How do I back up my phone?

When you switch carriers, your phone’s storage shouldn’t be impacted since that information is stored directly on your phone. However, it can be helpful to back up your data in case you’ll be switching phones (or maybe you just feel like backing up your data). 

How to backup your phone will depend on what model you have (and where you want to keep the information you’ve just backed up). Read on to find out how to back up all of your contacts, music, photos and whatever else you want to keep. Also, it’s always a good idea to double-check your phone’s manual to see what the manufacturer says about backing up your data since phone models vary. 

How to back up iPhone

There are a few different ways to backup your iPhone depending on whether you want to back it up to an iCloud or to your computer (either Mac or PC). Read on for more.

How to back up iPhone to iCloud

Here’s how to do an iCloud backup for your iPhone (this also works if you have an iPad):

1. Connect to Wi-Fi
2. Go to Settings 
3. Tap your profile name at the top
4. Tap iCloud
5. Tap iCloud Backup
6. Select Back Up Now (and make sure you stay on Wi-Fi so you don’t drain your data)
   • If you don’t have enough storage, you might be prompted to buy more

Here’s how to set it up so your iPhone automatically backs up to iCloud every day:

1. Make sure iCloud Backup is turned on under Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup
2. Make sure your phone is plugged in and charging
3. Connect to Wi-Fi
4. Lock your screen
   • If you don’t have enough storage, you might be prompted to buy more

How to back up iPhone to Mac via Finder

1. Connect your iPhone to your Mac via USB cable
2. On your Mac, open Finder on the bottom left hand corner
   • If you have an older version of macOS (e.g. earlier than version 10.15), you’ll need to use iTunes to back up your iPhone. Please see Apple support for more information.
3. Click General
4. Select Backup all data
5. Select Encrypt local backup if desired
   • Type a password, set it and encrypt all data backup
6. Click Backup now

How to back up iPhone to Mac via iTunes

1. On your Mac, open iTunes
2. Connect your iPhone to your computer via USB cable
3. Select your iPhone
   • You may have to log in first
4. Click Summary
5. Select Back Up Now

How to back up iPhone to PC 

1. Make sure you are connected to Wi-Fi and connect your phone to your computer via cable
2. On your PC, go to your iTunes app and click the iPhone button near the top left of the window
3. Click Summary
4. Select Backup Now
5. Select Encrypt local backup if desired
   • Type a password, set it and encrypt all data backup

How to back up Android

There are a few ways to backup your Android phone, and instructions may vary by Android model. Also, please remember that Androids don’t automatically connect seamlessly to PCs like iPhones do to a Mac. For this reason, the steps may vary.

How to use Google One to back up your phone

Here’s the easiest way to backup your Android using Google One, which is the storage service of Google Drive:

1. Make sure you are connected to Wi-Fi and go to your phone’s Settings 
2. Click Google and All services
3. Tap Backup
4. Look for the option that says Backup to Google Drive or Backup by Google One
   • If this is the first backup, in the Google One app, follow the instructions to turn on “Backup by Google One” 
5. Turn on Backup by Google one
   • You can tap Storage, then the Device backup section. Then tap Set up data backup. Here you can sync whatever else you’d like to sync (device data, media, MMS texts, and multimedia messages) 
6. Go back to Backup
   • Androids automatically back up when certain conditions are met like your phone is not actively being used, you are connected to Wi-Fi and there hasn’t been a backup in the last 24 hours.
7. Tap Backup now

You can also make it so your Android phone automatically backs up your data. Here’s how:

1. On your Android phone, open the Google One app
2. Tap Storage at the top
3. Find the phone backup section
   • If this is your first time backing up data, choose Set up data backup
   • If you’ve already done this before, tap View details
4. Tap Manage backup
5. Choose your settings (e.g. the data types you want saved)
   • You may be asked to allow permissions
6. A backup may take up to 24 hours and you’ll know your data is saved when the word On is below the data types you selected

How to backup Android photos

To back up your photos and images, you can use Google Photos. If you don’t have Google Photos, you can download it and make sure it’s set to automatically back up your photos.

Here’s how to sync your images to the Google One app:

1. Open Google Photos
2. Tap on your profile image in the top right
3. Select Photo settings
4. Toggle Back up & sync
5. Under Settings, tap Back up device folders and select the ones you want to back up
6. You can also choose your preferred upload size under Upload size

How to backup Android music

To backup your Android’s music, you can use YouTube Music, which is Google’s way of backing up songs. Here’s how:

1. Go to music.youtube.com
2. Click on your profile image
3. Select Upload music
4. Pick the songs you want to upload

For all other files, you can upload them to your Google Drive. For settings, apps, SMS, call history and more, Android phones have a native cloud backup solution for this information. 

How to back up Android to Windows PC

Here’s how to back up your files manually to your Windows computer:

1. Plug in your Android phone to your PC using a USB cable 
2. A notification should show up on your phone that says Charging this phone via USB. Tap on the message and select more options.
3. Under Use USB for, select File Transfer
4. Open your PC, and click This PC in your folders
5. Look for your phone and double-click it
6. Select all of the files you want to transfer, right-click and select Copy
7. You will see an option to create a folder where you want to store your files and open it
8. Paste all of the files into your folder

Alternatively, you can use the Android File Transfer:

1. Plug in your Android phone to your PC using a USB cable
2. Go to My Computer and click on your phone’s storage
3. Drag the files you want to back up into a new folder

How to back up Android to Mac

Here’s how to back up your files to a Mac computer with the Android File Transfer app:

1. Plug in your Android phone using a USB cable
2. The Android File Transfer option should automatically open if it’s installed
   • To install, go to Android’s official website, download the app, open the downloaded .dmg file and drag to your Mac’s Application folder
3. Drag the files you want to back up into a new folder or over to your Mac