How To Transfer App Data To New Android Phone

The smart style to switch to a new Android phone

Here'due south how to transfer information, apps, contacts, and more from your old Android telephone to a new ane, along with tips for a smoothen transition.

JR Raphael By

Contributing Editor, Computerworld |

Ah, a new telephone. Isn't at that place just something strangely special nigh that moment of opening upwards a box, peeling off the protective plastic, and powering upwards a pristine pocket-computer for the very first time?

Unfortunately, later on that fantastical startup animation finishes, reality usually sets in — and yous realize you're in for a long, exhausting journeying of copying stuff over, setting things up, and trying to go your fancy new phone to await and act the way you want.

To be fair, moving from one Android telephone to another has gotten a heck of a lot easier over the years. But despite all that progress, information technology can all the same be a daunting process that'due south filled with both quirks and doubt. And all the cyberspace's advice virtually moving from an iPhone to Android won't assistance you one bit.

This guide, however, volition. If you're already in the Android universe and preparing to motility from one Android phone to some other, these are the steps and the variables yous need to consider. Follow 'em closely, and you'll be upwards and running and enjoying that new telephone scent in no time.

Part I: Fix your old Android phone for switching

Believe it or not, a successful Android phone movement starts on your old device — the one you're set up to leave behind. Before you lot even start thinking about your shiny new replacement, nosotros've got 2 important areas to work through and brand certain are fully prepared for migration:

Android service syncing

First and foremost, the reason switching from one Android phone to another is so much easier than it used to be is largely thanks to all of the simple syncing systems built into our devices. So take a minute to make sure you're taking full advantage of those possibilities. It'll set your phone-moving voyage up for much smoother sailing.

And hither'south the best function: If you use all of Google's congenital-in Android migration mechanisms, y'all don't even need Samsung Smart Switch or any other proprietary systems (and you tin safely skip over those if the prompts come up during your new phone setup). Everything with the cadre Google Android phone-switching tools should just work, one time fired upward properly — and in most cases, it'll crave very little thought or endeavor.

To start:

If you lot aren't already using Google Contacts on your phone, download the app now and migrate your phone'southward contacts into the service. That'll get your contacts off your individual device (and/or out of your telephone-maker'due south limited and proprietary storage organization) and brand 'em immediately available on any device — phone or computer, no affair who made it — equally presently as you sign in.
Open up up Google Photos, tap your contour motion picture in the upper-right corner, and confirm that your images and videos are being backed up to the service. If they aren't, consider activating that pick. It'll keep everything you capture on your camera perpetually synced and available on any device where yous sign in — including a computer! — and make your life immeasurably easier as a issue.
Take a look at your text messaging setup. With about phones and messaging apps, Google will now automatically back up and sync up your letters and so bring them over to your new device. Google's own Letters app makes this procedure especially straightforward and manageable. (And make yourself a mental note: If for whatsoever reason your messages don't become migrated over as expected, an app called SMS Backup & Restore will assistance you handle that later the fact quite easily.)
Download the Google 1 app, if information technology isn't already on your device, and look for the box about your current device fill-in on its chief screen. Tap that box, and then tap "Manage backup," and you should be able to meet exactly what types of data the organisation is set to sync for you and when it last backed all of that upward. Make sure both "Device data" and "Multimedia messages" are selected, then tap "Dorsum upwardly at present" to get everything as up to date as possible.

01 switch android phone google one — The Google 1 app has get the central point for managing all cloud-based Android backups.

Most other areas of Android tend to be synced automatically and without any manual piece of work whatsoever these days — your calendar, your notes and documents, whatsoever files connected to Google Bulldoze or other deject storage services, and and so on. Generally, fifty-fifty something similar a music drove is at present tied to a streaming service and designed to be available anywhere.

If you lot remember of anything on your device that'due south an exception, though, now's the time to accept stock of it and be prepared to deal with it afterward — by copying it to a cloud storage service, transferring it to a reckoner, or setting it up to automatically sync from your old phone to your new one.

RCS message migration

Hither's one of import part of the Android phone switching process that isn't exactly obvious or intuitive: If you lot're using the Google Messages app, you need to sign out of its RCS Chat arrangement on your former device prior to moving into your new phone.

RCS stands for rich communication services. It's a newer messaging standard that allows you to have a more mod-feeling chat experience with other people who are also using it — seeing active typing indicators and read receipts, existence able to share larger-sized files, and knowing all of your communications are encrypted.

But RCS, by its nature, is continued to only one device at a fourth dimension. And if you lot endeavour to move into a new Android phone without kickoff disabling it on your old 1, you're bound to meet problems.

Luckily, the fix for this is simple — at least, once yous know how to do it. Just be sure to wait to exercise this until you're 100% ready to sign into your new device:

Open the Google Letters app on your old phone.
Tap the iii-dot bill of fare icon in the app'due south upper-correct corner and select "Settings."
Tap "Chat Features."
Flip the toggle side by side to "Enable chat features" into the off position.

If yous want to be extra-cautious, you can also caput over to this web page, curlicue down to the lesser, and put your phone number into the form. Follow the steps to verify information technology, and that'll sign you lot out of RCS entirely at the server level. (That'due south also a adept pick to continue in mind if your old telephone is lost, broken, or otherwise unavailable.)

Once you lot've done that, in that location's more ane final step that's important to do: Turn your quondam phone off. That'll terminate severing the connection betwixt RCS and that device and get you lot set to sign into the Chat characteristic on your new Android phone.

