Back up your phone properly

Phones get lost, stolen, dropped and soaked. A backup turns a disaster into an inconvenience.

A man using a smartphone next to a laptop

What needs backing up

  • Photos and videos: the only thing that is usually irreplaceable.
  • Contacts and calendar: these sync automatically if they are stored in your Google or Apple account rather than "on the phone".
  • Chats: WhatsApp and similar apps have their own backup.
  • Two-factor codes: authenticator apps need their own export or cloud sync, or you can be locked out of accounts.
  • Passwords: kept safe if you use the Google or Apple password manager or another synced one.

Android

  1. Settings → Google → Backup (or Settings → System → Backup): switch on backup by Google One. It saves app data, call history, contacts, settings and SMS.
  2. Google Photos → your profile picture → Photos settings → Backup: switch it on. The free Google account storage is 15 GB, shared with Gmail and Drive.
  3. Samsung phones also offer Samsung Cloud and Smart Switch for a full backup to a computer.

iPhone

  1. Settings → your name → iCloud → iCloud Backup: switch it on. It runs when the phone is charging, locked and on Wi-Fi.
  2. Settings → your name → iCloud → Photos: switch on iCloud Photos.
  3. Free iCloud storage is 5 GB, which fills up quickly. Alternatively, back up to a computer with Finder (Mac) or the Apple Devices app (Windows).

WhatsApp

Settings → Chats → Chat backup. It goes to Google Drive on Android and to iCloud on iPhone. Choose daily or weekly and whether to include videos.

A copy at home

Cloud backups are convenient, but a second copy of your photos on a computer or external drive protects against losing access to your account. Copy them over every few months.

Check it worked

Look for the date of the last successful backup in the backup settings, and open your photos on another device or in a web browser (photos.google.com or icloud.com). A backup you never checked is a hope, not a backup.