How to Back Up and Sync My New Phone

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Got a new phone for a gift, plan to surprise someone with one or treat yourself to an upgrade? You can take steps to set up the new phone and transfer everything to make the transition a smooth one. If you give someone a phone as a gift, you can go the extra mile by providing this information or pointing the way. Sometimes we forget to do these things before we set up the new phone.

Where to start? For most phones, you’ll want to plug it in to allow it to fully charge. While it charges, back up your old phone. That way if anything goes wrong when you set up your new phone, you have your data someplace safe.

Jump to the phone you want to back up:

Windows Phone. (Also works for Microsoft Surface.)
Android devices. (Covers all Androids including tablets.)
IPhone. (Also works for iPad and iPod Touch.)

Back up Windows Phone

Out-of-the box, you can’t do a full back up of Windows Phone to a PC. You can sync your Outlook data though. The bad news … the ability to sync Outlook with Windows Phone out-of-the-box only works with Outlook.com, which puts your private information in the cloud.

If you’d rather not have your personal data in the cloud, you could do this as a temporary measure. Once you’ve set up your new phone, you can delete the backups. However, there’s another option for backing up your data without the cloud. Read on or jump here for the details.

Follow these steps to back up your Windows Phone with Outlook.com:

Go to Settings icon from the app list.
Choose Backup.
Choose Apps + settings.
Turn on Settings backup, if you wish to backup settings.
Turn on App backup, if you wish to back up your Windows Phone apps.

To delete backups, do the following:

Go to Settings icon from the app list.
Choose Backup.
Choose Apps + settings > Manage backups (Advanced on Windows Phone 8).
Select Settings backup check box.
Choose Delete.

Back up Android Devices

Your Android phone or tablet backs up your data to Google’s cloud as it requires you to sign in with your Google account. Androids can also automatically back up photos and videos. You can change this by going to Settings > Accounts & sync and deselecting the box next to Auto-sync data.

Since you have a new phone, you’ll want to back up everything before moving to the new phone. That involves saving private data to the cloud. On the “Accounts & sync” screen, choose Google and your ID to see the Sync screen. Choose each item you wish to back up.

Should you want to sync Outlook with your Samsung Galaxy S5 or another Android, it’ll require using third party software. Here’s one option that lets you skip the cloud.

Back up iPhone

Those with an iPhone can do a full back up on the computer through iTunes or online through iCloud. Take heed that both processes are buggy. In some cases, they don’t work at all.

Follow these steps to back up your iPhone with iTunes:

Open iTunes.
Connect your iOS device to your computer with a USB cable.
On iTunes, select your connected device.
Select Info tab.
Choose Sync calendars from under Calendars.
Choose Outlook.
Choose All calendars to sync all calendars or choose Selected calendars to select the calendars to sync. (Hold the CTRL key while you select.)
Choose Apply.

To back up your iPhone with iCloud, go to Settings > iCloud > Backup > iCloud Backup and slide the button to turn it on.

Automatic and effortless way to back up the old and sync with the new

If the thought of saving your private data on the web is worrisome, you can use AkrutoSync to save your Outlook Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes on your computer. A free seven day trial is available, so you might want to wait until your phone is ready and fully charged before installing the Windows PC software. This way you can set up new phone and transfer everything during the trial period.

Akruto syncs with multiple devices for no extra charge. This makes the transition easier. Once you have the new phone, back up your old phone with Akruto. And then add the new phone and Akruto will transfer everything. Here’s a video that shows you how to sync Outlook with Windows Phone. The PC part of the process will be the same for iPhone and Androids.

Here’s how to sync Outlook with iPhone. For Androids, you can follow the directions to set up Samsung Galaxy S4 to sync with Outlook (works with all Android devices) or find your Android phone for phone-specific steps.

Save yourself time and get AkrutoSync now. You should be enjoying your new phone and discovering all its cool tricks, not worrying about whether your data transfers, remains safe and is backed up. After all, tis the season to be jolly!

What will you do with the old phone? If you plan to recycle it, remember to wipe it first and check out the tips for what you can do with your old phone.