I don't have a backup phone, so I'm looking to backup everything to my PC, what's a safe and easy way to do that?
Also are 3rd party app data able to be backed up (game data etc)
try swiftbackup... and copy this folder to your pc... before a12 i used Titanium Backup and worked like a charme but since a12 it didnt worked for me so switched to swift
Not for Hmm.... It is because they use GOOGLE backup in your account. No mystery!
You can also do the same directly from your phone. It is Google phone back up.