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How to transfer everything from your one-time Android phone to your new ane

No one wants to spend forever moving all their stuff to a new telephone. Here'south a quick and painless guide to get you up and running fast.

Getting your data from an old Android phone to a new one isn't hard, simply you'll want to follow these steps.

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Table of Contents
  • Google Drive
  • Other backups
  • Mail service and Calendar
  • Photos and music
  • Passwords and bookmarks
  • SMS and MMS letters

Evidence More than

Getting a new telephone is crawly, simply transferring all of your data over from your old one isn't. Luckily, information technology's gotten a lot better than it used to exist, and it doesn't accept besides much piece of work anymore. With a Google business relationship and a little patience, y'all don't need to be an Android whiz to ensure your stuff can easily transfer to a new phone.

Google Bulldoze

Before you can do anything, you'll need to make sure your old phone is signed in to your Google account. It almost certainly is, but head over to the Google tab in Settings to make sure. Then, you'll need to observe your phone's backup settings. On Pixel phones running Android 10, in that location'southward a Backup option within the System tab in Settings, merely the location varies on other phones. The easiest way to find it is to type "fill-in" into the settings search bar.

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Your Google account comes with a slap-up built-in backup inside Google Drive.

Once y'all're there, you lot'll run across a couple options. On Pixel phones, in that location'southward a Support to Google Drive switch that volition enable several types of content to be backed up, including installed apps and accompanying information, call history, device settings, calendar entries, contacts, photos and videos, and, sectional to Pixel phones, SMS messages. Information technology'll be backed upward automatically overnight, so once you switch it on, you won't accept to give it another thought.

On other phones, you'll likely notice the toggle inside the Google tab, but the options will be the aforementioned: App information, Call history, Contacts, Device settings, Photos and Videos, and SMS text messages. Yous have the option to select ane or all of them whenever you lot support.

Since backups work through Google Drive, if you head over to the app, yous'll see a Backups selection in the sidebar. Inside you lot'll see a list of any devices that have been backed up, with your current telephone occupying the tiptop slot (possibly with a funky proper name like SM-G96OU1 or Hard disk 1905). Tap information technology and you'll be able to see when the concluding backup took place and which apps were included.

Other backups

Most Android phone makers offer their ain helping hands when it comes to moving over your stuff. Granted, they'll work best when transferring to a phone of the same make (similar a Galaxy S8 to a Galaxy S10), simply they all more often than not do a fine job. Y'all can detect information technology past typing backup into the search field in Settings.

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Samsung, LG, and other phone makers offer their own backups and transfers inside the Settings app.

Samsung offers its ain service called Smart Switch that's built right into Settings. Turn information technology on and sign into your Samsung account, and it will sync the same things Google does, plus your notes, alarms, messages, and even your domicile screen layout to your new phone. The catch is that you need to utilise Samsung's apps to go the most out of information technology.

Aside from proprietary backups, about phones will also permit you to transfer apps and settings. You'll be prompted during setup, and nigh will require a cable, just it'south a good fallback if you lot don't recollect to regularly back upwardly. For instance, LG too offers an app called Mobile Switch that lets you wirelessly transfer your photos, video, music, text messages, and apps from 1 LG phone to another. Other phones permit you transfer data from a competitors' phone—even iPhones—but the results are somewhat spotty, so nosotros however recommend turning on Google Drive backups.

Mail and Calendar

Even if you take Google Drive backups turned on, y'all'll nonetheless need to check a few more than settings to make sure your most important things make it over when you power on your new telephone.

Postal service, of grade, is the easiest of all. If you use Gmail, you need only sign in to your Google account to bring over all of your messages, labels, etc. And your other accounts, whether Outlook, iCloud, or Hotmail, will be just as easy. Simply download your favorite app, type in your username and password, and you lot'll be on your style. Additionally, there are numerous apps such as Newton and Blue Post that will go on multiple accounts synced with a single login.

For people and appointments, Google has you covered here, too. Even without a proper Google Drive backup, any entries inputted into Calendar on your telephone will automatically appear on your new telephone as presently every bit you lot open the app. Some agenda apps also sync with Google Calendar, and then you lot'll want to brand sure information technology's set up even if it'due south non your scheduling app of selection.

Photos and music

Photos are rapidly becoming the one affair that admittedly needs to be transferred from i phone to the adjacent, and Google has built a fantastic way to do it in its Photos app.

Available for all phones, information technology'due south far and away the all-time photo management choice, backups aside, so if you're not regularly using it, you should be. To make sure it'south bankroll up everything, head over to the Settings in the sidebar and tapSupport & sync. Make sure the toggle is bluish and the fill-in account is the same as the one you lot use for everything else.

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You tin back up all of your photos in loftier quality without using a unmarried megabyte of infinite in your Google Drive.

