Any online backup service?

[opeycunningham]

Hi all,

If this has been addressed elsewhere apologies--and please direct me or give me the search terms...\

I have send my 6P back for an exchange after only a month. I do love it but had serious issues with the screen flashing white over the leftmost 1/3, then settling down with a pencil-thin stripe on the left edge. That's a different discussion if anyone wants to hear.

Short story: Google is replacing under warranty and although I don't have a ton of stuff on the phone (pictures, etc.) just wondering what you recommend for back up/restore if there is such a thing for Android. Until the last several months or so I've been an iPhone devotee so easy restore from backup. Does Android have anything like that?

incidentally that's one of my peeves about droids--spend all this time setting it up and customizing the way I want it, now I gotta re-do it. There are worse things I guess, just kind of a pain.

Thanks,
J.

 

[dc52ltr]

Everything you need to back up ie apps and photos should be backed up in Google I believe

 

[misskalunji]

I use G Cloud (free) with the Google one.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[PaulQ]

Everyone... I am open to correction here but this is how I understand it for a non-rooted, regular vanilla 6P....

Actually, it is only now that app settings backup has become fully integrated into the OS. So, prior, Google backed up all your apps and some of your basic settings but individual app's settings were not backed up. When you restored your phone, it would put the apps back but it would be as if they were freshly installed. Even that was sometimes problematic where it wouldn't restore all of your apps, just most of them.

But - of course it's not all wonderful yet - each app developer needs to include the app backup system in their app so it will take advantage of Marshmallow's new feature. As far as I know, that has not happened much yet.

All of your contacts, emails, calendar will definitely be there for you when you get your new phone. That's all in Google's cloud.

Your pictures, videos, music that you have locally stored are gone unless you actively copy them to a cloud service such a Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. You have to do the copying or use an app like DropSync to automate it (this is what I use).

Google Photos is a great option for photos and videos but keep in mind that it may compress some of it if you are using the "high quality" setting that gives you unlimited storage. If you are using the "original size" setting and have the space, you'll have all your pics and videos waiting for you on your new phone without incident.

Eventually, Android will have a complete back-up and restore solution but as far as I know, we're not there yet.

Oh... if you are rooted, there are backup apps that supposedly do a great job of backing up all your settings and apps but I'll let someone else talk about that. Anyone?

 

[hallux]

PaulQ pretty much nailed it. The apps you have installed, your home screen layout (if using the Google launcher), email, contacts, calendar and saved WiFi settings are pretty much all saved to your Google account and should restore when you sign in with your account.

If an app developer has updated to the proper API level and identified what to back up, app data can be backed up using Google Drive. Head into your Google Drive app settings then go to Manage Backup to see what apps can be backed up this way.

 

[anon(847090)]

I have gone pretty much cloud based for my backup needs but like PaulQ said the backup feature is still not complete.
but for non root users you could use an app called helium to backup app data
I expect about 6 more months for the app to keep up with the backup service.

 

[PaulQ]

Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment but I sometimes think there is something to be said for a clean install of everything and setting up many of your apps again from scratch. Am I crazy?

 

[bjrosen]

If you are using Nova launcher you can back it up to your Google drive and then restore it when you get the new phone. The installed apps are automatically backed up to Google but not their content. Photos are all backed up to Google Photos and Dropbox( if you have dropbox installed).

 

[opeycunningham]

Thanks you guys. I am not rooted. I backed up as much as I could so far as I could figure it out. About half the important stuff ported to the new phone. I'm sure there was a better way that I could have gotten more done automatically but I'm a novice Android user and I frankly didn't have the time to figure it out. It is a mild to moderate pain...the kind of thing that has driven me away from the platform in the past. I do love this phone and o hope the screen holds up this time!

On another note, customer service was pretty good. When I got ahold of them...had to stay on top of them as far as communication but they did the right thing and we're very accommodating.