Good Android phones are getting cheaper, making it possible for users to change their devices more often and experiment with many options until they find something that matches their lifestyle. Gone are the days when we’d buy a phone and keep it for three or more years. Now, people upgrade their phones more often, and for various reasons: because they have a sleeker design, better battery life, better cameras, more software updates, or they simply got bored of their old phone. But when you’re upgrading your phone, you need to do an important thing first: back it up. And that’s where Android could offer a better user experience.
Although Android’s built-in backup features have evolved a lot over the years, many people still have trouble using them, and the problems become even more obvious when compared to Android’s biggest competitor, iOS. Although Apple’s system isn’t perfect either, it’s much faster and easier to use, and you don’t have to waste hours until your new device is fully ready to use. For example, many users have complained that their contacts are duplicated or improperly synced after the upgrade and that they can’t restore all their photos and text messages.
But upgrading your phone isn’t the only case where you need a solid, reliable backup and restore system. Unpleasant, but inevitable life situations of breaking or losing your phone also need one, and unfortunately many users have lost all their data because Android didn’t have a reliable enough system.
Google Drive corrupts save files too often.
Last year, users complained about a Google Drive issue that stopped backups for nine months without warning and that users couldn’t fix without extensive tech skills. For months, Google failed to address the issue, and users of Android 9.0 and Android 10 had to resort to temporary workarounds, such as disabling lockscreen security.
But even when Google Drives does work, the process isn’t exactly seamless. For example, the file can be corrupted, so that when it’s transferred onto the new device, it causes random bugs and even affects phone functionality. We should point out that Google Drive only allows you to create only one backup per smartphone or tablet, so if that file gets corrupted because of a network connectivity issue, you’ll have to go through a lot of extra steps to get your data back. Also, if you want to try out another operating system for a few months, your files may not wait for you. Google deletes backup files after two months without warning if you don’t use that device. If you want to get your photos back, or your messages, the process is much smoother on the iPhone. On Android, you can partially solve the problem by using third-party apps, but many of them have complicated UIs that the average person can’t work their way around. Plus, these apps work differently depending on what phone and OS version you have. Usually, they stop working once Android releases a new version.
Backup options are inconsistent across various OEMs
Things become even more complicated when OEMs come into the picture. Right now, Samsung recommends users to use their backup service. So do Huawei, OnePlus, and Oppo. This makes it harder for users what they need to do, creates misunderstandings during the backup process, and makes switching to another brand very confusing.
Text message backups seem to be the most problematic. Google already has the technology to back up data in Google Photos and Calendar, but they don’t apply it to text messages. On iOS, the process is much simpler because Messages has its own iCloud backup. But on Android, if you don’t restore them during device setup, you lose access to them forever. Also, sign-in data doesn’t get transferred on Android. Apart from messages, photos, and calendars, our phones contain lots of other data from websites and apps: browser history, login details, games progress, and much more. In Apple’s ecosystem, when you upgrade to a new iPhone, all the data from your old phone is synced immediately, including your last Web searches, login data, notes, notifications, unread emails, the way icons are organized on the home screen. You can simply pick up the phone and continue what you were doing, without spending hours to set it up. On Android, app data backup is a bit of a gamble. You have to open each app separately, otherwise you don’t receive notifications. On paper, you can choose what you restore (app data, contacts, device settings, call history), but users don’t know which apps work and which don’t. You also have a limit of 25 MB, which isn’t enough for some apps. If you’re updating from an older Android phone to a flagship, some of your old data may be incompatible. Basically, even if you follow Google’s instructions by the letter, there’s still a chance you might lose some of your data.
How can Google streamline backup & restore?
Although Apple’s back and restore features are pretty much the standard, the comparison between iOS and Android isn’t exactly fair because iOS is a closed and tightly controlled system. Android can’t have the same degree of control because there are simply too many OEMs, too many software versions, and too many phones. Instead, Google can focus on fixing the bugs that affect their own services and create a more stable and reliable ecosystem for their users. Allowing users to have more than one backup file for each device would also go a long way, and it would reduce the reliance on third-party apps. Lastly, Google should work more closely with OEMs to develop a centralized solution that both beginners and advanced users can get along with.