For users who want to backup your phone without using third party apps, you can use Google account to backup your apps, contact, settings, etc. To do it, go to Settings -> backup and reset. Make sure ‘backup my data’ and ‘automatic restore’ options are checked, and on the ‘backup account’, select the Google account to which you’d like to sync your data. Then go to your Google account and check all the ‘sync’ options available. Now, your data will be restored whenever you set up your phone with that same Gmail account.
If you prefer to use third-party apps, I recommend My Backup. This is a lite version of MyBackup Pro, which is a paid version of the app. This app is by far the most easy-to-use backup app for non-rooted device. You can backup your phone data to SD card or to cloud service at no extra cost. 2. Backup photos, music, and videos
As Google does not have a native backup service for photos, music and videos yet, so you’ll have to backup them manually by copying it to your computer or external hard drives.
3. Backup text messages
If you’re just concerned with your SMS messages, you can use a free app called SMS Backup+ to backup your text messages in the cloud. The app will automatically backup your SMS, MMS and call log entries to Gmail and store them under a new label ‘SMS’.
How to Backup on Rooted Android Phones
If you’ve rooted your phone then you can easily backup your apps, text messages, settings, etc, by using a backup app. In this case, I recommend you to use the Titanium Backup app. It is the most powerful Android backup app available in the market today. In addition to backing up the data to SD card, it can also backup to the cloud service like Dropbox, Box and Google Drive. Here’s the quick tutorial:
- Download and install Titanium Backup app here.
- Once installed, launch the app and press ‘Allow’ once a Superuser Request window pops up in your phone screen.
- On the top of the screen, select the ‘Backup/Restore’ tab.
- Click on the app you want then select ‘Backup’. Wait for it to prompt that the backup was completed successfully. Depending on how many applications you have installed, this process will take several minutes.
- The backups are stored in the ‘TitaniumBackup’ directory on your SD card.
