Android OS by default does not provide auto cloud backup facility like iOS offers, and as a result; Android users has to relay on third party applications to keep backup of important files and contacts. Here the biggest question is; which android application is the best to automate your backup from device and keep it safe, secure and available when require? We tried answering this question through this article featuring 6 android applications offers auto cloud backup facility at free or nominal charges.
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One of the most important things for any android device user is to get the backup of photos, videos & data, so that it could be accessed across any platform and device whether it is a Smartphone, tablet or a computer. If anything goes wrong, you can easily recover or restore your data from this cloud backup facility. So here we present 6 highly useful android backup apps, which you can use to save your photos, videos or phone data automatically to the cloud. Here we Go!
#1 – Google Photos:
This is a free photo storage service offered by Google. You can upload unlimited photos provided you follow the file size limit. The photos are automatically organized. You can search your photos by the things and places appearing in them.
Google Photos provides you the facility of automatic backup of your photos and videos. You can turn on “Auto Backup” feature and it can synchronize your photos from your device’s camera. You can access them by visiting Google Photos. You can also free up your device storage by removing photos from your device, when they are uploaded on cloud. To use this service, you just need a Google account. So if you are a fan of Google, then Google Photos is your first and solid choice for online storage.
#2 – Microsoft OneDrive:
It is a free online storage service provided by Microsoft. OneDrive is mainly used for Microsoft products like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It provides you sharing and collaboration features & automatic backup of your photos and videos. OneDrive is also integrated with Android wear to view your photos on the smart-watch.
You can store your personal files online using OneDrive and access them using devices like android smartphone, computer or tablet. Using OneDrive for business, you can also get storage space for official work files so you can share and collaborate on them with others people at work.
You can create, move, rename, delete, search, browse & share your files and folders. There is a feature called ‘Camera Backup’, to upload your photos and videos automatically to your personal OneDrive account. When you sign in to your personal OneDrive account for the first time, you are given the option to upload photos and videos automatically. You can also turn this feature on from “Settings”.
When your photos are stored in OneDrive, they can be accessed using OneDrive application or simply login to OneDrive using a web browser.
#3 – DropBox:
Dropbox free service gives you a limited storage space of 2 GB. You can store your photos, videos, documents and other types of files. You can send your files to people, even if they don’t have a Dropbox account.
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Dropbox provides important features like automatic backup of your photos & videos, editing of Microsoft Office files from your phone, sending large files and others.
If you’ve selected Wi-Fi only for camera uploads, the background uploading will not use your cellular data and will resume when your device connects to a Wi-Fi network again.
Before uploading the data over Wi-Fi, please check that these requirements are met:
- A strong Wi-Fi connection is available
- 30% battery life available in your device, because if the battery life is low, the ‘camera upload’ will pause.
- In some cases, you may need to install Dropbox on your computer before you can enable camera upload on your mobile device.
Now that camera upload is enabled, any time you launch Dropbox from your phone or tablet, the app will automatically upload any photos or videos from the ‘camera upload’ folder, which you’ve taken since the last time the app was open or connected to your computer.
#4 – Flickr:
This is another popular online storage service offered by Yahoo. The free service allows you to store upto 1TB data. This app allows you to upload, organize, edit and share your photos from anywhere in the internet. You can backup all your photos and videos from your device to the cloud. Flickr has a tool called ‘Auto-Uploadr’, which is used to take the backup automatically. This data is stored as private in Flickr camera roll, so only you can see that.
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#5 – Amazon Photos-Cloud Drive:
Another online storage app from Amazon to backup your photos and videos to Amazon Cloud Drive. This app automatically saves your device’s photos and/or videos to cloud drive whenever you’re connected wirelessly. When your device is connected to Wi-Fi then you can be uploaded only videos.
Unlimited photos can be accessed for free with Amazon Prime, or you can purchase this application for US$11.99 per year as a standalone product. You can upload unlimited photos & get an additional 5 GB for videos and other files.
The uploaded photos and videos can be accessed by visiting Amazon CloudDrive from a web browser.
#6 – G Cloud Backup:
This is a free app used to take the backup of not only the photos and videos, but also your contacts, messages, songs, documents, call logs from your phone to the cloud. You can organize your photos in a timeline. The free version starts with storage of 1GB but you can earn up to 10GB easily. This application provides automatic upload feature over Wi-Fi. If you want to protect the app settings, then your device needs to be rooted. You can also migrate your photos, videos, contacts and calendars to any android devices. It is very simple, safe and secure data storage application.
Bonus:
Google Drive for Android:
Does this application require any introduction? This one is our all time favorite application allows you to safely storage of your data that can be accessed and shared with other users too. As this doesn’t offer auto backup, we kept this into bonus list as this article is not complete without this app. You can create, edit, update and upload documents, spreadsheet and other type of files to easy your work. The application developed by Google and has over 1,000,000,000 – 5,000,000,000 downloads just from Google play store.
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Bonus:
App Backup & Restore: It has the basic backup features like app backups & batch backups. It can restore multiple versions of the same app. You can send the backup of APKs to other devices via Bluetooth, email and Wi-Fi.
It even works without root. While it is not working with super user permissions, this app will only backup your .APK files, without your application data. If you just want to restore your apps after a factory reset, it works like a charm.
Conclusion:
An average home user needs are usually met by the free versions of these auto backup apps. But if you want more storage space & extended features, you can buy the paid/pro versions. So while using these apps, if something goes wrong with your android phone, you will not have to worry as your data is safe on the cloud.
