Google Android: Restore apps and settings from your old phone to your new one – The ultimate guide

Believe it or not, restoring your apps and settings from your old mobile to a new Android phone is easy! Google Android can automatically save information (contacts, calendar entries, call logs, text messages, settings and much more) to the cloud, allowing you to restore it from your latest backup.

Here is a complete, detailed guide to restoring your apps and settings on a new Android phone.

Enabling the backup service for Android

Before you start restoring your data, make sure the backup service is enabled on your device.

1. Open Settings from the home screen or app drawer

2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
3. Tap System.

1. Select Backup.
2. Make sure Back up to Google Drive is selected.
3. You can see which data is being backed up.

Now that you have enabled the Android backup service, your system settings and app data are automatically saved to Google Drive.

When you switch devices, you can restore your settings, apps and associated data from your latest backup.

How to restore apps and settings on a new Android phone

Restoring your apps is a relatively simple process, and you can do it when you switch on your new phone for the first time. Even if you do not do this from the initial screen, you can go to Settings – Google – Set up and restore – Restore contacts.

Essentially, on Android 10 or earlier, once you add your Google account to your new phone, either during the initial device setup or later through Settings, you can sync your data and contacts manually or automatically to bring across the settings from your old phone.

If you use Google Now or Pixel Launcher, your home screen wallpaper, icon and widget layout, and folder structure are automatically saved to the cloud, allowing you to restore your settings on a new phone and keep your original home screen layout.

1. Select your language and tap the Let’s Go button on the welcome screen
2. Tap Copy your data to use the restore option.
3. Connect to a Wi-Fi network to get started.

• On the next screen, you will see all the available restore options. To restore your data from a backup, tap A backup from the cloud.
• Sign in to your Google account
• Select I agree to accept Google's Terms of Service and continue.

• You will see a list of backup options. Select the appropriate backup to restore your data.
• Tap Restore if you want to restore all the data and settings from your previous device.
• Tap Apps to choose which apps will be installed on your new device.

• In the next step, you can set up a device lock and biometric authentication.
• Tap Set up screen lock to get started.
• Choose a screen unlock method and add your fingerprint.

• Once you have registered your fingerprint, you can set up Google Assistant.
• Select “Get started” to match your voice to the device.
• After training Google Assistant to recognise your voice, tap Done to complete the restoration.

Once you have completed the initial setup, your apps and settings will be restored in the background.

Where is app data stored?

Google backs up app data to Google Drive, allocating 25MB to each app. The data used by the backup system does not count towards your storage quota. Meanwhile, developers can choose which app data is saved to the cloud, and you can opt out of the service at any time through your device settings.

Your privacy

Because transferring backups can vary from device to device, Android cannot guarantee the security of your data when using backups. Take particular care when using backups and storing sensitive data, such as usernames and passwords.