How to restore your data on an Android phone

Whether you're looking to transfer important information like your photos, messages, and contacts from your old Android™ phone to your new one, or if you need to restore your data after performing a factory reset, the process is simple—and we'll show you how to do it.

At Asurion, we help people learn more about their tech every day. From how to stop your phone's battery from draining fast to how to connect your phone to your TV, we help get the devices you rely on most back up and running fast. Here are our easy-to-follow steps on how to restore data to your Android phone, like the Samsung Galaxy® or Google Pixel™. If you're making the switch from iPhone® to Android, check out our guide to how to easily transfer data from your iPhone to Android.

Before you get started, you'll need to make sure that you've performed a backup on the device that contains your information—if you need help, check out our guide to how to back up your phone. This also seems like a great time to mention that if you're not backing up your phone on a regular basis, you should be. Otherwise, you risk losing important content if your phone is lost, stolen, or damaged.

How to transfer your data with Samsung Smart Switch

Samsung Smart Switch® makes it easy to move your apps, photos, contacts, messages, settings, and more from another Android or iPhone to your new Galaxy device.

How to transfer data from an Android phone to a Galaxy phone with Samsung Smart Switch

1. On your new Galaxy device, open Settings > Accounts and backup > Smart Switch. (On some Galaxy phones, you may see Bring data from old device instead.)
2. Tap Receive data.
3. Select Galaxy/Android.
4. Choose Cable or Wireless.
   • For Cable, connect both devices with a USB cable.
   • For Wireless, make sure both devices are connected to Wi-Fi and follow the on-screen instructions.
5. Choose the content you want to transfer, then tap Transfer.

How to restore your phone from a Google backup

If you previously backed up your Android phone to your Google Account, restoring your data is simple. The easiest time to restore a backup is while you're setting up a new or factory-reset device.

1. Begin setting up your Android phone.
2. When you reach the Copy apps & data screen (or a similar prompt), tap Next.
3. If your old phone isn't available, choose No cable? or Restore from a cloud backup, depending on what you see.
4. Sign in to your Google Account.
5. Choose the backup you want to restore.
6. Follow the remaining setup steps.

Depending on your backup, your apps, contacts, call history, device settings, Wi-Fi passwords, and other supported data will begin restoring automatically.

When prompted to turn on device backup for your Google Account, we recommend leaving it enabled. That way, your information is backed up automatically if your phone is ever lost, stolen, damaged, or reset.

How to restore your data without backing up your phone

If you don't have a recent backup, there are still a few ways you may be able to recover some of your information. While these methods aren't guaranteed to restore everything, they're worth trying.

• Sign in to your Google Account. If your previous phone had sync turned on, signing in can restore your contacts, calendar events, Gmail, saved passwords (if Google Password Manager sync was enabled), and other synced data. Keep in mind that SMS text messages and apps like WhatsApp typically require their own backups to restore chat history.
• Sign in to your Samsung account. If you're moving from one Samsung Galaxy device to another, signing in may restore compatible Samsung account data.
• Open Google Photos™. If your photos and videos were backed up, simply signing in to Google Photos will sync them back to your device.