How to back photos up to google photos

You finally upgraded to a robust new Android phone but realize you still need to grab all your pictures from your old phone. Thankfully Google Photos has you covered. You no longer have to stress about losing your photos no matter the Android device you're using; Google Photos offers a way to back up your pictures through your Google account. As always, Google Photos provides a sophisticated method for storing and managing your photos in a single place. So we've put together a guide that covers how to sync Google Photos backups and the necessary steps to ensure your files are saved immediately.

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How to manually back up your images using the Google Photos app

Turn on backups

1. Launch the Google Photos app.
2. Sign in or select the Google account you want to store your backups.
3. Tap Turn on backup.
4. Choose Original quality or Storage saver; keep the slider turned off for Use mobile data when there's no Wi-Fi since backing up photos may exceed your data usage if done in bulk, so it's safer to place a limit on your uploads.
5. Tap Confirm.

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Manually sync Google Photos

1. Launch the Google Photos app.
2. Tap on your Google account icon, located in the top-left corner of the app.
3. Select Backing up.
4. Scroll down your photos and search for the photos you wish to store; photos are filtered by date.
5. If you want to sync an image, tap on an image manually, then select the cloud icon next to the star icon.
6. Your image will now upload to your Google account's cloud storage (where your backups are located).

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7. To upload multiple images, tap Select and then choose your photos.
8. All selected images will have a checkmark; tap on the cloud icon with the upwards arrow to manually start backing up your pictures.

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How to back up any folder

1. Launch the Google Photos app.
2. Select Library (located at the bottom), find "Photos on device," then choose a folder.
3. Turn the slider on for Back up and sync.

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4. To manually sync your backups, select an image, and tap on the three-dot menu to access more options.
5. Tap on Back up now to manually sync your picture to your backups.

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6. To select multiple images from your folder, tap on the three-dot menu while in your folder and choose Select.
7. Tap on the images, or the date, you wish to back up, then select the three-dot menu and tap Back up now.

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Reviewing your backups

1. Log into your Google account (where you saved your backups) on any web browser.
2. Select the square to access Google Photos and click on it; alternatively, visit photos.google.com.
3. You'll find the images you manually chose to back up on this page. You can continue to add to your list as long as your storage space doesn't reach its maximum capacity.

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4. Click on your image, locate the circle "I" icon, and click on it.
5. On this page, you can view the file size, where your image came from and the backup status.

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Managing your backups and storage with Google One

The caveat behind using your Google account for storage is that you have to abide by the 15GB limit. However, if you need to expand your storage space, you can always subscribe to Google One. Google One is your all-in-one package for extensive cloud storage, including Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos. Fortunately, there are affordable subscription fees if you prefer not to deal with smaller storage limits (ranging from 200GB to 2TB) billed monthly or annually. And if the paid extra space is a bit too much, you can always enable family sharing for others to backup photos in your household.

Never lose your photos

You can save up to 15GB of photos to your Google account; while it may not seem like a lot, there are multiple ways to transfer your pictures into bigger storage units like external memory cards, hard drives, and subscriptions to Google One. Google Photos lets us keep our most precious photos in one place, no matter what Android device we use. Turning on backup and sync for our Google Photos only takes a few minutes to set up, and you'll thank yourself later once you've done it. And if Google Photos doesn't meet all your needs, there are plenty of fantastic alternatives to Google Photos that work just as well.

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