup phone settings as a single file and keep it in one place. It makes it much easier to restore the data from your old device to the new one when needed.

• Open your phone settings and go to the Google option.
• Now select “Backup” where you can see the previous backup details related to the apps, photos, messages and call history under “Backup details” section.
• For taking a new backup, simply tap on “Backup now button”.
• Further, you can scroll down and select “Google Account data” option to sync data from Google docs, Keep, Google Fit, Calendar, etc.

Note that Android will also automatically take a device backup for you. However, you need to be connected to Wi-Fi and charging the phone. The backup will start only when the phone is left idle for at least 2 hours.

3. Making Backup of Android Phone from Windows PC

You can also make a backup of files stored on your Android device using your computer. The steps will involve more manual work, but it is also a great way to backup and secure your data.

First, plug in your Android phone through the USB cable to your computer to transfer the data. An Android system message will appear in the notification area. Depending on your Android version, it will show you various options. Select the “File transfer/Android Auto” option, and now you will be able to move your files from your Android phone to your computer.

You can go to your Android drive from your computer, select the files/folder. Right-click on it and select “Copy” option from the context menu. Now, you can go to any other location on your computer and simply paste the copied content either by selecting the “Paste” option from right-click menu or using “Control + V” shortcut.

4. Using Third Party App to Create Backup of Android Phone

In addition to the above options, there are also many third-party apps available for creating a backup. Super Backup & Restore is one such an app using which you can create a backup of apps, contacts, SMS, call history, and many more.

• You can take a backup on an SD card, Internal storage, and even the cloud.
• In the main menu of the app, you will see a list of different categories: contacts, call log, SMS, pictures, apps, etc.
• Select the individual type that you want to create a backup of, then tap the “Backup” or “Backup all” for each selection.
• The app will make a backup on the storage that you have selected.