Changing Phones? How to Keep Your Game Progress Safe

Where does your progress live?

Every game has to store your progress somewhere: your level, coins, items and settings. There are three common places, and knowing which one a game uses tells you what to do before you change phones.

• On the device only. The progress sits in the app's data or the browser's storage. If you uninstall the app, clear the browser data or change phones, it is gone.
• In a cloud save linked to the phone. Some apps back up data to Google or Apple backups. This often works, but not always and not for every game.
• On the game's own server, linked to an account. You sign in with Google, Apple, email or a username, and the progress follows the account to any device. This is the safest kind.

Before you switch: a checklist

• Open each game you care about and look for Settings, Account or Profile. Check whether you are signed in, and with which email.
• If you play as a guest, create an account or connect one now, while you still have the old phone. Many games move guest progress into the new account at that moment.
• Write down which login method each game uses: Google, Apple, email code or password.
• Make sure you can still reach that email inbox and that your phone number is up to date, because many logins send a code.
• Test it: sign in to the game on a second device, such as a tablet or a computer browser, and check that your progress appears.

Moving a browser game

Browser games that use an account are the easiest to move. On the new phone, open the same web address, sign in with the same account, and your progress loads from the server. If you added the game to your home screen before, add it again on the new phone.

Guest progress in a browser is stored only in that browser on that device. It is not moved by a phone backup, and clearing the browser deletes it. If a browser game offers sign-in, use it before switching.

Moving an app game

For installed apps, first sign in inside the game, as above. Then use your phone's transfer tool when you set up the new phone: Android offers to copy apps and data from the old phone or a Google backup, and iPhones can transfer from the old iPhone or iCloud. Even then, open each game on the new phone and sign in to be sure the data really came across.

Moving between Android and iPhone is harder. Purchases and backups usually do not cross between the two stores, so a game account on the game's own server is often the only way to keep progress.

Protect the account that holds your progress

• Use a strong, unique password for the email account behind your games, and switch on two-step verification.
• Never share login codes. A real game never asks you to send it a code by chat or phone.
• Sign out of games on phones you sell or give away, then reset the old phone to factory settings.
• Keep a short note of the username or player ID of each game; support teams often ask for it.

If progress seems lost

• Check that you signed in with the same method and email as before. Signing in with Google instead of email, or another Google account, creates a new, empty player.
• Make sure the game is up to date and you are online.
• Look for a "Restore" or "Load from cloud" button in the settings.
• Contact the game's support with your old username or player ID, the email you used and roughly when you last played. Do not create many new accounts while you wait; it can make recovery harder.

In Lootbeez, for example, progress is kept on the server for signed-in players, so signing in with the same email or Google account on the new phone brings everything back. Guest progress stays in the old browser only.

A habit worth keeping

The best time to secure your progress is long before anything goes wrong. When you start a new game you enjoy, take one minute to sign in with an account you control. Your future self, holding a brand-new phone, will thank you.