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Newbie Questions - Sync & Backup Apps

A

apmende

Lurker
I just made the switch to Android after years of being an Iphone lad. I have some questions and thought I'd ask the experts. So, Itunes basically syncs everything on the iphone (messages, calendars, music, photos, email, etc.) That said, is there an Android app that will do the same or am I doing this correctly by using the following.

Gmail App from google on Android - syncs with email
Photos from google on Android - syncs photos
Google Calendar App - syncs calendar
Contacts+ - works alongside with my "Google Contacts" - By the way, "Contacts" from google is not compatible with the S7 Edge

What about messages and other data I want synced? Am I doing this the hard way?

Any suggestions or threads I should read would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hello and welcome to Android Forums! :)

Always glad to have another iPhone user come over to the dark side. ;) No, wait, we're the good guys. :D

Let's get to your question(s). There are no compulsory companion programs for Android like iTunes. Everything happens either on your phone or in the cloud. Now, there are apps that will give you an iTunes-like experience, but trust me, you'll be far better off letting Android handle things for you.

If you go to menu>settings>backup & restore and turn backup data on (if it's not on already) Android will backup your app data and app settings. What it won't backup is most of your user data, but we'll get to that in a minute. If you also check restore on reset, then should you need to reset your phone, or you get a new phone, as soon as you log into your Google account, it will restore your apps from the play store and then reload the settings.

Photos will sync your camera (and any other folders you specify) to your Google account as well. Very handy if you ask me.

If you go to menu>settings>accounts you can make sure calendar, contacts, etc are all sync'ing. And you can force a sync just to make sure. :) The list of what you can sync is App Data, Calendar, Chrome, Contacts, Docs, Drive, Gmail, Fit, Photos, Books, Movies, Music, Newstand, G+, Keep, Tracks, weather (why? never understood that one), People, Sheets, and Slides.

Messages, like email and SMS have to be handled according to the type of account they are. There are plenty of SMS/MMS backup apps (I use SMS backup and restore). If your email is POP3 then it should be backed up, but if it's IMAP, then it's hosted on the mail server and you don't have to worry about backups/sync.

apmende said:
By the way, "Contacts" from google is not compatible with the S7 Edge
Click to expand...

Yep. According to Google "Contacts is currently only supported on Nexus, Android One, and Google Play Edition devices running Android Lollipop and above." Not to worry, though, the native contacts app will sync your contacts back to Google just fine.

apmende said:
Any suggestions or threads I should read would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Yes, all of them, so you better get started. :D
 
lunatic59 said:
Hello and welcome to Android Forums! :)

Always glad to have another iPhone user come over to the dark side. ;) No, wait, we're the good guys. :D

Let's get to your question(s). There are no compulsory companion programs for Android like iTunes. Everything happens either on your phone or in the cloud. Now, there are apps that will give you an iTunes-like experience, but trust me, you'll be far better off letting Android handle things for you.

If you go to menu>settings>backup & restore and turn backup data on (if it's not on already) Android will backup your app data and app settings. What it won't backup is most of your user data, but we'll get to that in a minute. If you also check restore on reset, then should you need to reset your phone, or you get a new phone, as soon as you log into your Google account, it will restore your apps from the play store and then reload the settings.

Photos will sync your camera (and any other folders you specify) to your Google account as well. Very handy if you ask me.

If you go to menu>settings>accounts you can make sure calendar, contacts, etc are all sync'ing. And you can force a sync just to make sure. :) The list of what you can sync is App Data, Calendar, Chrome, Contacts, Docs, Drive, Gmail, Fit, Photos, Books, Movies, Music, Newstand, G+, Keep, Tracks, weather (why? never understood that one), People, Sheets, and Slides.

Messages, like email and SMS have to be handled according to the type of account they are. There are plenty of SMS/MMS backup apps (I use SMS backup and restore). If your email is POP3 then it should be backed up, but if it's IMAP, then it's hosted on the mail server and you don't have to worry about backups/sync.



Yep. According to Google "Contacts is currently only supported on Nexus, Android One, and Google Play Edition devices running Android Lollipop and above." Not to worry, though, the native contacts app will sync your contacts back to Google just fine.



Yes, all of them, so you better get started. :D
Click to expand...
Much Appreciated! I will get my "Read" on!
 
Feel free to ask any questions you might have, even if they've been asked before. We don't mind repeating ourselves, nor do we mind repeating ourselves.



Didn't I just say that? ;) :D
 
1. You don't need to download Google Calendar app. The built in S Planner calendar syncs to Google.

2. As previously mentioned, the built in contacts app does as well.

3. You can use Samsung Smart Switch for PC/Mac to make a more or less complete backup of the phone.
 
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