What Android data is automatically backed up

We use our devices for everything these days, many of us are not able to do our work or complete our life without the help of smartphone or tablet. Contacts, email, notes, apps – they have them all, and we rely on their presence more than we’d probably like to admit.

Just thinking about it, it’s hard to imagine how we’d handle life if everything stored on our phones suddenly disappeared. Hopefully, you never have to worry about it, and because our devices do such a great job of supporting things on their own, chances are you won’t lose it all if disaster strikes.

For the most part, Android devices back up a lot of important information on their own, so there’s nothing to worry about. Other things are backed up only if you choose to, and some can’t usually be backed up.

If your phone is lost, destroyed, or anything in between, you don’t have to worry about either of these being gone forever. The best part is that you don’t have to do anything to back them up, as this is an automatic feature of Android devices.

Everything is saved and linked to the relevant Google service, for example, your bookmarks, passwords and everything else related to your web browsing will be saved in Google Chrome, while your photos will be stored in Google Photos.

Other services, such as Hangouts, store chat logs in Gmail while apps are linked to your Google Account.

What it comes down to is that the things you can least afford to lose will not be lost. Whatever happens, you’ll be able to move on to a new device and pick things up pretty much where the old one left off.

In some ways, it’s probably for the best that these aren’t saved automatically. That doesn’t mean you can’t back them up – because you can – just that they’ll require some work from you.

When it comes to text messages, you’ll need an app like “SMS Backup & Restore” or “SMS Backup+,” both of which are highly-rated and free in the Google Play Store. Of course, there are other options as well.

When it comes to things like authenticator data, Google doesn’t store it online simply for security reasons. So, should you start afresh, you’ll lose the ability to perform two-factor authentication unless you set it up again.

However, you will be able to authenticate via SMS or a printed authentication code, which will allow you to set up a new device with the updated Google Authenticator code.

As far as your custom settings, Bluetooth connection, and other security data, there’s not much you can do. However, it should not be the end of the world. Just make sure you remember your passwords.

and then they are

Some things can be saved, although this is more on a case-by-case basis. Games that use an Android backup service or require a Facebook or Google-type login will be remembered by any Android device you play, but some will stop your progress as soon as you change it. It really depends on the game.

As for apps, some will back up by default, but others will have a setting you’ll need to change. If it’s important to save what you have, you’ll want to go into the app and browse its settings to see if that option exists.

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