Back up or restore data on your Android device

You can back up content, data, and settings from your phone to your Google Account. You can restore your backed up information to the original phone or to some other Android phones. You can't use back up when you set up a personal device with a work profile or for work only, or when you set up a company-owned device.

Restoring data varies by phone and Android version. You can't restore a backup from a higher Android version onto a phone running a lower Android version.

Important: Some of these steps work only on Android 9 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.

Where your phone data is stored

Your backups are uploaded to Google and encrypted with your Google Account password. For some data, your device’s screen lock PIN, pattern, or password is also used for encryption.

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 phone

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 set up your device to automatically back up your files.

Open your device's Settings app.
Select Google Backup.
Tips:
- If this is your first time, turn on Backup your device with Google One and follow the on-screen instructions.
- Select the data you want to back up: Photos & videos, Device data, or both.

Tap Back up now.

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 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 Backup Account storage.
Tap the account that you want to use for backups.

What gets backed up

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 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 phone

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: To restore a backup from a higher Android version onto a device with a lower Android version may be unavailable or can result in missing transfer data. Ensure your device has the latest version of Android before you restore data. Learn how to check and update your Android version.

Check which photos, data, and 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 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, go to Settings Google Backup.
To delete your backup, go to Google Dashboard.