Windows Phone 8: How to back up my stuff
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.
What gets saved
You can manage how you save your phone settings, text messages, and photo and videos. Just go to Settings 
> Backup.
App list+settings
One of the toughest things about replacing a lost phone or upgrading is getting your accounts and settings just the way you like them on your new phone. We 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+accounts, location, Internet Explorer, lock screen, Speech, and more.
Notes
- Backup doesn’t save apps or app data, but you can easily reinstall apps by tapping them on the App list.
- Start will reset to its default set of pinned Tiles when you restore.
To turn settings backup on or off
-
In the App list, tap Settings
, and then tap Backup. -
Tap App list + settings, and then turn backup on or off.
To delete settings backup
-
In the App list, tap Settings
, and then tap Backup. -
Tap App list + settings, tap Advanced, and then tap Delete.
Text messages
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.
To turn text message backup on or off
-
In the App list, tap Settings
, and then tap Backup. -
Tap Text messages, and then turn Text message backup on or off.
Note
Turning off backup will not delete previously saved messages. To delete messages from the cloud, you’ll need to turn on backup and delete the messages from your phone.
Photos + videos
You can automatically upload your photos to SkyDrive and get them later from any computer or device that connects to the web. (This might use your data plan and incur charges.)
To turn auto upload on or off for photos or videos
-
In the App list, tap Settings
, and then tap Backup. -
Tap Photos + videos, and then do one of the following:
- Tap Don’t upload if you don’t want to automatically upload your photos or videos.
- Tap Good quality to automatically upload photos or videos at a resolution that uses less data and SkyDrive storage space.
- Tap Best quality to automatically upload photos or videos at the highest possible resolution.
Note
You’ll need a Wi-Fi connection to automatically upload videos and best-quality photos.
