Looking for an easy to follow guide on how to restore an Android device from a backup? Well we have you covered now with everything you need here – and the great news is that it is easy for anyone to learn – you’ll be good in no time!
There will unfortunately come a time when you have to restore your Android device for one reason or another.
Generally, this means that you will have to reinstall just about every app you had as well as reconfigure those apps to be exactly the way they were before.
This can result in anywhere from a few minutes of lost time to hours of your day being spent on this activity.
Nobody wants this to happen.
This is part of a series of articles I have written to help with your device management and security :
How to Backup an Android Phone or Device
How to Factory Reset an Android Phone
Also remember to check out our security posts – Signs Your Phone is Hacked – Is your phone being monitored and how to remove spy software apps and unhack your Android phone.
Thankfully, there is a way that you can avoid this trouble. For instance, if you regularly back up your Android device, you can simply restore the Android device from the latest backup to have everything where it was when you last backed it up.
This can save you from wasting a considerable amount of time.
Google Backups for Android Phones and Devices
The one thing that you should keep in mind is that Google will only save a single backup of your device. This is one of the many reasons why you should back up your device regularly, so that in the instance when you find yourself having to restore the device from its factory settings, you will have to do as little updating as possible.
Aside from remembering this, restoring an Android device from backup is actually an extremely easy process.
In fact, once you get the hang of it the first time, you won’t have to give a second thought the next time you find yourself needing to restore your Android device.
Figuring Out Where the Backup Is
First, of course, you will have to get a good idea of where your backups are located. The most efficient way to check for this is to look at your Google Drive account and look at the option on the left labeled “Backups.” If you have backed up your device, you will see a backup listed under this option.
If you do not see a backup option matching your device, that means that your device isn’t backing up to the Cloud.
To ensure that your Android device is, in fact, backing itself up to the Cloud, you simply have to get to the “Settings” menu on your Android device and then go to the “Google | Backup” option. If the slider is off, then the device is not backing up.
Once you turn that slider on, your device will begin backing itself up to your Google Drive. Figuring out where the backup setting is located is a task that is actually very simple, but restoring from that backup is an even simpler process.
Restoring from the Android Backup
Once you have figured out where your Android backup is stored, you can start to learn how to restore your device from a backup. Generally, once you begin this process, you will be asked if you want to copy data or if you want to set the device up as new.
You should select the option to copy data, as this will allow you to choose the backup that you want to restore from. When prompted, you should select the option to restore your device from a backup from the Cloud.
Once you have selected this, you will be asked to sign in with your Google account, which shouldn’t be a difficult task. After you have agreed to the Terms of Service, you will be sent to a screen where you can choose the device that you want to restore from.
Android Device Settings
Something interesting that Google does is if you have backed up more than one device, you don’t necessarily have to select the backup that corresponds with the device you are using now. This is because the backups contain device settings, such as app and Wifi configurations, meaning that you can restore from just about any backup that has the apps and Wifi configurations that you want.
This is something that can make life easier if you have one Android device with settings that you want for the rest of your devices.
With that being said, once you select the device that you want to restore from backup, all you have to do is sit back and relax as your Android device begins restoring from that backup.
The amount of time this process takes will of course depend on the apps that you had installed.
Nonetheless, once the restoration is complete, you will be able to access the apps as you otherwise would have been able to.
This means that no matter your reason for restoring a device from backup, you will simply be able to restore from a backup and continue on with your life as if nothing had happened.
Depending on the number of apps that you had on this particular backup, you won’t have to wait very long at all to have everything ready to go.
In the end, restoring an Android device from backup is one of the simplest things that you can do, as long as you know where to get the backup data from.
Once you know this, restoring your device will be a process that you won’t even have to lend a second thought to.
Are you an iPhone user? We have some guides for Apple users too:
How to Restore an iPhone From a Backup
How to Factory Reset an iPhone
I hope these articles will help!
