Restore an Android Backup: Android backup allows you to save system and personal data, let’s see the common methods and how to restore on a new device.
Your old smartphone is abandoning you and you want to replace it with a newer one, but are you worried about transferring all the data, photos, videos, accounts and anything else to the new device? Or do you just want to secure everything you have for a possible recovery of your phone? Don’t worry, just make an android backup by following some simple and quick procedures.
How to Make and Restore an Android Backup
What is a backup
Before you start making an Android backup you need to understand what it is.
A backup consists of making a backup copy of the files and folders saved in the memory of your device.
What is an Android backup for?
The reasons range from having a copy to restore following a possible malfunction of the device to the most common replacement with a new device.
Usually the backup files are stored on a different medium from the device itself, the reason is clear, if the problem is of a hardware or software nature and the device does not allow any type of interaction we will still have access to the backup copy saved in a safe place . The media on which to store backups can be external hard drives, pendrives, network NAS and cloud systems such as Google Drive.
In the case of a smartphone or tablet with Android operating system, the files that must be present in the backup are the downloaded applications, settings, the address book, photos, videos and everything that characterizes your device.
How to make a backup on Android
Unlike a few years ago, backing up an Android device and synchronizing data actually requires little or no effort. Google does all the work behind the scenes automatically and without any involvement from the user except for a quick setup when first configuring the phone or tablet. The same goes for data recovery which is generally an operation is simple, just let Google’s systems do their magic.
It is worthwhile, however, to know where and how everything is saved, especially if you use the phone for work. It is important to understand what is going on and verify that everything is working as expected to have peace of mind that the data is there safe and ready for a possible Android restore.
How Google’s Android backup takes place
At the system level, Android backup includes most of Android’s settings and preferences, from Wi-Fi networks and approved passwords to language and input settings, date and time settings, and display preferences. To confirm all the backup, you can log in to the System section of the phone settings by tapping “Advanced” and then “Backup”.
Make sure you use the same account in the future when you log in to any device and if you ever need to change the account associated with your backups, in the “Back up to Google Drive” screen simply touch the line that shows the account with a list of all accounts linked to your phone.
You can also consult the Google Drive Backup section on the web to find this same information and see exactly how much space the backup settings take up for all the devices associated with your account.
What does Android backup save?
The Android backup that Google’s automatic system performs in addition to saving all the system data takes care of securing all the applications installed on the smartphone and the files in the memory, but let’s see in detail what it does.
Applications and related data
The list of apps you have installed from the Play Store is always synchronized with Google’s servers and when you access any new Android device for the first time, you will be given the option to restore that complete set of applications or to choose titles from the list.
Google also offers an expanded app backup system that saves and restores application-specific data: anything from accesses to preferences and any other relevant items.
Calendar, contacts and e-mails
Backup of calendar, contacts and e-mails is usually not necessary because it is already stored in the Google cloud; to recover this type of data you can simply open the email or calendar app from another device.
Messaging
Backing up and saving SMS to restore on another phone is generally quite painless on Android, but it’s a little confusing to understand how and what was saved.
With a recent Android update, all SMS data is now automatically backed up on all devices. This happens regardless of the manufacturer of the device or the messaging app in use.
However, this backup is limited to 25 MB of data and does not include MMS messages, such as photos and videos sent via SMS. If you want your multimedia messages to be saved, you will need to install and sign up for a paid Google One plan.
If you want something a little simpler and without costs or limitations, the third party Pulse SMS app is an excellent alternative. In addition to providing its own universally available automatic backup and synchronization system, it offers many opportunities for personalization and also allows you to send, receive and manage messages in real time from multiple devices, including any combination of phones, tablets and laptops or desktop computers .
Files and folders
The easiest way to back up files on your device is to save them directly to a cloud-based storage service like Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. All these services provide a reasonable amount of free storage space, with additional paid space.
Photos, videos and music
As far as images are concerned, Google’s free Google Photos app automatically syncs and saves all captured photos and videos and makes them available on any other device, mobile or other.
