Back up or restore data on your Pixel device

You can back up data and settings from your phone to your Google Account. Before you transfer data to a new phone or reset your phone to fix issues, back up your data. You can get your saved data to a new phone or after a reset. Your photos, videos and contacts are synced to their respective services and are separate to device backups.

Learn how to transfer data and restore from a backup with our step-by-step tutorial.

Go to this video with audio descriptions: Back up data on a Pixel phone

Automatically back up your device

Check which photos, data and settings you backed up

You can check what data and which apps are included in your backup.

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap Google services Backup.
3. Under 'Backup details', review what data is backed up on your device.

Check the last backup date from a browser

You can check when you last backed up your data, and how many backups you have, from Google Drive.

1. Go to Google Drive.
2. On the left, click Storage.
3. Click Backups next to the icon.
4. You'll find a list of backups from devices and when they were last modified.

Switch backup accounts

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap System Backup.
3. Tap Account storage.
4. Tap the Google Account that you want to use for backups. If the account that you want to use isn't there, tap Add account.

Erase after backing up

After you back up, you can reset your device by erasing everything on it. Learn how to reset your device to factory settings.

Transfer data from a backup

You can use a backup to transfer data if you have a backup of a previous device and no longer have the device, or don't want to use it to directly transfer to your new Pixel.

Copy data from your cloud backup

You can restore all or chosen data categories from a cloud backup during initial setup.

Pixel 9 and later: If you prefer to do the rest later, or experienced issues during initial setup, then you can restore after initial setup.

During initial setup

Step 1: Sign in to your Google Account

1. On the 'Set up using another device' screen, tap Skip.
2. Connect to a Wi-Fi network.
3. Sign in to your Google Account.
   • Follow the on-screen instructions.
   • Make sure that you agree to the Terms of Service.
   • If you've inserted a physical SIM, you'll automatically connect to a mobile network. If not, you'll have the option to add an eSIM or skip.

Step 2: Set up security features for your device

1. Set up a PIN.
2. Set up Fingerprint Unlock.
3. Set up Face Unlock.

Step 3: Restore your data

1. When asked to 'Restore data from an old device', tap the device that you want to restore your data from.
2. On the 'Confirm your old Pixel screen lock' screen, tap Next.
3. Choose what data you want to copy.
4. Tap Restore.

After initial setup (Pixel 9 and later)

Important: You can only restore data from one previous device. If you want to restore from a different device, first reset your Pixel phone.

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap Back up or copy data Copy data using Android Switch Start.
3. If you used another device to transfer data, scan the QR code through the old device.
   • If you didn't use another device to transfer data, you can choose a device to copy data from.
4. Choose the data that you want to transfer over.
5. Tap Copy.

Tips:

• If errors occur during data transfer, try again to retrieve missing data types. Learn what does and doesn't transfer during post-setup data transfer.
• If you haven't set up your backup, learn how to back up data on your Pixel phone.

Back up your previously restored data

You can back up your previously restored data when you either:

• Set up a new device.
• Add additional data from your back up at any time from Settings.

Related resources

• Add or remove an account
• Recover a recently deleted Google Account
• Transfer files between your computer and phone
• Choose the upload size of your photos and videos