How to back up your Android phones data before a factory reset – Android Police

If you have enough storage on your flash drive, and an adapter if one is needed (either Type-C or microUSB), you can simply copy your phones whole electronic camera folder to the drive. Plug the drive into your phone, then utilize the Files app (or the file manager of your option) on your device to copy the DCIM folder on your phone to the drive. Any other folders and kinds of files, like your Downloads folder, can be copied just as easily.

Some phones, like Google Pixel devices, do not even offer you the alternative of conserving contacts and calendars in your area.

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These tools are unpleasant and old, but they do work. Again, if youre publishing something truly, really huge, we advise a devoted cloud service like Drive or Dropbox. Not everyone wants their files in the cloud, however they do not need to exist forever even if you used them: erase the files from the cloud when youve downloaded them to your maker, and youll be all good.

Checking for locally-stored calendar events is primarily the exact same procedure: open your Calendar app and try to find a calendar not linked to any accounts. Its typically called Phone or My calendar.

For Macs, youll need to download the (horrible) Android file transfer tool. We highly recommend you use a cloud storage provider like Dropbox or set up an FTP server or SMB share on your phone with a tool like AndSMB.

Eliminating accounts on a Google Pixel phone.

If you use Google Photos to support the images and videos you take with your phone, you need to ensure its still doing that. All you need to do is open the Photos app and try to find the cloud checkmark at the top, which suggests everything has been backed up.

While the cloud is handling more of our valuable information than ever these days (at least for the majority of us), there are still things you continue your private devices that you most likely wish to ensure get conserved somewhere. On Android, your local data like media files and contacts conserved to your phone might need a bit more active intervention to maintain before you do a factory reset. Here are some of the methods you can back up this information and ensure it makes it to your next phone.

Left: Phone calendar on LG phone; Right: Phone calendar on a Samsung Galaxy phone.

Make certain your pictures are supported.

The specific procedure for this varies by phone model, however you can start by opening the Contacts app and looking for a menu with all your accounts. The Contacts application on recent Samsung phones shows Phone together with your Samsung and Google accounts. An option to move Phone contacts to an online account appears in a leading menu.

Disable any lock screen passwords you may have as soon as youve done that. This can be done from the Security area of the Settings app.

Remove online accounts and disable Device Protection.

Removing accounts on a Samsung Galaxy phone.

Nevertheless, most mobile calendar apps dont give you an easy way to export calendars. The best way to do this is to install this energy from the Play Store, open it, pick your phones calendar, and tap the Export button. This will give you an.ics calendar file, which you can import into Google Calendar, Outlook, or any other cloud service.

Once your files are copied, you can disconnect the flash drive and back up the photos however you choose.

Backing up files or images to a Mac.

Every phone producer has a various file manager, so if you cant figure it out, download Files by Google from the Play Store. When youve opened the app, heres what you need to do:.

Its likewise possible to store a minimal number of contacts on your phones SIM card, however this isnt a common practice anymore, so its pretty difficult to do it inadvertently.

Copy contacts and calendars to the cloud.

If you formerly turned off cloud backups in Photos, you can easily turn it back on to do a big, one-time sync. Just open the side menu, tap Settings, and select Back up & & sync to turn syncing on. Super simple.

Backing up photos/videos/other files to a flash drive.

Go the Browse tab.
Select your internal storage.
Find the DCIM folder in the list and hold down on it till a checkmark appears.
Tap the menu button at the top-right and select Copy to.
Select your flash drive in the list.

Plug the drive into your phone, then utilize the Files app (or the file manager of your choice) on your gadget to copy the DCIM folder on your phone to the drive. When you develop a contact or calendar event, your phone might offer you the choice of conserving the information in the phones internal storage, rather of in the cloud. The exact process for this varies by phone design, however you can start by opening the Contacts app and looking for a menu with all your accounts. The Contacts application on current Samsung phones shows Phone alongside your Samsung and Google accounts. An alternative to move Phone contacts to an online account appears in a top menu.

Of course, there are lots of other photo backup apps for Android, including OneDrive and Dropbox. Go into the apps settings and check the current sync status if youre utilizing one of those. If you just desire certain files or folders, you can also import images manually into these apps.

An easier choice is simply to link your phone to your computer system and copy the phones DCIM or other wanted folder, since all you require is the USB cable that (probably) came with your phone. Ensure your phone remains in MTP (file transfer) mode from the alert shade, and not set to charge or another USB connection mode.

Even if you do utilize the cloud for the majority of things, checking Androids sync status for your accounts is a great idea. This make sure whatever that must be supported is in fact being backed up. Open the Settings app, tap the Accounts choice, choose your Google account, and verify that all the apps and services under the account have actually been synced recently.

While Google does state that Device Protection shouldnt activate a password check after factory reset on a lot of phones, removing your Google accounts and lockscreen prior to resetting is the only way to ensure it will not.

If you do not like using image backup services, you can also just copy all the images and videos to a flash drive or your computer.

If youre selling your phone, or providing it to somebody else, youll need to log out from all your Google accounts and get rid of any lock screen passwords. Android presented a function called Device Protection back in 2015, which needs you to enter the password of the last Google account used on the device, after the device has actually been cleaned in most cases.

When you develop a contact or calendar occasion, your phone may give you the alternative of conserving the data in the phones internal storage, rather of in the cloud. While thats a great feature to have, especially for the privacy-conscious, it likewise means you might have saved some important data locally if you didnt pay very close attention. Prior to you wipe our phone, you must examine to see if any of your contacts or calendar events arent supported to the cloud.

If some of the services have not been synced just recently (for example, if you havent opened among the apps in a long time), tap the Sync Now button on the page. Depending on your variation of Android, the Sync Now alternative might be under a menu. The factor to check this area is simple: sometimes sync breaks, specifically on things like Google Contacts or a couple of other well-known Google services.

Backing up pictures or files to a PC.

To disable Device Protection, youll initially need to log out of all your Google accounts. Open the Settings app on your phone, go to the Accounts section, and tap Remove account under each account

Check account sync status.

Copying a local contact to an online account, on a Samsung Galaxy phone.

This story was originally published 2020/05/14 6:07 pm PDTon May 14, 2020 and last upgraded 2020/07/18 10:13 am PDTon Jul 18, 2020..