It’s been more than a week since the Google Pixel 9 series was unveiled, but as these devices make their way to more and more people, we’re getting new reveals about previously unannounced features – including one related to Android upgrades.
As Android Authority has discovered, the Pixel 9 phone upgrades change things in one important way. Previously, if you wanted to transfer data like text messages and installed apps from an older Android phone, you had to do it right at the start of the setup process—there was no way to do it later.
That has now changed: Even if you don’t transfer everything when setting up your new phone, you can do it again later. This is made possible by a new “Back up or copy data’ Option that appears in the Pixel 9 series settings.
There is a caveat, as no one has been able to test this yet – but it looks very much like a tweak from Google. It will give users a lot more flexibility if they want to switch between Android phones when it’s time to upgrade.
Something old, something new
To some extent, transferring data from an older Android phone isn’t necessary when upgrading: once you sign in to apps like Gmail and Google Photos with your Google account, everything syncs.
However, it can also be useful for transferring app configurations, phone settings, text messages, and other data that isn’t automatically synced via the cloud. This can be done via a backup stored in Google Drive, or directly from an older phone if it’s nearby (which transfers the data 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 this is the option for the smoothest upgrade. Now, it seems you’ll soon be able to do this at any time.
Whether this feature will be available on older Pixel phones remains to be seen—we’re still waiting for the full release of Android 15—but it’s already available on other Android phones, including Samsung Galaxy devices.
