How to Backup your Android Device [No Root Required]

The first thing you should do before fiddling with your Android phone is to back it up. An android device backup is critical as it can save you from unexpected data loss, corrupt drives, malware attacks, or in case you want to free up your device storage.

In fact, backups should be a recurring process and not something you should do only when you are customizing or changing your phones. In this guide, we are going to tell you how to back up the entire contents of your Android device. There are two approaches to this: With or without any root access required. Today, we are going to share the universal rootless method of backing up your android device.

Here’s an overview:

Contacts Backup:

Over the years, Google has made the whole backing up process quite easy. But there is no one-tap solution to backup everything. This is why you need to separately backup content like Media, Contacts, Apps, and other stuff. To backup your contacts, the best way is to synchronize them via your Google Account. To do this, make sure you have added your Google Account to your phone. If you haven’t already, just go to Setting > Accounts Services > Google. Now sign in using your Google Account. Do note that some settings might have a different name that varies across Android devices. But the basic process is the same.

 

Once done, access the same menu again and check the Contacts option so that it syncs with your Google Account. Once synced, you can access your contacts on any device after logging in using your Google Account. You can also access your contacts via the web.

Photos and Videos Backup:

To backup your photos and videos, we would recommend that Google Photos is the best option. However, if you want to keep the original quality of the photos and videos you have captured, that will account for your Google Drive storage. Although, you can select “High Quality” as opposed to Full Quality and backup an unlimited number of photos and videos.

Google Photos Backup

Another option to backup your photos and videos is to simply transfer them onto your microSD card. A lot of Android devices have support for microSD cards. This is a better option if you have a lot of media and don’t want that slight degrade in the quality after using Google Photos. You can connect your Android device to your computer and manually transfer all of the data using USB. These two methods require a little bit of effort. But it is better than paying Google every month for that extra storage on Google Drive.

SMS Messages Backup:

Unfortunately, Google still does not provide an option to backup SMS Messages and Texts by default means. To do this, you would have to opt for a third-party solution. Worry not, there are plenty of SMS backup apps and tools which can do the job as intended. Among one such app is SMS Backup & Restore. 

The app has got over 10 Million downloads and has got more than 100,000 ratings. The app backs up your SMS data and call logs as well in an XML file. You can either upload this file in any of the cloud storage options or simply to your MicroSD Card. You can also set up the app for recurring backups as well.

You can download the application by clicking here. 

If you want to backup texts from other applications like WhatsApp, you can do so by going to the WhatsApp Settings > Backup. This will ensure that your WhatsApp texts are backed up in Google Drive. You can easily restore your messages from Google Drive while setting up WhatsApp for the first time. For other apps like Telegram, the texts are stored on the cloud and do not need backup.

Applications and App Data Backup:

Now that you have successfully backed up your media, contacts, and texts it is time for backing up all those applications. But first of all, before thinking about backing up apps, you need to know that all apps that you have installed from the Play Store can still be installed from the Play Store again. This also means that unless an app is pulled out of the Play Store for security reasons, its latest version can be downloaded again. In case the app is now abandoned, or the developer has made it unavailable, you will still be able to access it as long as you have downloaded it at least once.

But at times, some apps’ latest version won’t work with your Android device. This is when you would need a backup to sideload it. This can be done using any File Explorer app as long as you know the location of the app you want to back up. Even if you don’t know the location, there are options to backup apps in almost every file explorer app. For example, you can download this app called File Manager. 

Now, simply choose the option to backup and move it to your desired location. You can also copy the app and its files (app data) from that location and move it to a secure one, like your microSD card or even your computer.

Installing this is also easy.  You just need to tap the icon of this app and the installer window shall open. Make sure you have enabled installing from unknown sources to do this.

Other Data Backup:

This includes all the other form of data which is not included in the above four options. Perhaps the best way to backup your device data is to manually back it up to your computer using MTP mode. Just connect your Android device to your computer using your USB cable and copy the files you think are essential.

There are some computer softwares available for both Windows and MacOS. Check out our post on Android Data Backup Tools to know more about it.

Another way of backing up all your android data (including all the points discussed above), is backing up your entire ROM. It saves your ROM as it is, which you can go back to anytime,  in case you need to. This full ROM backup needs rooting android, which I shall cover another day.

Final Words:

There are various third-party software applications available that will provide you with backup options without root access. Often at times, these software apps are paid but unreliable. We recommend you not to waste your time and money in these and manually backup everything as we have mentioned above.

If you have any questions regarding any of the processes, you can always comment down below your queries and we will definitely answer you. Do share the post with your friends and help them take a safe and secure backup of their device. I will be back soon with another interesting article. Keep visiting HiTricks. And don’t forget to join our Telegram Channel for getting the latest updates.

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Karthik M
Karthik M

Karthik is a BCA student who loves to write about science and technology. He also loves reading encyclopaedia when he's not writing.

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