Making a backup of the photos at this point is a rather superfluous operation, but if you want the Google Takeout service is available which allows you to download entire content archives from your account.
The online application is able to create packages with all your data taken from Google Photos, Contacts, Maps, YouTube and much more saved inside.
And for the music? If you want automatic synchronization just install the free Google Play Music app that allows you to upload your entire personal MP3 collection, or at least up to 50,000 songs and then access them from any Android device or from any computer via a web browser.
How to make an Android backup on PC
To make an Android backup on PC, the easiest way is to use third-party applications that allow you to save data on a computer . Some apps need root permissions enabled, but to have them you have to “root” the smartphone by forcing the system. The applications we recommend do not require this procedure and still ensure excellent results
Helium – App Sync and Backup
As we mentioned one of the best apps that allow you to backup Android on PC is Helium App Sync and Backup , it does not require root permissions even if they would facilitate some operations. To use it, simply download it from the Play Store, start it by granting permissions and select the applications and data you want to save on your computer.
Another way to back up your data is to use the software made available by the manufacturers of the same smartphones and tablets such as Huawei, Samsung, Xiaomi and many others. Each one clearly proposes his method to which we refer you for any information.
Titanium Backup
Titanium Backup is another third party application that can be used to make an Android backup. It is a very good app to save all information on the phone, and which also integrates the backup restore function.
Titanium Backup is available in two versions, one for free and one for a fee, at a cost of € 5.99 which offers the ability to encrypt backups, restore all applications automatically and which supports cloud storage services such as Google Drive and Dropbox. Again, as to use Helium, you must have rooted the device.
To use it, you must first download it from the Play Store and install it on your Android smartphone, granting it root permissions . The app may then ask you to activate other functions such as USB debugging: you just have to follow the instructions and enable everything.
At this point, select the icon to start the Mass actions located at the top right and
Click Start next to Backup all user apps + system data , also selecting the green check on the right to make a backup of everything is on your phone.
It is also possible to backup only the apps without the system data, or vice versa, save only the data and not the apps, by selecting the appropriate items.
To restore backups with Titanium Backup, you just have to enter the Actions menu in bulk and start the procedure called Restore all apps with data and press Start.
Alternatively, you can select the Restore missing apps + all system data item to recover only the apps that are not present on the device.
How to backup Android with USB cable
If you do not want to rely on the solutions seen so far, perhaps because you do not want to unlock the root permissions on your Android smartphone, you can rely on a simpler solution by connecting the device to the computer via USB cable, an operation that will not back up the apps and the settings of your device, but only photos, videos and multimedia contents.
To do this, you must first activate the USB debugging function present in the Settings menu under the Developer Options panel.
If you can’t find the menu, go to Settings and then General, and tap 7 times consecutively on Version Build to bring up the menu and activate the USB debugging option.
At this point, connect your Android smartphone to the computer and access the folders containing the photos, videos and music tracks to copy and paste them on the folders of your computer and save a copy locally.
Unfortunately, this procedure cannot be applied to device settings, SMS, Whatsapp applications and messages, even if deleted Whatsapp chats can also be recovered.
The Android Samsung backup
On Samsung smartphones , you must instead access the Accounts and backup section, then select “Backup and reset” and look for the “Google Account” area. Samsung offers the option of backing up your data and standard Android via your Samsung account.
Our advice is to ignore it and carry out the standard configuration associated with Google, as it allows you to restore data on any phone, while the Samsung configuration will only work with other Samsung products.
How to restore an Android backup
To restore Android backup data with Google on a new smartphone or tablet or possibly on the same malfunctioning one that needs a restore, simply add your Google Account during the initial configuration phase, the data of that account of which it is previously backed up are transferred to the phone.
The backup of a later version of Android cannot be restored on a device that mounts a previous version, for example if the backup was made with Android 9 it cannot be restored on a mobile phone that mounts Android 8.