Move your notes to a new phone

Move notes from Android to Android

1. On the old phone, back up to Google Drive, or save a backup file and copy it across.
2. On the new phone, install Memlow from Google Play and open it.
3. Sign in to your Memlow account, or tap Restore from a backup, and enter your backup password.

Each step is below in full.

On the old phone

Choose one way, or both:

• Google Drive: open Settings, then Google Drive backup, and turn it on if it isn't (see Back up your notes to Google Drive). Then tap Back up now and wait until it says the backup is done.
• A backup file: open Settings, then Create backup file, protect it with a password, and save it. Then copy the file to the new phone, by USB cable, email or your own cloud storage.

Check that you know your backup password. The new phone needs it, unless you approve it from the old phone. See what to do if you've lost it.

Keep the old phone until the new one shows your notes.

On the new phone

Install Memlow from Google Play and open it. On the first screen, pick the way that matches what you did.

With your Memlow account

If you signed in to a Memlow account on the old phone:

1. Tap Continue with Google or Sign in with email, and sign in to the same account.
2. Memlow connects your Google Drive and asks how to open your backups. Choose Approve from another device and approve it on the old phone, with the same code on both. Or choose Type your backup password.
3. Getting your notes ready shows each step. When it says Your notes are here, tap Continue.

Drive backup is on already, with the same account and password.

From Google Drive

1. Tap Restore from a backup.
2. Under Where is your backup?, choose Google Drive, and pick the same Google account as on the old phone.
3. Pick the newest backup. Each one says which phone made it, when, and how many notes it holds.
4. Enter your backup password.
5. Choose Merge or Replace (below), then Restore.
6. When the restore is done, tap Turn on Drive backup under Keep backing up to Google Drive, so the new phone carries on with the same account and password.

From a backup file

1. Tap Restore from a backup.
2. Choose Backup file, and pick the .memlow file you copied over.
3. Enter the file's password.
4. Choose Merge or Replace, then Restore.

Then turn on Google Drive backup on the new phone, so it's backed up from now on.

With phone-to-phone transfer

When you set up the new phone, Android can copy apps and their data from the old one. Your notes come along if the old phone runs Android 12 or newer. Some phone makers' transfer apps don't copy app data, so make a backup as well.

Merge or Replace

On a new phone with no notes yet, both give the same result. They differ when the phone already has notes:

Merge is chosen to start with, and it's the safe choice. Replace asks once more before it goes ahead, and Memlow keeps a safety copy of the phone's notes first.

After the move

• Reminders are set again on the new phone by themselves. Check that they can ring: see Reminders don't ring, or ring late.
• Your PIN stays with the old phone. If you used app lock, turn it on again in Settings, under Security. The first time you open a locked note, Memlow asks you to "Set your PIN again".
• Add your widgets again.
• Notes in shared notebooks come back when you sign in to your Memlow account.

If the new phone doesn't show your notes, check that it uses the same Google account and backup password as the old one. More fixes are in Notes not syncing between devices.

Questions and answers