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My girlfriend recently got a new Nokia 6.1 device with Android One. Her last device got damaged and data was lost so I'd like to make sure this one is optimally backed up.

I'm used to backing up my iPhone to my desktop via iTunes as well as into the cloud. Is there a similar official desktop software for Nokia devices? I could find Kies for Samsung devices but no Nokia equivalent.

The Nokia 6.1 User Guide has an entry that explains how to enable automatic backups in Settings - but no further information as to how it works. You can choose a Google account to associate the backup with but this seems optional rather than required.

Does this mean that the backup data is by default stored with Nokia and just somehow linked with her Google account? And if I set her Google account as the "Backup Account" then the data will only be stored in her Google Drive?

Finally, if you choose this automatic cloud backup option would the only recovery option be another Nokia Android One device? Or would it be possible for her to get a new phone that's for instance a Samsung and restore to that device?

Any advice would be much appreciated, I'm new to how things work with Android.

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I'm not an expert with this, but here's what I know. Nokia 6.1 as with all Android One phones, runs stock Android. And the backup/restore options that you see are all part of normal Android and you will see them across nearly all Android smartphones be it Android One or not. So, the backup that is on a Google account can be restored on any other device.

Other OEMs do have a better backup/restore setup and I recommend that you ask her to do a better job at backing up stuff.

The backup setup in Android One is a barebone setup and you'll barely recover anything beyond your list of installed apps and your contacts (inc SMS and call history). Apps which automatically backup to their server or to Google Drive (like WhatsApp) are an exception. For everything else, such as files, documents, photos, videos, music, you need to back them up yourself.

Google Photos is a nice way to keep your photos from the camera all backed up. You can also consider using Microsoft's OneDrive app. For the other items, you need to either sync them to the cloud manually or use a USB cable to copy them to the PC regularly.

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  • Thanks, this is definitely helpful. Based on you answer and other reading I've done it looks to me like the optimal approach is to enable the Android automatic backups and be very conscious about keeping everything on your SD card and backing it up via PC every week. The combination of these should keep her data pretty covered.
    – John M
    Oct 15, 2018 at 8:21

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