TechLife_Australia_Issue_63_May_2017

[ WWW.TECHLIFE.NET ] [ 099 ]

[]ft

HOW TO BACK UP YOUR ANDROID’S DATA

backed up. You can further manage what app
data is backed up through Google Drive —
head to ‘Settings > Manage backups’.

MESSAGING AND CALL LOGS
The vast majority of messaging apps
automatically save conversations, though jump
into the settings and double check. The default
Android SMS app (and most third-party
options) don’t back up SMS, and don’t have the
option to do so. But there are third-party apps
that can handle SMS backups as well as call
logs. A good place to start is SMS Backup &
Restore (www.carbonite.com), as well as SMS
& Call Log Backup (softrelay.ro/scb/).

DOCUMENTS
Google Drive (www.drive.google.com) is easily
the best go-to for backing up miscellaneous
files, with 15GB of free storage. It also integrates
into other Google services, but syncing files
from your phone to the cloud needs to be done
manually. Instead, the app Autosync Google
Drive (metactrl.com) can make the process
automatic and easy. Your cloud service of choice
can also perform the same tasks.

MUSIC
For many, music is streamed from a specific
service and little is stored on your actual device.
For those loading music externally, backing up
the files already on your phone can be tricky.
The simplest option is to copy the music off
your device via USB or sync it to your cloud
storage. Most likely your music is already stored
on a computer, so the goal is to make it
accessible to your device wirelessly. While
possible to do via cloud storage, Google Play
Music (play.google.com/music) is a simple (and
free) way to keep your tunes backed up and
easily managed — just download the Google

Play Music Manager software, or Chrome

plugin, to your computer and directly upload

and store 50,000 songs for free. Play Music can

also import directly from an iTunes library.

Once your music is backed up in the cloud,

loading the Google Play Music app allows it to

be streamed to your device. It’s also possible to

download the music onto your device, for

offline playback,or playback through other

music apps. In Google Play Music, tapping the

menu icon for songs, artists or albums allows

you to download it to your device. It’s worth

jumping into the Play Music settings, and

enabling a few options. ‘Stream only on Wi-Fi’

and ‘Download only on Wi-Fi’ will help avoid

large mobile data bills. Tap ‘Manage downloads’

for more info on exactly what has been synced to

your device.

APP BACKUP & RESTORE

For those not convinced by the options provided

by Google, there are loads of great third-party

backup apps. One of our favourites is App Backup

Restore – Transfer (goo.gl/TPpw3), which can

back up just about every bit of data on your phone

(aside from app settings) to local storage or to the

cloud. It can then also be used to fully restore a

phone if needed.

Android can be set to automatically backup the vast

majority of background and system data.

SMS & Call Log Backup does what it says on the tin

and saves your text messages and call log.

Google Photos offers

free unlimited storage

of photos, as well as

great management

options.