A relatively minor but extremely useful feature in Android is that it keeps all your data backed up on the cloud. Surprisingly, most Android beginners have no idea that they can synchronise their important data like contacts and calendar entries to Google servers.
In the majority of the cases, the feature is turned on by default but sometimes, the device is programmed to save all your contacts in the internal memory. Below is how you can make sure that all your contacts and calendar entries are sync’d to Google’s server so that they always remain safe.
Syncing your Contacts & Calendar
To make sure that all your contacts are synced to Google Contacts and Calendar, head over to Settings -> Accounts and Settings and verify that Contacts and Calendar syncing is enabled under your Google account.
From now on, you also have to save all your new entries there as well when you enter them. You can also organize your contacts and calendar entries from a PC by going to the Google Contacts and Google Calendar websites.
Importing your Contacts & Calendar
If, for some reason, your contacts are not yet synced, you can manually import them to Google by following the steps below:
Step 1: Open the People’s/Contacts app on your Android device and head over to Settings. Find the Import/Export option and then export all your contacts to the sdcard of the device. If you cannot find any such option in the People’s/Contacts app, try this app from the Play Store.
Step 2: Transfer the exported VCF file from your sdcard to your PC and then head over to the Google Contacts website.
Step 3: Click More, followed by Import. From the window that pops-up, select Choose file and navigate to the VCF file you transferred to your PC in the previous step.
Step 4: Wait for a few seconds for the import process to finish. Once done, you should see all your contacts in Google Contacts. On your Android device, make sure that you have synchronisation for Google Contacts enabled as well.
Sadly, Google does not allow users to backup their messages to the cloud, which is a bummer. However, if you use Hangouts to communicate with your friends, all your chat history will be stored in the cloud.
