All articles

Everyday Android

Making sure you do not lose everything

A phone that is lost, stolen or broken should cost you the phone and nothing else.

On your phone

The three that matter

  1. Contacts: Settings, Google, Settings for Google apps, Google Contacts sync. Turn it on. Contacts saved to the SIM or to the phone itself do not sync, so move them to your Google account.
  2. Photos: install Google Photos and turn on Backup. Choose Storage saver unless you have a reason not to.
  3. The phone itself: Settings, System, Backup. This covers app data, settings, SMS and call history.

Then check it worked

  1. Open contacts.google.com on any computer and see whether your contacts are there.
  2. Do the same with photos.google.com.
  3. A backup you have never verified is not a backup.

Something here out of date, or a question this does not answer? Tell us.