Why Should I Backup My Device?
A backup is a copy you make of your phone's contents, saved somewhere other than your actual phone. You can use a backup to restore your phone to a previous state. Backing up your device is a useful tool when performing a factory reset of your phone (which will erase the contents of your phone), or even just to keep an additional copy of your important documents and photos.
We strongly suggest backing up your device before performing a factory reset.
Using Google Backup on Android Devices
1. Go to your main Settings app on your device.
2. Scroll down to Accounts. (On later versions of Android, you might see this listed as Cloud and Accounts.)
3. Select your Google account, or tap Add Account to add your Google account.
4. Check everything you want to sync (Calendar, Contacts, Photos).
When you tap on your Google account, you should see the last synced date underneath of it, letting you know the most recent backup that Google made of your data.
Manual Backup on Android Devices Using a Windows PC
You can manually backup your personal data by following these steps:
1. Connect your device to the computer via the USB cable. (Your device will show up as an external hard drive.)
2. Click and drag everything to a folder on your computer.
Note that you may have to turn on some settings in your USB Connection menu to get your PC to recognize the internal storage of the phone. You can usually find those settings under Settings > Storage. If your device isn't being recognized, try selecting MTP (media transfer protocol), or PTP (picture transfer protocol).
To manually backup your photos:
1. Connect your device to the computer via the USB cable. (Your device will show up as an external hard drive.)
2. In your device window on your computer, head to the Android > DCIM or Camera folder.
3. Drag all of your photos and videos to a folder on your computer.
Some computers may also have a card reader compatible with microSD cards. If your computer has a card reader, you can copy files from the microSD card from your phone to your computer as well.
Backing Up Your iPhone
Apple has a number of ways to backup your iPhone, including using their iCloud service. You can see their extensive help article here.
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