01 · THE GAPS
The built-in backup is a good start and a poor guarantee.
Android backup restores a remarkable amount to a new phone. The problem is that what it skips is not obvious until you are standing there with a blank device.
| Data | Covered? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts, calendar, Gmail | Yes | Account-synced rather than backed up, which is a different guarantee |
| Photos and video | Only with Google Photos backup on | Subject to storage limits, and original quality is not always retained |
| App list and settings | Mostly | Apps reinstall; whether their data returns depends on the app |
| App internal data | Inconsistently | Apps can opt out, and many that hold important data do |
| SMS and call log | Usually | Sometimes only into the same manufacturer ecosystem |
| Authenticator codes | Depends entirely on the app | The single most damaging thing to lose |
| Files in device storage | No | Downloads, documents, recordings, exported data |
| Signal, WhatsApp and similar | Their own mechanism | Each has a separate backup with its own passphrase |
The pattern: anything tied to an account comes back, anything living inside an app is at the app’s discretion, and anything sitting in device storage is on you. That last category is where people lose photos they took before the sync was enabled.
02 · PHOTOS AND FILES
The bulk of it, moved to a disk you own.
Four routes, in rough order of how well they scale. Any of them beats not having a copy.
1. USB file transfer
Connect the phone, choose file transfer mode rather than charging, and copy DCIM and Pictures to your computer. Fine occasionally; slow and error-prone for tens of gigabytes.
2. ADB pull, which is faster and scriptable
adb pull /sdcard/DCIM ./phone-backup/DCIM
adb pull /sdcard/Pictures ./phone-backup/Pictures
adb pull /sdcard/Download ./phone-backup/Download
adb pull /sdcard/Documents ./phone-backup/Documents
# See what else is taking space and worth taking
adb shell du -h -d 1 /sdcard | sort -hRepeatable, faster than the file transfer protocol, and easy to put in a script. The ADB guide covers the setup.
3. Syncthing, for the version that keeps running
Syncthing performs continuous, encrypted, peer-to-peer synchronisation between your phone and your computer with no server in the middle. Set it once and photos appear on your machine without you doing anything. Point it at a versioned folder, or it faithfully propagates a deletion — synchronisation is not backup, as the backup guide explains at length.
4. Straight to a USB-C drive
Modern Android phones write directly to USB-C storage. For a one-off before a factory reset, this is the least fuss available: plug in, copy with the files app, unplug.
03 · APP DATA
The honest situation, without the outdated advice.
This is where old guides mislead. adb backup is deprecated, has been unreliable for years, and is ignored by most modern apps. It is not the answer.
What actually works, in order of preference:
- The app’s own export. Any app holding data you care about should be able to write a file you keep. Notes, trackers, journals, password managers, two-factor apps and habit trackers usually have this buried in settings. Use it, and check the export actually opens.
- Manufacturer transfer tools. Samsung, Xiaomi and others provide a phone-to-phone transfer that copies more than Google backup does. Excellent for moving to a new device, useless as an ongoing backup.
- Seedvault, if you run a custom Android build that includes it. Encrypted, local, full-system backup. Not available on a stock retail phone.
- Root-level tools such as Neo Backup. Complete, and require root, which is its own decision with its own consequences.
Make export a selection criterion. When choosing an app that will hold months of your data, check before you commit that it can write that data to a file you keep. An app with no export is a decision to lose everything in it eventually — which is exactly why every app on this site exports in a plain format.
04 · THE SMALL, CRITICAL THINGS
Small files, disproportionate consequences.
- Two-factor authenticator codes. Export them, or print the recovery codes for every account, and store them somewhere that does not require the phone. Losing the authenticator with no recovery codes locks you out of accounts permanently — this is the worst outcome on this entire page.
- Password manager. Keep an emergency kit or an encrypted export somewhere physical. If your vault is only on a phone and in an account you cannot reach without the phone, you have a circular dependency.
- Contacts. Export a vCard file even if they sync. Account-based sync is not a backup: deleting a contact deletes it everywhere.
- SMS and call logs. An SMS backup app writes an XML or JSON archive you can restore anywhere, independent of manufacturer transfer tools.
- Messaging apps. Signal and WhatsApp each have their own backup with their own passphrase or key. Set it up and write the credential down; there is no recovery path without it.
- Wi-Fi passwords. Android can display and share a saved network as a QR code. Capture the ones you will not remember.
The authenticator is the one that ends badly. A lost phone with no exported two-factor secrets and no printed recovery codes means account recovery processes that take weeks, if they succeed at all. Do that one first, tonight.
05 · THE ROUTINE
Fifteen minutes, once a month.
Connect and copy DCIM, Pictures, Download and Documents to your machine, or confirm Syncthing has been running.
The three or four holding real data. Save the exports into the same dated folder as the media.
A vCard export and an SMS archive. Both are small and take under a minute.
The phone folder should be inside whatever your computer already backs up, so it inherits versioning and the off-site copy.
$date = Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd"
$dest = "D:\phone-backup\$date"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $dest -Force
adb pull /sdcard/DCIM "$dest\DCIM"
adb pull /sdcard/Pictures "$dest\Pictures"
adb pull /sdcard/Download "$dest\Download"
adb pull /sdcard/Documents "$dest\Documents"Run it, then let your normal backup take the folder off site. That is the whole system: the phone copies into the machine, and the machine is already protected.
06 · RESTORE
The checklist for the day it matters.
Restoring is where you discover what you actually have. Work in this order.
- Two-factor first. Before anything else, restore your authenticator or use recovery codes. Everything downstream needs sign-in.
- Password manager second. Same reason.
- Then the account restore. Let Google or the manufacturer tool reinstall apps and settings. Do this before manual work so it does not overwrite it.
- Restore app data from your exports. One app at a time, verifying each import rather than assuming.
- Copy media back only if you want it on the phone. Often you do not — the archive on your computer is the copy that matters.
- Reconnect messaging backups with the passphrases you saved.
- Wipe the old phone properly — sign out of the account first, then factory reset, and only then sell or recycle it.
Test one restore before you need it. Import an export into a fresh install of the same app and confirm the data appears. Every backup on this page is a hypothesis until you have done that once.
07 · QUICK ANSWERS
Local Android backups, briefly.
No. It reliably restores account-synced data such as contacts and calendar, and it reinstalls your apps. Whether app internal data returns depends on each app, since apps can opt out. Files in device storage such as downloads, documents and recordings are not covered, and photos are only included if Google Photos backup is enabled.
Use each app own export function, which is the only reliable route on a stock device. adb backup is deprecated and ignored by most modern apps. Manufacturer transfer tools copy more than Google backup during a phone-to-phone move, and Seedvault provides full encrypted local backup on custom Android builds that include it.
adb pull is faster and more repeatable than USB file transfer, and it can be scripted into a dated folder. For an ongoing setup, Syncthing synchronises photos to your computer continuously with no server in the middle. Writing directly to a USB-C drive is the simplest one-off option.
Two-factor authenticator secrets and password manager access. Losing those can lock you out of accounts permanently, and no phone backup helps if you cannot sign in to restore it. Export or transfer the authenticator, and keep printed recovery codes somewhere that does not depend on the phone.
Not on its own. It synchronises, which means a deletion on the phone propagates to your computer. Enable file versioning on the receiving folder, or treat the synced folder as a source that your real versioned backup then protects. The distinction matters exactly once, and expensively.