Unsplash/ olegmagni
It’s payday, and you’ve finally splashed out on a gorgeous new cellphone. You want to get going and start using it straight away. But what about all the data that you still need that’s currently sitting on your old phone?
We’re talking about those holiday and momentous occasion photos, contacts for your family and friends new and old, and what about all that great music you listen to? And don’t forget about all those text messages you just have to keep for old time’s sake. You don’t have to let go of it all. Depending on what device you have, there are some super simple steps you can follow before you can get going and really enjoy your new phone.
Follow these simple steps
The easiest way to transfer your data to your new phone is to do it either wirelessly or with a USB cord from one phone to another, meaning you don’t have to back up your data onto a cloud or a computer. This works for Android phones, but not iPhones. If you have an iPhone, you need to back up your data from your old phone first.
What can you back up?
You can back up and transfer pretty much anything including:
- Contacts
- Wifi passwords and connections
- Apps
- Photos, videos, and wallpaper
- Notes
- Music
- Alarms
- Call history
But you can’t back up voicemails, fingerprint or face ID settings.
Use a USB cable
Grab a USB cable and connect your two phones together. Some newer Android phones will come with the cable and adaptor to do this, but you might need to buy one. Then, just turn on the new Android and just follow the instructions!
The wireless way
Got an iPhone? Just put the new iPhone near the old one, and a screen will appear asking you if you want help to set up the new phone. You’ll see a pattern on the new phone’s screen. Take a photo of it with the old phone. The old phone will then direct you to set up on the new phone. On the new phone, put in the passcode of the old phone. Then you can set up a biometric ID, and your iCloud ID will transfer over. You can then transfer old data onto the new phone from an iCloud or iTunes back-up. Simple! If you’ve got the Samsung Galaxy Android, then you can transfer your old data using their Samsung Smart Switch App.
Neither of the above work?
Then, you’ll have to back up your old data onto a cloud or your computer, which takes a bit longer. Do a back up on your phone before you start, unless you’ve got automatic backups set up on the old phone. As soon as you’ve backed up the data, you can transfer it across to your iPhone or Android device.
Backing up to an Android phone
Most people back up onto their Google account by going to Settings >Advanced > Backup and turn on the backup option. Then, plug in your phone to your computer, open the message that pops up saying: “charging this device via USB” and go for the “file transfer” option. You then need to drag the files you want to keep from your phone to your computer. Obviously, this is a bit of a long way around, but it does work.
And, while we’re on the subject, no one wants to face losing their cell phone, or damaging it and losing everything. So, remember to sync and back up all your data. Use iCloud if you have an iPhone, or Google if you have an Android. That way, if anything does go wrong, it’ll be one less headache.