How to Backup your Photos to the Cloud

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. How to backup your photos to the cloud

Why backup your photos to the cloud?

There are three main reasons to backup your photos on the cloud:

1.      Protect your photos in the event that you lose or break your phone
2.      View your photos on all your devices
3.      Save space on your phone

Backing up a large number of photos can require a lot of data.  It is recommended that you are connected to Wi-Fi before starting the backup to minimize data usage. If you don’t see the Wi-Fi icon on the top left of your screen, use this guide to help you connect.

Once connected to Wi-Fi, follow the basic steps below depending for iPhone and Android respectively. 

iPhone

iPhones use a service called iCloud to backup your photos. With iCloud, your photos will be safe no matter what happens to your iPhone and your photos will automatically stream to all your other Apple devices including your: Mac, iPad, and Apple TV. Even better, Apple gives you the first 5gb (that’s around 5,000 photos) completely free!

Let’s get started:

1. Open the Settings app.
   

1. Tap on your name
2. Tap iCloud
3. Tap Photos
4. Turn iCloud Photos on (make sure the slider is green)
   

Android

Android phones use a service called Google Photos to backup your photos. With Google Photos, your photos will be safe no matter what happens to your phone and your photos will automatically stream to all your other devices. Even better, the service is 100% free!

1. Open the Google Photos app. If you don’t have it download it from the Google Play Store
   

1. 
   
2. If this is your first time opening Google Photos follow the setup steps and login to your google account
   
3. Tap the menu icon on the top left corner
   

1. 
   
2. Tap settings
3. Tap Back up & sync
4. Turn Back up & sync on (make sure the slider is blue)