How to Enable Backup on Windows Phone 8

With the release of Windows Phone 8, Microsoft has added another new feature to the mobile OS- Backup and restore. When you sign in with your Microsoft account on your Windows Phone, you can turn on the service that lets you automatically save things to the cloud so you’ll have a backup if something happens to your phone. The cloud refers to places on the Internet, such as SkyDrive, where you can save all sorts of information such as photos, music, documents, and videos.

You can manage how you save your phone settings, text messages, and photo and videos. To configure backup, open the Settings on your Windows Phone and scroll down to Backup.

Here you can select which all things you want to backup.

1. Apps list + Settings:

App list and its settings is one of the major tasks in case you want to move from one phone or another or lost a phone. Windows Phone 8 can create a backup of all sorts of things to make the transition easier, including:

• The list of apps you’ve installed on your phone.
• Your call history.
• Your theme color.
• The accounts you’ve set up on your phone.
• Your Internet Explorer favorites.
• Settings from around your phone, including photos, messaging, email and accounts, location, Internet Explorer, lock screen, Speech, and more.

When using backup App lists and settings, the phone will wait for a Wi-Fi connection to automatically save backups. If you don’t connect to Wi-Fi for a week, any changes to your App list and settings will be saved using a cellular data connection. You can also delete all the data stored in the cloud easily using the advanced options.

 

2. Messaging:

You can automatically save your SMS and MMS messages to the cloud. That way, the next time you get a new Windows Phone, you can restore them all when you set up the phone. When you delete your messages from your phone, they’ll be deleted from the cloud as well, so you’re always in sync. You can backup Facebook chat as well along with SMS and MMS. Turning off backup will not delete previously saved messages and to delete messages from the cloud, you’ll need to turn on backup and delete the messages from your phone.

3. Photos and videos

You can automatically upload your photos and videos taken on your phone to SkyDrive and get them later from any computer or device that connects to the web. The photos and videos can be uploaded in two different quality, one of good quality which uses the cellular network if no Wi-Fi found and best quality which requires Wi-Fi.

When you want to restore these settings back to your Phone, when you set up phone, you need to use the same Microsoft ID and then use the options to restore it back.