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How to backup and restore an Android phone using a Google One account [Video]

The backup and restore process for your Android phone or tablet is now a whole lot easier if you are a Google One subscriber.

If you do pay to gain extended monthly cloud storage, you are now able to back up your device and restore without needing to dive into individual app settings and using multiple backup services to save your photos, contacts, videos, and MMS messages — so long as you have a Google One subscription.

External messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger will still need to be backed up externally but can be linked directly to your Google Drive account for easier backup and restoring of important data.

Google One backups are able to automatically store all of your images and video at the original quality taken — provided you have enough storage space on your account available. Having the peace of mind that your precious memories are all saved in their hi-resolution glory is no doubt of interest and will be really useful to some of you out there. It is worth noting that if you own a Pixel 2 or 3, you will get free hi-resolution storage for your photos and videos for up to three years.

How to backup your Android phone using Google One

  1. Launch the dedicated Google One app
  2. Login to your associated Google account
  3. Press the ‘Back up now button’ or ‘See details’ to select what you want to backup

How to restore your Android phone backup using Google One

  1. Launch the Google One app on the phone you want to restore
  2. Login to your associated Google account
  3. Scroll down to the ‘Restore backup’ section
  4. If you have a backup saved, you will now be able to restore your device

You can also disable mobile data backups of your Android phone if you do not want the Google One service to eat into your data allowance.

More Android guides:

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Avatar for Damien Wilde Damien Wilde

Damien is a UK-based video producer for 9to5Google. Find him on Twitter: @iamdamienwilde. Email: damien@9to5mac.com