All editions - Google Drive backup needs Standard, noLegal, Photos, Legacy or VR with a Google account connected; Wear OS sync needs Standard or noLegal with Wear Companion
Backing Up Your Settings and Keeping Devices in Sync
Pack every setting into a file or a Google Drive backup, export and import just your Favorites, move exactly one kind of data with the unified menu, and keep a paired watch's settings and resources in step with the phone - synced both ways, with only the resources you chose along for the ride.
Why You'll Love This
Setting everything up the way you like it - sources, Favorites, every toggle - takes a while, and you don't want to do it twice. FastMediaSorter can pack the whole thing into a file or a Google Drive backup, move just one kind of data on its own, and keep a paired watch matching the phone without you tapping the same setting twice.
- FastMediaSorter, any edition, with Settings, the General group, open. See Finding your way around Settings if this is your first visit.
- For the Google Drive backup: a Google account connected in the app.
- For the watch steps: a paired watch with Wear Companion turned on.
Back up every setting to a file
In Settings, General, expand Backups, restore and settings export, then tap Export All Settings to File. It saves everything the app has stored - not a hand-picked subset - so restoring on an older or a newer version of the app still brings back everything both versions share. On another phone, or after a reinstall, tap Import Settings from File and pick the file; it replaces the current configuration.
A restore also carries your measurement system forward instead of quietly resetting it to metric, and, separately, the SOS program switch, the SOS mode it starts in and the launcher's taskbar row count - a backup taken before any of those existed simply leaves each one as the device already has it.
Settings, General tab, backup card, Export All Settings to File and Import Settings from File buttons.
Keep a full backup in Google Drive
*Standard, noLegal, Photos, Legacy and VR editions, with a Google account connected.* In the same card, tap Backup settings to Google Drive and the app saves every setting, together with your resources and their network passwords and saved web sign-ins, your Favorites and your launcher desktop, straight to your Google Drive - reporting back with something like "Backed up 12 resources, 40 favorites and all settings to you@gmail.com." The card remembers the date of the last backup and the account.
Tap Restore settings from Google Drive to bring it back: settings are replaced, while resources and Favorites are added to what you already have, with exact duplicates skipped.
Settings, General tab, Google Drive backup buttons, last backup date and account expanded.
Export and import just your Favorites
If you only want the starred list, not the whole settings file, the same card has its own pair: Export Favorites saves your starred files and channels to a file for sharing or safekeeping, and Import Favorites brings a list back in, asking whether to skip or overwrite anything that already exists.
Settings, General tab, backup card, Export Favorites and Import Favorites buttons.
Move exactly one kind of data, to a file or to Drive
For anything more selective, tap Import and export data - "*Settings, favorites, pinned streams and resources - to a file or to Google Drive*." Choose what (Settings, Favorites, Pinned streams or Resources), which way (Export or Import), and where (Device file or Google Drive). A file that holds another kind of data, or comes from a newer app version, is refused cleanly and nothing changes. The Google Drive half needs a connected account; the pinned-stream option only appears where streams are supported and switched on. The full backup and export picture, in one place, is in Backing up and restoring settings.
Import and export data menu open, data kind, direction and medium pickers visible.
Keep watch settings in step with the phone
*Standard and noLegal editions, with Wear Companion.* Open Wear Companion and tap Sync settings. Every watch setting can also be changed directly on the watch, and either side's Sync settings button brings both to the same state, keeping whichever side changed a given field most recently. Two settings always stay watch-only by design - auto rotation and voice note delivery - and the background picture always stays a phone choice. Both sides show when they last agreed, or "Never synced" if they haven't yet.
Wear Companion settings screen, Sync settings button, Last synced label.
Choose which resources ride along to the watch
Resources don't sync automatically. Inside Wear Companion, tap Push to Watch and pick which of your registered resources should travel to the watch on the full-screen picker that opens. Leaving the selection empty sends nothing, and says so, instead of quietly pushing your entire resource list.
Push to Watch resource picker, several resources listed, some selected.
What You Get
Everything you set up travels with you: a settings file or a Google Drive backup that carries the whole configuration, a Favorites list you can move on its own, a menu that moves exactly the one kind of data you want, and a paired watch that stays in step - settings synced both ways, and only the resources you actually chose.
Tips and Troubleshooting
- Not sure which group a setting lives in? The search overlay in Finding your way around Settings finds it by keyword.
- Back up before a big change. A settings file or a Google Drive backup takes a few seconds; do one before resetting the phone or moving to a new one.
- Looking for the resource side of sharing? Sharing and Backing Up Your Resources covers exporting resources to a file, PINs included, and importing a ready configuration from the Windows companion.
- Want one shared box for all your own devices? The media exchange portal shows how Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive sit next to the other ways of moving media between your devices.