Google lets you back up as many high-quality photos every bit yous'd like, and it won't count confronting your Google Drive storage. If that's not enough resolution for you, you can opt to back up the full-sized original photos to your Google Drive, but it'll cost you. While Google gave original Pixel users unlimited backups of their original photos and Pixel ii and 3 users iii years' worth, anyone else (including Pixel 3a and four owners) volition accept to utilise their allotted Google Drive space, so yous might have to bump up your storage to accommodate the extra gigabytes. Google Bulldoze users only get 15GB gratis, and so if your camera roll is bigger than that, you tin pay $1.99 a calendar month for 100GB or $9.99 a calendar month for 1TB of storage. But whichever size y'all cull, all of your photos will appear when you open up the Google Photos app on your new phone.

When it comes to music, there are two ways to exercise it. If you already subscribe to a streaming service similar Spotify, YouTube Music, or Apple tree Music, only head over to the app in your new phone and sign in to access all of your songs. This is your best bet, as the loss of the Google Play Music app has fabricated it harder to play local tracks on your phone.

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Information technology's rudimentary, but if you want to play songs that are stored on your device, YouTube will let you.

If y'all aren't a streamer, YouTube Music will even so help yous become your groove on, letting yous access files stored on your device without needing to subscribe to the service. It'due south very rudimentary and a petty frustrating, merely with a little patience, you'll be able to get it to piece of work. To see your tracks, simply store them in a microSD carte or your Google Drive, then transfer them to your new telephone'southward files app. YouTube Music will find them and display them under the Device Files tab, and you'll be able to play them as you similar, just yous won't be able to add them to YouTube Music playlists or bandage to another device.

Passwords and bookmarks

If you use Chrome on your phone, you lot tin can as well take your browser history, passwords, and bookmarks to your new telephone. Commencement, head over to the Google tab in Settings, and scroll down to the Smart Lock for Passwords option.

This setting stores passwords from supporting apps and Chrome sites to your Google account. Switch it on, and the next time you sign in to Chrome on your new phone yous won't take to re-enter the same passwords over and over. It works with some 3rd-political party apps, too, as long as the developers accept built in back up. Just head over to the Security tab in your Google Account to see which ones are stored.

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Your Google account stores passwords, but you'll want to use a password manager for the best security.

If you're leery well-nigh app passwords being saved in your Google account, you can blacklist whatever app from using Smart Lock. Or y'all can forgo information technology all together and download a password manager. In that location are plenty of great ones out in that location including Dashlane, LastPass, and 1Password, and they'll all store your passwords in an encrypted locker. Most charge a fee, simply information technology's worth it. You just need to sign in on your new phone, and you lot'll have access to all of your passwords through Android autofill feature. (Encounter PCWorld'southward roundup of the best password managers for more details.)

For the rest of your web needs, caput over to the Chrome settings. Tap on your account name and then sync to see everything that you lot want to shop in the deject, including bookmarks, history, open tabs, and saved credit cards. In one case you select the ones you want, they volition all be available when you lot sign in to Chrome on your new device.

SMS and MMS letters

Moving your conversations over is a little trickier than the remainder, but it's getting meliorate. The easiest way is if y'all utilise WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, or some other third-political party service, since you but need to sign in to the appropriate app to access your full chat history. Also, If you ain a Pixel phone and/or apply Android Messages, there is an selection within your Google Bulldoze backup for backing upwards your SMS messages, though information technology volition leave backside any photos or videos.

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If yous desire to bring over all of your SMS and MMS messages, you'll need to download a fill-in tool.

And so until Google starts backing up MMS messages, the nearly fool-proof mode to motility all of them from Android Letters or your text-messaging app of option to a new phone is an over-the-meridian service. At that place are several in the Play Shop—SMS Backup+ and SMS Backup & Restore are two of the most pop and highest rated—and they human action as a sort of middleman that collects your letters until you're ready to transfer them to a new app.

It'south not the speediest process, so y'all'll need to carve out some time to permit it run if you have a lot of letters, but information technology works quite well. In our testing, we used SMS Backup+ to back up and restore a batch of more than 2,000 messages on a exam device without a problem. Information technology'southward baffling why Google hasn't implemented a similar system in Android, only for now, apps like SMS Fill-in+ will certainly do the play a joke on.

One word of caution, all the same: Don't wipe your old phone until you're sure your messages have appeared on your new one. This way you'll be able to get-go over if something goes awry during the transfer.

And that's it. With the right combination of apps and cloud services you don't have to worry well-nigh leaving anything behind anymore when you get a new phone. No matter if you want your messages, music, or postal service, your Google account is the No. 1 tool in your arsenal, and it'due south quickly becoming a one-cease shop for bankroll up and transferring everything from one phone to another.

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