Normally, when you have a brand new Android smartphone in your hand, you may find yourself stunned, particularly if you previously used a rather old phone or if you have only used Apple iPhone so far. If you are still inexperienced in the Android world and want to learn quickly, in this guide we have collected all the steps and things to know as soon as you get your hands on a new Android smartphone. This guide can be a valid help even for users who already used phones with Android but who find it difficult to move their apps and data from one phone to another since many of the illustrated steps can be used even if you already use an older Android smartphone.

First Things To Do On A New Android Phone

1. Charge It

The first thing you should do on a newly bought Android smartphone is to fully charge it to 100%. This will help strengthen the battery and make it last longer. In fact, the first instruction given by the vendors immediately after you pay for a smartphone is to charge it for at least 6 hours before you start using it. Although, the 6-hour charging mark is not realistic for most newer smartphones today because of the advanced tech with AI charging technology that fully charges phones in under 2 hours. So the rule of tomb here is to first charge the phone till it gets to 100%. You can see easy tips to properly charge your phone.

After fully charging your new Android smartphone, the next thing to do is turn it on and link your Google account to enable you easily install new apps (from the Google Play Store) and recover all the data already used on another Android smartphone associated with the Google account. At the first start, the phone will ask you for the system language, ask us to access a Wi-Fi network (make sure there is one usable nearby) or use the internet data in your SIM card, then it will show you the screen where to enter the Google account as seen from the screenshot.

You should enter the details of your Google account or, if you do not have one, click on Create a new account to be able to immediately create one on the fly. Accept all the conditions that will be indicated in the screens and enable the synchronization and backup system, then confirm to enable all the features of the new Android smartphone. If this account was already associated with an old Android phone, you will have all your contacts, your apps, and the data of the other Google apps already synchronized (Gmail and YouTube for example).

3. Backup Your Photos

All the photos taken with the cameras of the old phone are stored in the internal memory or on the microSD (if provided). But if you wanted to save the photos to the cloud to be able to review them on the PC or to view them on the newly purchased Android smartphone, you will have to rely on the Google Photos app, downloadable from the following links -> Google Photos (Android) and Google Photos (iOS).

All you have to do is install this app on the old phone (whatever the operating system used) and back up your photos. The app allows you to upload an unlimited number of photos with the High quality parameter (the original photos will be resized, in order to maintain good print quality and take up little space) and carry out the operation in a completely automatic way every time there we connect to a new Wi-Fi network (we can also enable the transfer via LTE or 3G if necessary, but a very large data plan is required). Once backed up, you just have to install the Google Photos app on your new phone, so you can view all the previous shots and proceed with the backup of the new photos that you will take with the new cameras. We will never run the risk of losing photos again!

4. Restore WhatsApp Chats

If you enabled automatic backup on WhatsApp (via Google Drive) from your old Android smartphone, you can quickly restore all the chats and media files of the app on your new Android phone with a few clicks. However, if you have not backed up Whatsapp on your old phone, simply go to the WhatsApp on your On old smartphone, make sure that the Google account is up and running, connect to a fast Wi-Fi network, or use your SIM internet data and go to Settings -> Chat -> Chat backup and a screen like an image below will appear. If you don’t have a recent backup yet, you should immediately click Run Backup to upload all the necessary data to Google Drive. Let’s wait a few minutes (it may take time to upload the backup), then let’s go to the new smartphone, log in with the same Google account used on the old device, connect to a Wi-Fi network and install the WhatsApp app for Android. In the newly downloaded app, enter the phone number already associated with the old phone and, at the right time, confirm the restoration of the backup taken online (the app is able to check for itself if there is a backup, just log in with the Google Account in advance).

5. Install the Basic Apps

Some apps are essential to install for any Android smartphone, especially if we have never owned one before. So open the Google Play Store and install what we personally consider the must-have Android Apps on new mobile phones or tablets. These basic apps include; Facebook, WhatsApp, web browsers, a calculator, a torch app, Livescore, Google Translate, Snapseed, Office, Camscanner, photo editor, Twitter, and many others.

6. Update System and Apps

To get Android updated, you just need to receive app updates, even better if completely automatically when you are under Wi-Fi and the phone is charging (for example at night). The automatic update avoids the hassle of having to update the apps manually and allows you to always have a secure mobile phone with the latest features available. To enable the update we open the Google Play Store app, scroll the left side menu then go to Settings and activate the automatic update only when connected to a Wi-Fi network, so as to always have the apps updated with new features and we will avoid running into bugs or security holes that can compromise the security of the Android system.

7. Activate the Anti-theft Detection System

Your new smartphone has commercial value and great personal value because it stores data and passwords to access personal accounts and all your daily data; it goes without saying that if it ended up in bad hands it could be a big problem. In a new Android phone, we have an integrated anti-theft detection app or system that allows you to locate the location of the phone at any time and, if necessary, allows you to delete all data remotely in case of loss. All you have to do is go to the anti-theft app on your new phone and set it up. You may be required to enter an alternate phone number and email where the information of the device location is sent as soon as it’s missing or the SIM inside is removed. Some phones also have the capacity to take intruder selfies and map locations and sent them to an alternate email address. This feature really helps in tracing and finding a lost android smartphone without much stress.

8. Configuration and Settings

It is vital to properly configure your new phone to be ready for browsing the internet and sending SMS, and MMS with it. Although, in recent times, network providers now send automated configurations once their SIM card is inserted into a new phone. All you need to do is just save the settings as they appear and your phone will be ready for internet services. Meanwhile, in terms of settings, you still need to set up ringtones, wallpaper, Screensaver, and volume levels. All these can be found inside the phone settings area. These are the 7 things you should do immediately after you buy a new android phone.