Best back up method for an unrooted phone?

[gtcharlie]

Had a problem with my battery when I first received my G3. The operating system was causing a huge drain to the point I would lose half of a full battery life overnight. Did a factory reset and that changed everything. Would only lose about one percent overnight following the reset and sometimes it would still be at 100 percent when I got up. 3 months later I am again seeing a drain although nothing as drastic as before. This past week I was losing 10 to 15 percent overnight indicating to me that the operating system is once again misbehaving. I would love to reset like I did last time but getting my G3 back into the shape it was before the reset was a pain in the ***.

Is there anyway to do a backup similar to the iPhone cloud backup? Honestly that is the one thing I miss about my iPhone. The ability to wipe everything clean and then simply restore everything the way it was is an awesome feature. I know there are some partial things but how about something which will save app data and restore my settings and screens back to the way they were. Obviously I will want my pictures and contacts to be restored as well. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Rukbat]

Use Helium. You'll have to download a file to your PC and connect the phone to the PC, so that Helium gets permission to back things up. (the full instructions come up when you run the app.) Make sure you tell it to back up the apps as well as the data.

I personally use Helium just for data, and App Backup & Restore for the apps themselves, because each app is backed up as an apk file, so they can be installed without even installing AB&R.

For texts, SMS Backup & Restore.

For contacts, if you entered them as Google Contacts, they're on Google Contacts and will restore to the phone when you put in your Google account. If they're not Google contacts (Phone, Device or SIM contacts - which they shouldn't be), you can sync to MyPhoneExplorer, copy a contact, paste it, edit the type in the pasted copy, then delete the original. (Editing the type is the one thing we can't do in contacts - and Google should fix that.)

Everything else? Manually drag&drop your ringtones, notification and alarm tones, pictures, videos, etc., to your computer.

 

[gtcharlie]

Thanks for the response. I really was looking for an all in one solution which will not only back up everything but also restore the phone to the way it was including my page layouts. Perhaps that does not exist in the Android world at this point?

 

[Rayfire]

AFAIK you have to root it and use Titanium backup. That's one thing I miss from having an iPhone as well.

 

[xocomaox]

Thanks for the response. I really was looking for an all in one solution which will not only back up everything but also restore the phone to the way it was including my page layouts. Perhaps that does not exist in the Android world at this point?

This does not exist for Android because it's too customized.

iOS devices have one structure that you basically cannot change. Think of it as an App drawer with some fancy widgets built into the interface.

 

[gtcharlie]

That's kind of what I figured. Being fairly new to Android can someone explain why if I root my phone it becomes doable with Titanium backup?

 

[Rayfire]

That's kind of what I figured. Being fairly new to Android can someone explain why if I root my phone it becomes doable with Titanium backup?

From what I read before, rooting enables you to access everything on your phone, basically it digs deeper into system files, settings etc. That's why you see some apps that requires root because they need access to those. I haven't exactly rooted my phone, I'm fine with stock so maybe someone here can explain that better.

Now that I think about it, I might root just for Titanium Backup lol.

 

[mouseglider]

From what I read before, rooting enables you to access everything on your phone, basically it digs deeper into system files, settings etc. That's why you see some apps that requires root because they need access to those. I haven't exactly rooted my phone, I'm fine with stock so maybe someone here can explain that better.

Now that I think about it, I might root just for Titanium Backup lol.

If your familiar with Windows, rooting is like having admin rights. With that being said, I like to root, but stay on stock roms and kernels and use a custom recovery like TWRP, because than you can make a "nandroid" (nandroids are like computer hard drive images) and restore your device exactly how it was before if you have have terrible crash or installed something that hosed your device. To me nandroids are way better than a backup because it restores your device exactly how it was when you made your last "nandroid backup".

 

[KeepItReal]

Explore your phone carriers methods of backing up. Also your phone. Samsung had Samsung Kies, a PC program. HTC had HTC Sync, also, I believe, a PC program. You would connect you phone via the USB cable. Verizon provides the Verizon Cloud, which is almost as close to iCloud that you can find. With Android, your Gmail & password tracks environmentals about your phone, that will come back (provided you have Backup checked-see Settings Backup & Reset) such as your Front wallpaper, your Calendar (again, if you have been entering into Gmail) Playstore apps are also tracked (Playstore, top left menu, My Apps, slide to All). I do not know what the other carriers provide. Verizon Cloud, coupled with your Gmail & password, I believe, is one off the best & easier backup to do. I use it, and I am always resetting my G3....Lol. Everything comes back. Works in Wi-Fi (can change to cellular...Just say no). I don't know if Motorola has a backup solution.

Posted via the Android Central App