I have shared tips before on how to never lose your smartphone contacts. With technology being what it is, using the right steps will ensure that your data stays with you whether on your smartphone, tablet, or computer. It will even stay with you when you get a new phone.
But… if you have not yet set up Cloud syncing for all of your smartphone data, you will wonder how to get your data off of your old phone and onto the new one. Of course when you get a new phone you are eager to set it up and start using it as soon as possible. But an important part of using your new phone having your data from your old phone. Not having data such as phone numbers and text messages on your new device can prevent it from being as functional as it could be. Thankfully, with the advances in phone technology, transferring data can be quick and easy. But if you’ve never done it before, you might be unsure how to begin. To start transferring data from one phone onto another, follow these simple steps.
Create a Checklist
While your new phone is charging, spend some time going through the data on your old phone. It’s likely there will be files, apps or images on there that you no longer want or need. While you could transfer these to your new device, it could take up valuable storage space and prolong the process. So be ruthless and remove anything you don’t think you will need. Then make a checklist of everything you want to transfer onto your new phone. This can include calendars, contact lists, text messages, apps, and games. Also, make sure that you know the login details for apps that require it.
Backup Your Data
While transferring data between two smartphones should work, there is always a chance that something may not transfer. So once you have made your checklist, back up everything you consider to be important on your old device. There are a number of options you can choose from to do this. One option is to connect your phone to your computer with a USB cable and use the PC software for your device to create a backup. You can also move your photos and videos to your SD card. If you are planning on selling your old smartphone, try to put this off for a week or two too. If anything fails to transfer, not having your old phone could mean that it’s lost forever.
Start the Transfer
There are a number of data migration options you can use to transfer your data. You can plug both into your computer and import files. Your memory card can be inserted into your new phone. There are even apps and software you can download onto both phones that can assist in transferring certain files. However, some techniques may not work, particularly if you are switching from iPhone to Android or vice versa. If you don’t feel confident, take your phone to a data migration service provider like Forever Wireless. They should then be able to assist you in securely transferring your valuable data.
If you want to give it a go yourself, some of my favorite tools for backing up Android smartphone date include:
Google Photos: Google Photos is a great way to keep every photo that you take on your smartphone automatically backed up. Once installed Photos acts as a replacement for your phone’s Gallery. And if setup correctly, every photo that you take is saved in the Cloud. You can then access it from other devices, or from your computer.
SMS Backup+: SMS Backup+ has the ability to keep a copy of all of your text messages and your call log in your Gmail account. You can also do an on demand backup which can then be restored to your existing phone, or a new phone.
App Backup & Restore: It’s been awhile since I’ve had to use this one. App Backup & Restore allows you to backup your apps locally, or to the Cloud. From there you can restore them on a new device.
I’m a strong believer in protecting your smartphone data from the start. Doing this will ensure that you don’t lose any data, and make it easier to move to a new device. However, things happen. Hopefully the tips above will help you if you find that you need to manually move your data.
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