Lesson 14
Back Up Your Photos and Contacts
A backup is a safe copy of your photos, contacts, and messages kept online. If your phone is ever lost or replaced, everything comes back.
First, tell us which phone you have
Not sure which you have?
If your phone has an apple on the back, it’s an iPhone. If it has anything else, it’s almost certainly an Android.
Step 1 of 5
Understand why backups matter
A backup quietly saves copies of your important things to the internet (often called the cloud). Then, on a new phone, you sign in and it all returns.
Backing up means a lost or broken phone never means lost memories. It's the most important safety habit you can build.
Step 2 of 5
Turn on your phone's backup
On your iPhone: On iPhone, open Settings, tap your name at the top, tap iCloud, tap iCloud Backup, and turn it on.
On your Android: On Android, open Settings, tap Google, tap Backup, and turn on 'Backup by Google One.' Then tap 'Back up now.'
Leave your phone plugged in and on Wi-Fi. A full backup can take a while the first time, even up to a day.
Step 3 of 5
Back up your photos
On your iPhone: On iPhone, your photos back up automatically once iCloud Backup or iCloud Photos is turned on.
On your Android: On Android, open the Google Photos app, tap your picture in the top corner, tap 'Photos settings,' tap Backup, and turn it on.
Once this is on, every new photo is copied safely without you doing a thing.
Step 4 of 5
Back up your contacts
On your iPhone: On iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, and turn on Contacts.
On your Android: On Android, your contacts back up automatically when they're saved to your Google Account, which you set up when you signed in.
This is why we suggested saving contacts to your account earlier. Now they're protected.
Step 5 of 5
Bring everything to a new phone
When you get a new phone, you don't start from scratch. Sign in with the same account you backed up to, and choose to restore.
On your iPhone: On iPhone, during setup choose 'Restore from iCloud Backup' and sign in with your Apple Account.
On your Android: On Android, during setup sign in to your Google Account and choose to restore your backup.
Your photos, contacts, and apps flow back on their own. It feels like magic, but it's just your backup at work.