Back up or restore data on your Android dev

Your backups are uploaded to Google. Some of your data is end to end encrypted with your device’s screen lock PIN, pattern, or password.

How your data is protected

To help keep your data safe and secure, it’s encrypted.

All data, including photos and videos, messages and more are encrypted as they move between your device, Google services, and our data centers.
Some data is further encrypted with your device’s screen lock. Photos and videos in Google Photos, and MMS media received from your carrier aren’t encrypted by your device’s screen lock.

Tip: To hide sensitive photos and videos with your screen lock, you can save them to a special folder in the Google Photos app. Learn how to hide your sensitive photos and videos.

Automatically back up your device

Important:

To help protect your backed-up data, use a PIN, pattern, or password screen lock , instead of a swipe or Smart Lock.
You can back up to 15 GB of storage at no charge for your Google account. You can also get access to more storage with a Google One account afterwards.

You can set up your device to automatically back up your files.

Open your device's Settings app.
Tap Google services All services.
Tip: Select the data you want to back up: Photos & videos, Device data, or both.
Turn Backup on or off.

Your Google One backup can take up to 24 hours. When your data is saved, “On” will be displayed below the data types you selected.

Add or switch backup accounts

Add a backup account

On your Android device, open your device's Settings app.
Tap Google All services.
Under “Backup and restore,” tap Backup.
- You will be prompted to sign in to the account if not already.
If using a different account for backup then:
- Tap Account storage.
- If needed, enter your phone's PIN, pattern, or password.
- Sign in to the account that you want to add.

Switch between backup accounts

On your Android device, open your device's Settings app.
Tap Google All services.
Under “Backup and restore,” tap Backup Account storage.
Tap the account that you want to use for backups

Important: Not all apps can back up or restore all settings and data. To find out about an app, learn how to contact its developer.

Your phone’s data is automatically backed up to your Google Account. This includes:

Apps and app data
Call history
Contacts
Device settings
SMS and MMS messages

Additional device data is backed up when you use specific Google apps:

RCS messages when you use Google Messages
Phone call settings and blocked numbers when you use Phone by Google
Pictures and videos when you use Google Photos

Learn what happens when you back up your photos and videos.

Learn how to back up files and folders to Google Drive.

Manually back up data & settings

On your Android device, open your device's Settings app.
Tap Google All services.
Under “Backup and restore,” tap Backup Back up now.

Erase after backing up

After you back up, you can reset your device by erasing everything on it. Learn how to reset your device to factory settings.

Get your data onto a new device

When you add your Google Account to a phone that's been set up, you have the option to restore what you'd previously backed up for that Google Account onto the phone.

To restore a backed-up account to a reset phone, follow the on-screen steps. For more help, get help from your device manufacturer.

Your photos and videos are already available in Google Photos. But you can restore the rest of the data you backed up while you set up your new phone for the first time or after a factory reset. At setup, to restore your data, follow the on-screen steps.

The process can take up to 24 hours to complete fully.

Important: Both devices must be on the same Android version or your new device must be on a later Android version. If your new device is on an older Android version than your previous device, it may result in an incomplete data transfer. Learn how to check and update your Android version.

Check which photos, data & settings you backed up

You can check what data and which apps are included in your backup.

Open your device's Settings app.
Tap Google services Backup.
Under “Backup details,” review what data is backed up on your device.

Restore backed-up contacts

If you've saved your Google Contacts to your Google Account, they'll sync automatically. If you have other contacts on a phone or SIM card, learn how to manually restore contacts.

How Google handles your data

Important: The data that Google collects is encrypted in transit.

Your backup data is sent to Google’s servers and helps you transfer data between devices. Google collects certain information to perform services on your device. Some of this functionality uses Google Play services. For example, backup collects:

Messages, contacts, app settings, and preferences are collected as part of your personal backup.
Personal identifiers are collected to ensure that your backups are associated with you and your account.
Crash logs and diagnostics are collected for analytics and troubleshooting purposes.

Turn backup off

To disable your backup:

Tap Settings Google All services.
Under “Backup and restore,” tap Backup.
Turn off Backup by Google One.