[GUIDE] How to Backup & Restore Android Apps + Data (Root Required)

Previously I explained how to backup and restore android apps.  But in this tutorial, I will be explaining the method of backing up apps and app data.

Note:

This method requires root access.

Backup (Easiest Method)

Steps:

1. Open Play Store and search for “Titanium Backup” and install it.

Android App Backup and Restore Titanium Backup

2. Open the app.

3. The app will ask for root permission and you should grant it.

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5. This is the main screen of the app.

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6. Tap on the check sign at the top right corner of the screen.

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7. The following screen will open up, giving us several backup and restore options.

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> No.1 will backup all installed (user) apps (with data).

> No.2  will backup all system apps (with data).

> No.3 will backup both installed apps and system apps + their data.

8. For the purpose of this tutorial, we’ll only backup installed apps.

9. The following screen will open up which shows number of installed apps that we have.

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10. We can either select all apps, or select only specific apps that we want to backup.

11. When we’re done selecting apps, we tap on the check sign button at the top right corner to start the backup process.

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12. The backup process will start.   Based on the amount of the apps that you want to backup, the process will take some time.

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Backup using Update.zip (Advanced)

Note:
> We can also create “Update.zip” file of the backed up apps so that we can flash it via Recovery (CWM or TWRP) any time we want (MENU > Special Features > Create ”update.zip”.  But this feature is only available on PRO version of the app, we highly recommended by the way, most flasholics have this in their app drawer.

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> The below screen will show up, here we can choose the following:

1. Scripting type.

2. Whether to install the apps as user apps or as system apps (normally user apps can be uninstalled but system apps can’t unless you have root access).

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> When the process is done, the “update.zip” file will be made inside the root of the phone’s internal storage.

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> We can also change backup location on internal storage and several other things.

See MENU > Preferences > Backup folder location

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> We can also send the backup file to the cloud services including Drop Box, Box, Google Drive (PRO Version only).

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Restore (Easiest Method)

Steps:

1.Tap on the check sign at the top right corner of the screen.

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2. Go to restore section and choose “Restore all apps with data”.

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3. The following will show up, showing us the apps to be restored.  We can choose all apps or select only specific apps to be restored.

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5. After that tap on the check sign at the top right corner of the screen to start restoring.

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6. The restoring process will start and for each restored apps, titanium backup will prompt you with an installation window to re-install the app (with its data).  The PRO version does this automatically, we highly recommended.

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7. Follow the installation process, after the installation is finished, DO NOT open the app.

8. Tap on the finish button to go back to restoring next app, till the restoring process finishes completely.

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Note:

> Titanium backup folder is on the root of internal storage.

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> Inside the folder we can see various .apk.gz , .gz files related to the backed up apps with their data.

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That’s it, hope you got hang of it and as always, don’t forget to share the tutorial with your friends!

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Rawand Haidar

Rawand is Petroleum Engineer.He is Super high on Android. Rawand has been blogging since 2011, written more than 150 articles including tutorials, news, reviews about Android. He is interested in all things Android. Follow Me on Twitter