It’s been over a week since the Google Pixel 9 series was revealed, but as these devices continue to reach more people, we’re getting more and more new reveals about features we hadn’t previously heard about, including one that has to do with Android upgrades.
As noted by Android AuthorityThe Pixel 9 phones change upgradability in one major way. Previously, if you wanted to transfer data like text messages and installed apps from an older Android phone, you had to do that right at the beginning of the setup process. There was no way to do it later.
That’s changed now: even if you don’t transfer everything while setting up your new phone, you can still do it afterwards. That’s made possible by a new ‘Backup or copy data option that appears in Settings on the Pixel 9 series.
There is one caveat: no one has been able to test this yet, but this seems like a change that Google has made. It gives users a lot more flexibility when it comes to switching between Android phones when it’s time to upgrade.
Something old, something new
In a sense, there’s no need to transfer data from an older Android phone when you upgrade: once you sign in to apps like Gmail and Google Photos with your Google account, everything syncs.
However, it can also be useful to transfer app configurations, phone settings, SMS messages, and other data that doesn’t automatically sync to the cloud. This can be done from a backup stored on Google Drive, or directly from an older phone if you have one nearby (which will make the data transfer faster).
If you go this route, your new phone will essentially be a clone of your old one, right down to the home screens and wallpaper, and it’s the option to take for the smoothest upgrade. Now it looks like you’ll be able to do this anytime soon.
Whether this feature will also roll out to older Pixel phones remains to be seen. We’re still waiting for the full release of Android 15. But it’s something that’s already available on other Android phones, including Samsung Galaxy devices.