12. How to set automatic Android backups
When you setup your Android smartphone you can set automatic data backups to happen over the air, and you can also use third party applications to set regular data backup intervals. Backing up is important as data isn’t a physical thing that can be replaced if it gets lost, stolen or corrupted.
How to set automatic Android backups
How do I backup an Android phone?
Each Android smartphone manufacturer (Samsung, Google, Sony, HTC) provides software that can be installed on your computer and used to backup data.
OTA smartphone backups
OTA means Over-The-Air. When you initially set up your Android phone you are required to sign in or set up a ‘Google’ Account, so that selected account data can be synced and stored in the cloud on Google's servers when your phone has an active internet connection via ‘WiFi’ or ‘3G’. This is to protect your data and ensure it stays accessible on all your Android devices, the servers are secure and reliable.
To make sure your data is getting backed up, follow these easy steps:
- Go to Apps > Settings
- In settings go to Accounts & Sync
- Make sure both ‘ Background data’ and ‘Auto-sync’ are ticked and you are ready to go
(As highlighted above, in the status bar you can see the ‘sync’ icon, which will appear when your phone is syncing)
Agent tip
All OTA backups are best done over Wi-Fi in order to preserve your 3G allowance, especially content-heavy data like high quality pictures.
To see what information Google have backed up from your device, visit https://www.google.com/dashboard/b/0/ ( login required ) scroll down to the ‘Android device’ section and click on ‘More data stored for this device’. If you scroll further down the page you will see the contacts section, where you can view and manage which contact information is backed up. Google can also backup your photos over-the-air via Google +, another Google service, or if you use Google+ you can select to automatically upload and store your photos using ‘Instant Upload’.
Another Method of over the air backups is to use 3rd Party Applications such as backup SMS+ or MyBackup Pro.
Backup SMS + is a free app that automatically backup SMS, MMS and call log entries using a separate label in Gmail / Google Calendar.
That's it for now, stay tuned for more helpful hints & tips on backing up your smartphone.