What to do before a factory reset and how to restore the phone to present customization.

[Hgouck]

I have never done a factory reset and was considering doing one. Before I go through the process of wiping the phone and setting it back up, I had a few questions.
1. Were and how are people backing up their personal information like pictures and documents and how do you restore them?

2. Were and how are people backing up their contacts and how do you restore them?

3. Were and how are people backing up their messages (SMS and MMS) and how do you restore them?

4. Do you loose your customization of your contacts? I have different ring tones for different groups of people. I also have pictures that come up when a specific contact call like my wife.

5. What other things should I be think of that will need to be backed up and set up again?

Any help provide would be greatly appreciated. And if there is a thread or a "how to" somewhere and I missed it, directing me there would also be great.

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[doogald]

1. Were and how are people backing up their personal information like pictures and documents and how do you restore them?

Photos are automatically backed up to both Google+ and Dropbox as they are taken. I also use an app called DropSync to sync folders that I have selected from storage to Dropbox. That makes it easy to get them all back when I factory reset.

If you don't use Dropbox, the same company has an app called Autosync, which can do the same thing for Google Drive.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...etails?id=com.ttxapps.dropsync&token=cWPxUIsP
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ls?id=com.ttxapps.dropsync.pro&token=D55C8sV-
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...tails?id=com.ttxapps.drivesync&token=cn7PKFc-

2. Were and how are people backing up their contacts and how do you restore them?

Quite simple, contacts are synced with my Gmail account, and appear automatically as soon as I set up my Google account again on the phone. I am pretty sure that if you used Verizon Backup Assistant to backup contacts, the same thing will happen.

3. Were and how are people backing up their messages (SMS and MMS) and how do you restore them?

I back up using an app called SMS Backup+ to my Gmail account (it also backs up call logs to a Google calendar of my choice as I make and receive them, which is nice.) I don't bother restoring them - if I need to reference them again, they are in Gmail.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...tails?id=com.zegoggles.smssync&token=wyxYfdXk

4. Do you loose your customization of your contacts? I have different ring tones for different groups of people. I also have pictures that come up when a specific contact call like my wife.

Contact photos are definitely synced. I don'y use custom ringtones, so I'm not sure about that.

5. What other things should I be think of that will need to be backed up and set up again?

You'll want to make sure that you've copied any custom ringtones in storage.

I also made a post about a factory reset I did last January: http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-maxx/814155-factory-reset-after-kitkat-update.html

You'll have to go through many of the settings to make sure that they are back to the way that you want. I think that you have to reestablish pairings to Bluetooth devices (though WiFi should be all set if you have your Google account set to automatically back up - that's settings / backup & reset, and make sure that "back up my data" is checked - and you choose to restore when you go through the set up after the reset.)

Before the reset, tap settings / Google / tap your Google account and make sure that "app data" is checked.

I can't think of much else though...

 

[Hgouck]

For the record setting up after a factory reset sucks. And no custom ringtones for contacts do not restore.With that said it is not hard just tedious. Disabling apps again, Downloading all the updates, Setting up the Home screens the way they were. I don't know how ya'll do it regularly. Once is enough for me.I hope this fixes some little annoyances I was having. And thank you doogal for your help.

 

[skatergirl]

I always say after a factory reset that it was not that big of a deal and that it should be done on a regular basis. It takes much less time than to reformat a computer and the phone runs wonderful after a factory reset. However, I hate doing it and avoid doing it.

 

[doogald]

For the record setting up after a factory reset sucks. And no custom ringtones for contacts do not restore.With that said it is not hard just tedious. Disabling apps again, Downloading all the updates, Setting up the Home screens the way they were. I don't know how ya'll do it regularly. Once is enough for me.I hope this fixes some little annoyances I was having. And thank you doogal for your help.

iOS truly does this better. I'd love for Google to step up their game on this, but it may be too late with all of the custom builds for phones by Samsung, HTC, LG, Moto, erc. However, for close to stock phones like the Motos in the last two years, it should be better.

 

[Hgouck]

My phone does seem to run smoother since the factory wipe and today was one of the best battery days in a long while.

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[copywrite]

My phone does seem to run smoother since the factory wipe and today was one of the best battery days in a long while.

Posted via the Android Central App

Looks good but how much screen time was in there?

 

[Hgouck]

Looks good but how much screen time was in there?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Hgouck]

Sorry let me put these screen shots together

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Hgouck]

Sorry let me put these screen shots together

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[copywrite]

That is right about at what I get on average (10% battery drain for every hour of screen time, plus 1% for every hour). A few days ago I managed to get over 10 hours of screen time over an 18 hour day and still have 25% remaining.