Back Up Your Android Phone
Lose your phone and a backup means you lose nothing. Here's how to turn on Android's built-in backup, protect your photos, and restore it all onto a new phone.
If your phone is lost or broken tomorrow, what would you lose?
A backup lets you restore your contacts, messages, apps, settings and photos onto a new phone in minutes. Android has it built in, and the first 15 GB of Google storage is free.
BACK UPBack up your Android phone
Do steps 1 and 2 and you're covered.
- Open Settings › Google › All services › Backup. On some phones it's Settings › System › Backup.
- Turn on Backup by Google One, and make sure the right Google account is selected.
- Tap Back up now for the first backup. It can take a while; leave the phone on Wi-Fi and charging.
This saves your apps and app data, contacts, call history, device settings and text messages. After this, it backs up automatically, usually overnight when the phone is charging and on Wi-Fi.
Photos are backed up separately, by Google Photos:
- Open the Google Photos app and tap your profile picture.
- Tap Turn on backup (or Photos settings › Backup) and choose a quality: Storage saver uses less space; Original quality keeps full resolution.
Samsung phones can also back up to Samsung's own service. Go to Settings › Accounts and backup and look at Back up data and Google Drive. Using the Google backup in step 1 makes it easy to move to any Android phone, not just Samsung.
Go back to Settings › Google › All services › Backup and look at Backup details. Each item should show a recent time. In Google Photos, your profile picture shows a backup status.
Some apps keep their own backups:
- WhatsApp: Settings › Chats › Chat backup, then Back up, and set it to back up daily or weekly to Google.
- Signal and some banking apps don't use Google backup for security; check each app's settings.
When you set up a new Android phone, sign in with the same Google account and choose Restore or Copy apps & data when asked. Pick the backup from your old phone. Photos are already in Google Photos.
The new phone must run the same Android version or newer. A full restore can take some time to download all apps.
- Make sure you're signed in to Google and have free storage at one.google.com/storage.
- Backups usually run on Wi-Fi while charging; leave the phone plugged in overnight.
FAQCommon questions
What does Android's backup NOT include?
Photos (use Google Photos), files in your Downloads folder, and data from some apps that don't support backup. WhatsApp uses its own backup.
Is Android backup free?
Yes. You get 15 GB of Google storage free, shared with Gmail and Google Drive. Device backups are small; photos and videos use the most.
How often does my phone back up?
Automatically, roughly every 24 hours when it's idle, charging and on Wi-Fi. Tap Back up now any time for an instant backup.
Can I back up to my computer instead?
You can copy photos and files over USB (see our photo transfer guide), but app data and settings need Google backup.