Setting up a new phone is always exciting but how do you transfer all your important data from your old Android smartphone to your new one? After all, without your apps, photos, videos, and more, your new phone won’t really feel like yours, would it?
Thankfully, transferring all your data between Android smartphones has become fairly simplified compared to just a few years ago. Google provides handy, in-built tools that allow you to carry forward your apps, media, contacts, messages, and settings to a new Android phone.
So, without further ado, let’s unpack how you can set up your shiny new Android smartphone with all your important data.
How to backup your data on your old Android smartphone
Before you can download your data to your new phone, you first need to upload it to the cloud i.e. Google’s cloud servers. This simply means that you’ll need to create an updated backup of your data on your old phone. This can easily be done from your phone’s settings as follows:
- Open the Settings app and select System Settings or Additional Settings
- Tap Back up and reset.
- Make sure that Back up my data is turned on.
This will back up all your app data, Wi-Fi passwords, and other settings to Google’s online servers.
How to backup photos and videos on your old Android smartphone
Once you’ve backed up your app and settings data, you can move on to your photos and videos. You can use Google Photos to create a backup of all your important media. Follow the steps below to do so:
- Open the Google Photos app and tap your profile picture in the top-right corner.
- Tap Photos settings and then tap Back up and sync.
- Make sure that Back up and sync is turned on.
This will ensure all your media is backed up to your Google account’s online storage. You can even remove the photos and videos from your backup that you don’t want on your new smartphone.
How to transfer data to your new Android smartphone
You are now all set to restore all your backed-up data to your new smartphone. To do this, you need to have both your old and new phones close to each other. Then follow the steps below to complete your data transfer:
- Insert your SIM card into your new smartphone and start the first-time setup process by turning it on.
- You’ll be prompted with an option to copy apps and data from an old phone. Select A backup from an Android phone.
- Now on your old phone, open the Settings app and select Google.
- Tap Set up and restore and then tap Set up nearby device. Your phone will start searching for nearby devices.
- Select your new phone from the list and tap Next.
- Confirm the screen lock for your old phone and then tap
- Now on your new phone, sign in to your Google account and confirm the screen lock of your old phone (this time on your new phone).
- Tap Restore to initiate the transfer of your data to your new phone.
Your data will be transferred to your new phone in some time, depending on your Wi-Fi speed and the size of your backup. The settings and steps described above might vary slightly based on your device manufacturer. But by and large, the process will remain the same.
Wrapping up
It’s always a good idea to set your phone to back up your data regularly. This way your phone will always be ready for a data transfer to a new phone. Plus, in case you lose your device, you’ll have a recent backup of your data online and you won’t lose any important data.
