Can I delete and reinstall Candy Crush without losing progress?

As a long-time Candy Crush player and self-proclaimed expert, it‘s a question I‘ve gotten a lot – can you really delete and reinstall the game without losing all your scores, unlocked episodes, collected boosters and more?

The good news is, with Candy Crush‘s cloud save system, you absolutely can reinstall the game without losing your hard-earned progress…as long as you properly sync your save before deleting!

Based on my years of Candy Crushing experience, here is an in-depth guide to completely safe reinstallation without losing any data:

Sync Progress Before Reinstalling – Your Lifeline!

Syncing your Candy Crush progress to the cloud is absolutely essential before deleting and reinstalling the app if you want to pick up where you left off. There are two sync options – Facebook and King:

Facebook Sync

• Tap the Connect button in settings
• Log into your connected Facebook account
• Make sure "Sync with Facebook" enabled

King Sync

• Create King/Candy Crush account if you haven‘t already
• In settings enable "Sync with King"
• Enter your King login when prompted

I personally recommend King sync over Facebook – no need to keep FB installed, change profiles, etc. But both work fine.

Sync Stats – What Transfers Over On Reinstall

When properly synced, all key Candy Crush progress will carry over after reinstalling including:

• Level progression – preserved exactly
• High scores on levels
• Most boosters and charms
• Purchased gold bars
• Friends list

However, any unused extra lives or site-specific boosters will be lost – make sure to use them up first!

What If Sync is Unavailable?

In rare cases, the sync options may be unavailable if the app wasn‘t able to connect to the servers properly or experienced an issue. If you can‘t sync before reinstalling, contact King‘s support and provide your player ID to have your progress saved manually.

And remember – no sync, no progress retention when you reinstall!

Reinstallation – Deleting and Re-downloading

Once fully synced up, you‘re ready to safely delete and reinstall Candy Crush without worry! It‘s a very straightforward process:

On iOS/iPhone

1. Hold Candy Crush icon until it starts wiggling
2. Tap the X icon to delete
3. Open App Store, search for Candy Crush Saga
4. Tap Get/Install button to re-download

On Android

1. Long press Candy Crush app icon
2. Tap Uninstall
3. Open Play Store, search Candy Crush
4. Tap Install to download again

And that‘s it! The app itself will be completely erased, but your preciously synced progress lives on.

Much Faster on WiFi

One tip: make sure you do this process on a strong WiFi connection – at over 200MB, Candy Crush is a hefty app and will be significantly faster to re-download over WiFi rather than mobile data.

Still Works on Legacy Versions

An interesting note – even if Candy Crush itself has updated to a newer version by the time you reinstall, say from Saga to Soda Saga, your previous progress will still sync properly as long as you log into the same King or Facebook account!

Sync Again After Reinstalling!

After the fresh Candy Crush install finishes, launch it up and you may be greeted with a "Sync with Facebook/King" prompt. Go ahead log into whichever service you originally used.

Important – make sure it‘s the same King or Facebook account as before, otherwise you will start fresh!

Once logged in, all your levels, scores, and other synced data will be pulled down from the cloud! Congratulations, it‘s like you never left – now get back to crushing!

What If My Progress Doesn‘t Restore?

In some rare cases, your previously synced Candy Crush progress might fail to sync back up after a reinstall.

If that happens:

1. Force close and reopen Candy Crush
2. Double check you have a solid internet connection
3. Log out and back into the correct King/Facebook account
4. Clear the app cache/data before retrying

If it still doesn‘t work, contact King Customer support via the in-game chat. Provide your player ID and previous sync method used. Their team can then manually restore your Candy Crush life just where you left off!

Switching Devices? Cloud Progress Carries Over

A great benefit of Candy Crush‘s cloud save system is that you can pick up not only from a reinstall, but also continue your game on entirely new devices!

Perhaps you‘ve unlocked 1300 Saga levels on iPhone, but just got a new Android tablet. Simply install Candy Crush, login to your King account, and voila – right back to level 1300! All synced progress, scores, and purchases will transfer over.

Again, unused lives/boosters don‘t make the trip when switching devices. But otherwise, your new device becomes an extension of your current game thanks to the cloud.

Playing Candy Crush on PC via Emulators

Emulators like Bluestacks allow you to install and play mobile Candy Crush on desktop PCs. Same rules apply here – sync progress before installing, use same login credentials, and your cloud saved game will be accessible on the PC emulator! Then you can continue crushing from wherever is convenient.

Understanding How Candy Crush‘s Saving System Works

As you can see, Candy Crush‘s cloud save capabilities are extremely robust, offering players protection against lost progress when reinstalling or switching devices.

But how does it actually work under the hood?

Cloud Saving

All synced Candy Crush data – scores, levels, etc – is stored remotely on King‘s servers, associated with your account. This allows the data to be accessed from anywhere.

Local Data

Info like extra lives, boosters, and settings is saved locally on your device and not uploaded to the cloud. So it will be lost if you reinstall or move devices.

Save Conflicts

If for some reason the cloud and local data becomes out of sync, the version on King‘s servers takes priority during a sync. So cloud data overrides local data.

Compared to Other Games

Not all mobile games utilize cloud saving like Candy Crush:

As you can see, CoD Mobile and PUBG rely on local device storage only. So progress would be erased after reinstalling or switching phones.

Candy Crush By the Numbers

Over its 10+ year reign, Candy Crush has amassed some mind-blowing statistics thanks in part to its approachable gameplay, famously addictive nature and comprehensive save system keeping players invested long-term:

And the Candy Crush empire keeps expanding – recent spinoffs like Candy Crush Soda Saga and Candy Crush Friends Saga help King continuously engage players for years on end.

Personal Thoughts from an Addicted Crusher

As someone who has been matching colorful candies on my iPhone for over 7 years, logging thousands upon thousands of levels in the process, I can‘t emphasize enough how invaluable the robust cloud save feature is.

I can‘t even imagine how devastated I‘d have been losing 700+ hours of playtime because I didn‘t properly sync before wiping my phone or something. It gives me great peace of mind knowing my progress is safe no matter what I do to my devices.

And I believe King‘s early commitment to cloud saving has directly contributed to Candy Crush‘s record-shattering success over alternative puzzle games relying only on local device storage. Players increasingly expect uninterrupted access to progress regardless of hardware or reinstalls.

While Candy Crush definitely enables addiction through manipulative game design, I have to give King credit for their technical capabilities keeping dedicated crusaders like myself around indefinitely!

So in closing, I hope this guide gives all you passionate Candy Crushers out there confidence to seamlessly reinstall the app, swap devices, or even emulate on PC without kissing your hard-earned progress goodbye! Never lose a life, level or lollipop again thanks to the magic of the cloud.