Android and iOS: back up before changing phones
Check photos, contacts, application data, and sign-in access before you erase or trade in the device that still holds your originals.
Read the 6-minute guideInsta Backups Lab / Collection
Devices & personal data
Make a plan for the information that travels with you: documents, photos, messages, mail, and contacts. Learn how to inspect exports, verify local copies, and migrate without prematurely retiring the original.
Choose the right recovery question.
3 complete guides in this collection. Start with the workflow that matches your information and its dependencies.
Choose the guide that matches the information you need to recover. Time Machine planning is a useful start for a MacBook and an external disk. Mail export testing focuses on readable messages, attachments, and contact fields. Phone migration adds account access and application-specific transfers to the checklist. Treat a familiar icon, thumbnail, or file count as a starting clue rather than proof of completeness. Keep an untouched export, test a separate working copy, and record the steps another authorized device needs to read it.
Back up Gmail and contacts with usable exports
Save a mail archive you can read: preserve export context, check attachments, test contacts, and separate access from the original account.
Read the 6-minute guide
MacBook backups with Time Machine and a drive
Plan a local MacBook backup, protect its recovery password, and test recent files and older versions before you need them.
Read the 6-minute guide