It's a common refrain: `My phone was stolen/damaged so I've lost all my photos'. It's actually really easy and completely free to setup an auto-backup of your smartphones. You'll never worry about losing precious memories again.
Google Photos
You'll find Google Photos pre-loaded on almost all Android smartphones. It's also a free download for iOS devices. The app offers you the option to store images in either high quality or in its original size.Videos can be stored in 1080p resolution.Here's the best part (since most of us use Google services anyway): if you choose high quality in settings, Google gives you unlimited storage for all your photos.
This does not count towards your limited Google account storage so you can do this if you're on a free plan. If you have a Google Pixel smartphone, you get unlimited storage of photos in original quality .Google Photos can auto-backup of your photos and videos to your Google account.
You can choose to have it backup only when it is connected to a WiFi network -once the photos are backed up, you can remove them from your device to free up storage.If you choose to store photos in original quality , the photos you upload will count towards your Google account's storage.
By default, a free Google account gives you 15GB of space. If you start to run out, you can purchase more space. Google has various paid plans for storage -100GB for Rs 130 per month and 1TB storage for Rs 650 per month. All this storage will be shared across various Google service including Drive, Gmail and Photos.
Dropbox
A free Dropbox account gives you just 2GB of cloud space. That being said, Dropbox has dedicated apps for smartphones and desktops which sync data across devices. Once you install the app, it asks you if you want to enable automatic camera upload -once enabled, it backs up all your photos to your Dropbox cloud storage as you shoot (you can limit it to sync only when connected to WiFi).
You can choose if you want to backup just photos or videos also and there is also the option of background uploading (this means photos get backed up even if the app is closed).
Dropbox saves photos in the original size and resolution.Since you get only 2GB storage, it is bound to run-out quickly . The Dropbox Pro plan gives you 1TB of secure storage space for $9.99 per month. If you want more storage, you can go for the Dropbox Business account that gives you 2TB of space for $12.50 per month.
Flickr
Flickr has always been counted as one of the best sites for photo storage and sharing. A free account on Flickr gives you a massive 1TB of storage for photos. Once you install the free smartphone app, you get the option to enable the 'Auto-Uploadr' -it will automatically upload all your photos and videos to your Flickr account.
Like other apps, you can restrict Flickr to upload the media only when it is connected to a WiFi network. All the photos and videos are uploaded to a private album so no one else can access them unless you manually share them.
A handy feature is that Flickr only imports media from the default photo and video folder -this means that any content stored in other folders such as screenshots or WhatsApp media will not be backed up.Keep in mind that there is no background upload option in Flickr in iOS app -you must keep the app open else the upload will pause.
There is a Pro account option too: for US$ 5.99 per month it enables features like ad-free browsing, advanced statistics for your photos and auto upload of photos from computers (while storage remains at 1TB). In case you need more storage, you can just create another free account on Flickr and get additional 1TB storage space.
Microsoft OneDrive
Like other services, Microsoft's cloud storage service OneDrive also lets you automatically backup your device's photos. A free account gives you 5GB of cloud storage and you can enable the 'camera upload' feature from settings in both the iOS and Android apps. OneDrive has no option to limit uploads on a WiFi network -so it will upload photos and videos as you take them if mobile data is enabled.
If you want additional storage on OneDrive, paid plans start at $1.99 per month for 50GB storage. You can get a maximum of 1TB storage for $6.99 per month and this includes a subscription of Office 365 personal along with the cloud storage.
Shoebox
Shoebox is a free app that only does one thing: photo backups from your devices. Sign-up for a free account and the app will automatically make a backup of all your photos to the cloud.It gives you unlimited storage for your photos in high quality (compressed to 10.6MP resolution) and 15 minutes total of video.
The app also lets you backup photos shared on Facebook -you will need to connect the app with your Facebook account to do this. Video backup is optional and you can restrict the app to backup only when connected to WiFi.
If you want to upload photos in their original resolution without compressing them, you can opt for the Pro plan (Rs 620 per month). The plan also includes 10 hours of video backup in full HD resolution but each video should not exceed 6 minutes of playback time.
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