Got it? Good. Now we're gear up for the fun part.

Part II: Transfer information to your new Android phone

Congratulations! You lot're officially set up to ability upwardly your pretty new Android companion.

The verbal steps and interfaces involved here may vary somewhat from one device and Android version to another, only the basic elements should always exist pretty much the same.

When you lot first start up your new Android phone, it'll ask you to insert a SIM card, if you haven't already. If you lot had a physical SIM card in your old phone, you should exist able to bring it over to the new one. Just wait for a tiny slot somewhere along the device'southward sides. You'll typically need a small pin-tool to become it to open. In a pinch, even a paperclip tin can piece of work. (And if the SIM carte du jour doesn't seem to fit, it may be a dissimilar size. You'll either demand to pick upward an cheap SIM carte cutter or adapter — or, better withal, just ask your carrier for an updated replacement. Nigh carriers will provide those at no actress charge.)

Depending on your carrier, yous may too be able to actuate your service without a physical card past using an eSIM. If you lot come across that pick, you can certainly try it to see if it works.

02 switch android phone sim card — Android supports both physical SIM cards and virtual eSIMs to become your telephone continued.

After that, Android will demand to connect to a Wi-Fi network to go on the setup. Select the name of your home or work network, put in the password, and expect a few minutes while the system gets things ready. (This is a fine time to pause and go get yourself some pretzels, a hearty portion of pudding, and/or a pastrami sandwich. Don't worry: I'll look.)

03 switch android phone waiting — Switching to a new Android phone involves a fair corporeality of waiting.

One time you see a screen prompting you lot to copy your apps and data, you're ready to get rolling. You should have the selection to utilise a physical cable connectedness between your old and new telephone or to rely on your latest Google-stored cloud fill-in to handle this role of the process. The cable path is typically a teensy flake faster, but you'll achieve the same destination either way.

If your erstwhile telephone is inaccessible or you don't have a cablevision handy, the cloud fill-in path is obviously the way you'll need to go. Look for a line that says "Tin can't employ old phone" — or something along those general lines — to get there.

04 switch android phone copy data — Android will prompt yous to copy your apps and data so offer yous the option to use a cable to connect to your onetime phone.

Your old phone will prompt you to ostend that yous want to copy all of your info over, and you'll then have to type in your Google account countersign on the new phone to confirm. And and then, y'all'll have the opportunity to choose exactly which bits of info you desire to bring over.

05 switch android phone choose what to copy — Your new phone will let you choose exactly what you want to drift from your old device.

I'd strongly suggest taking a moment to recollect carefully about what you do and don't actually demand. Particularly when it comes to your apps, this is a rare chance to give yourself a fresh start and go out some of the grit-collecting virtual cobwebs backside. So before charging forward, tap the line that says "Apps," tap the topmost checkmark to unselect everything, and then manually select only the apps you genuinely still use with any regularity.

A skillful dominion of thumb: If you lot don't think you'll use something within the adjacent calendar week, don't select information technology. Odds are, you lot won't fifty-fifty know it'due south gone — and your phone will have more space, fewer wasted resources, and fewer unnecessary third-party permissions granted equally a result. And if you practise observe you lot miss something later, information technology'll take all of 20 seconds to head into the Play Store and reinstall it.

Apps aside, this office of the Android phone switching process will also offer you the opportunity to transfer certain types of data directly from your former phone — including any photos and videos that are stored locally besides equally any music or other types of audio. If y'all've already backed those items up to a cloud service, you tin safely uncheck them here and avert filling up your phone's storage with redundant local copies.

And finally, you'll see a checkbox to re-create over your device settings. That one's important and something you'll absolutely want to leave checked, assuming you lot're happy with how you've had things prepare before.

Once all that's washed, you'll just have to leave the phones connected for a few minutes while they finish their work. And you tin can move ahead with the terminal parts of your new telephone configuration process.

Role Three: Set up your new Android telephone

Take a deep breath: Yous're nigh done! All that's left is to get a few odds and ends configured on your new Android telephone.

Your biggest remaining job at this indicate is to open up your of import apps, one at a time, and make sure you're signed in and prepare upwardly every bit needed within each 1. In theory, most apps should do about of the heavy lifting for you, just this role of the procedure often isn't as smooth and simple as it oughta be.

A few specific areas to make sure you don't overlook:

If yous're using any telephone other than a Google Pixel device, follow the same steps from before and make sure your phone is using Google Contacts for all of its contacts storage and syncing. That'll pull your existing info over and permit everything to stay up to appointment moving frontwards.
Open upwards Google Photos and follow the steps that show up to get-go syncing your photos and videos. Your existing library should appear and be available within a thing of moments.
Caput into Google Letters, if that'south your preferred messaging app, and expect in the app's settings to brand sure the RCS Chat arrangement is on, registered, and active.
And go into Google Pay (or whatever other mobile payment app you rely on) and take a moment to register your preferred payment methods and then they'll be linked up and set for use.

And wouldya look at that? You've just switched Android phones and successfully migrated all of your of import stuff over. You should now be ready to charge frontwards — in your lovely new virtual abode merely with all the comforts and conveniences of your old 1.

That wasn't so bad, right?

Contributing Editor JR Raphael serves up tasty morsels about the human side of applied science. Hungry for more? Join him on Twitter or sign upwardly for his weekly newsletter to get fresh tips and insight in your inbox every Friday.