

Google Photos provides free unlimited photo and video backup, as long as you're all right with Google changing them to "high-quality." That just means that Google caps the photo size to 16 megapixels and videos at 1080p. +39 more See all photos Photos and videos If you're upgrading phones, you should manually start a backup before setting up your new phone. Make sure your phone is connected to a strong Wi-Fi network, and plug it into a charger to speed up the process. Your mileage will undoubtedly vary.Īt any time, you can visit this section and tap Back Up Now to manually start a backup. However, I've had mixed luck when restoring a back up from a Pixel to, say, a Motorola phone.

If you're switching from one Pixel phone to another, your home screen layout is backed up and restored. For example, if you tap Photos & Videos, the backup settings page for Google Photos app is automatically opened. Tap a section, such as App Data, to view more information or fine-tune which apps are backed up. You'll see a list of data categories under the Active Backups section, along with the last time that information was backed up.

The service is free and doesn't count against storage in your Google Drive account. Built in to Android is a backup service, similar to Apple's iCloud, that automatically backs up things like your device settings, Wi-Fi networks and app data to Google Drive.
