Congratulations! You are a clever, clever person and you just replaced your aging Android device with a brand-spanking-new one! Now what? You have hundreds of apps on your old device (probably a phone) and all of the data that goes with them. You also have a phone and message log you don’t want to lose. And it would be nice if all your pictures and music moved over nicely as well.
New Phone Out of the Box
As soon as you get your new phone out, go ahead and connect to Google to get your synced contacts, email, Google Voice, etc. Don’t worry about installing any of your previous apps or changing any settings.
Backup and Restore
Let’s face it. You’ve probably spent hours setting up your phone the way you like it. You’ve had it for months and years and have your apps, contacts, and settings just the way you like them. What you want to do is backup that old phone and then restore the data to your new phone. This will take a little time, but will be super easy.
The tool for you is Rerware’s MyBackup Pro, available in the Google Play Store for around $3-$4. (I paid $2.99) There is a free version of MyBackup, but it’s a trial for the Pro version and you won’t be able to restore any backups you make to your new phone. So get the paid version. Here’s how to get started:
Backup the Old
- Head to the Market and install MyBackup Pro on your old phone. (You’ll install it on the new phone later.) Run the app after it installs and create a password/email.
- From the welcome screen, tap “Backup”.
- You’ll be asked whether to back up “Applications and Media” or “Data.” Start with “Applications and Media.”
- MyBackup Pro will ask you whether you’d like to back up the data to the SD card, or to Rerware’s servers. We’re going to save to the SD card, so tap that and move on.
- The app will then ask you whether you want to back up just apps, photos, etc. Check each item you’d like, and tap Ok to continue.
- You’ll then see the name of the backup file that MyBackup is about to create, and you can edit it if you choose. Tap Ok to start the backup job. It’ll take a while.
- When it’s complete, the app will show you a backup summary of all of the items it’s backed up successfully and where they’re stored.
- Repeat the process for “Data.” This time, you’ll be asked if you want to back up your contacts, call log, bookmarks, SMS messages, MMS messages, system settings, home screen, alarms, dictionary, calendar, or playlists. If you’re a heavy Google user that syncs to the Google cloud, you may not need to sync your contacts, calendar, photos, etc. Check the items you’re interested in and tap Ok to continue.
- Again, you’ll see the name of the backup job (which you can change) and you’ll have to tap Ok once more to kick off the backup job.
- When it’s complete, the app will again show you a backup summary of all of the items it’s backed up successfully and where they’re stored.
- Close the app, shut down the phone, and remove the memory card.
Restore the New
When your backup jobs are complete, it’s time to move them to your new phone. You can copy the files over USB, copy them up to Dropbox, or just take out your SD card and pop it into the new phone.
- Make sure the backup files are in the right folder on your new phone’s SD card (probably in the /rerware/MyBackup folder.)
- Open the Google Play Store (Previously the Market) on your new phone and locate “MyBackup Pro” in your list of apps. It should show “Purchased” next to it. Install and open the app.
- From the welcome screen, tap “Restore.”
- You’ll be prompted to restore either “Applications and Media” or “Data.” Start with “Applications and Media.” The app will search for available backup files on the SD card to restore from, and it should find the one you just copied.
- Tap it to restore, and the app will restore your previously installed apps, and your music and photos back to their respective directories.
- Repeat the process for “Data”.
- When it’s complete, you may need to click “Install” for each individual app to be installed. This depends on your phone’s permissions.
- Afterwards, the app will again show you a restore summary of all of the items it’s successfully restored.
After the Restore
Depending on your applications and settings you may have to
- Open all your apps and sign in. Your login name and passwords are not saved.
- If you had a Folders App (like Folder Organizer), you’ll need to open that app and check your labels, then reinstall the folders on your home screens. For this I did an export on my old phone and uploaded it to Dropbox. I then downloaded it from Dropbox on my new phone and imported the old stuff.
- Re-add widgets
- Set your wallpaper on your home screen
