That’s why it’s important to ensure that your precious photos and hilarious memes are saved somewhere else than just your phone. We’ll show you how to back up your iPhone photos to many different services.
The Different Services for Backing Up Your Photos
The obvious method for backing up your iPhone photos is with the help of iCloud. Every Apple ID comes with 5GB of storage for free. But if you use multiple platforms, or already rely on another storage service, it may be better to keep your photos backed up elsewhere.
Regardless of the reason, a vital practice when backing up data is to have multiple backups at your disposal. When it comes to your pictures and videos, you’ll be able to pull them up on a new device with ease, or access them from your computer or tablet.
As a result, it’s not a bad idea to use a couple of different services for photo backup as long as you have enough space.
1. Google Photos
Chances are you already have a Google account for one of the company’s many services. But even if you don’t yet, Google Photos is one of the best photo backup services that you can find on any platform.
You’re provided with 15GB of cloud storage for free. But there’s a bigger benefit for those who aren’t concerned with backing up full-resolution photos. Google Photos offers a “high quality” option that saves your photos at a lower resolution.
While reduced-quality photos didn’t count against your storage allotment for many years, starting in June 2021, all photos will count against your quota. However, you can still use the high quality option to maximize the number of photos you can fit.
Here’s how to back up your iPhone photos to Google Photos:
Open the Google Photos app and sign into your Google account if you aren’t already. Tap your profile picture in the top-right corner. Select Photos Settings. Tap Back up & sync.
Here, tap the toggle next to Back up & sync to turn the feature on. You’ll then want to select High Quality or Original depending on your preference:
High Quality allows you to store more images, but these are at a “slightly reduced” quality. Original will back up your photos and videos at the same image quality they were taken or recorded at.
Tap Confirm when you’re done.
If this is the first time that you’ve downloaded and used Google Photos on your iPhone, you’ll receive a prompt. This prompt is requesting access to your device’s photos and is a normal part of iOS.
Download: Google Photos (Free, subscription available)
3. Dropbox
Dropbox has been one of the most popular cloud storage options for years, regardless of whether you’re backing up photos or files. It only offers a paltry 2GB of space with its free plan, which is much lower than competitors.
However, if you’re determined to stick with the reliability of Dropbox, it’s still a great option to consider for this purpose. And with Dropbox, you’re able to back up your iPhone photos automatically or manually.
Download: Dropbox (Free, subscription available)
Back Up iPhone Photos Automatically With Dropbox
Here’s how to set up the Dropbox app to back up every photo that you save or snap on your iPhone:
Open the Dropbox app. Tap the Account icon in the bottom toolbar. Choose Camera Uploads. Toggle Camera Uploads to the On position. Select the Time Frame of when Dropbox will sync your photos: All photos will sync everything on your device. New Photos only will only sync photos starting when you enabled the feature.
Back Up iPhone Photos Manually With Dropbox
If you don’t want to have everything in your iPhone’s photo library saved automatically, you can pick and choose which photos are backed up.
All photos will sync everything on your device. New Photos only will only sync photos starting when you enabled the feature.
Here’s what you need to do to back up manually:
Open the Dropbox app. Tap the Create button in the bottom toolbar. Choose Upload Photos. Select the photos you want to upload. Tap Done in the top-right corner.
4. Microsoft OneDrive
If you use an iPhone and a Windows PC, OneDrive is a natural choice for backing up your photos. Like Dropbox, you can run a backup manually or automatically.
Download: Microsoft OneDrive (Free, subscription available)
Back Up iPhone Photos Automatically With OneDrive
Open the OneDrive app. Tap your profile image in the top-left corner. Tap Settings.
Now, select Camera Upload and tap the toggle next to the account you want to use Camera Upload with. If you want to also upload videos, tap Include Videos.
Back Up iPhone Photos Manually With OneDrive
Open the OneDrive app. Tap the Files button in the bottom toolbar. Tap the Plus (+) icon in the top-right corner. Select Upload.
On the resulting menu, tap Photos and Videos. Select which photos and videos you want to upload, then tap Done when you’re finished.
5. Google Drive
For automatic backups of your pictures and videos, you’re best off using Google Photos. However, Photos doesn’t make it easy to save individual photos and other media. If you don’t want to use this “all or nothing” approach, you can use Google Drive to save specific photos.
Here’s how:
Open the Google Drive app. Tap the Plus (+) icon in the bottom-right corner. Tap Upload.
Now, select Photos and Videos. Go through your Albums and select the photos and videos you want to upload. When ready, tap Upload in the top-right corner.
Using Drive for your photo backup will count against the storage limit for your Google account. And although 15GB is a considerable amount, you may need to upgrade before long if you have a lot of media.
Download: Google Drive (Free, subscription available)
6. Flickr
For years, Flickr was the top photo service for backing up your pictures to the cloud. While it doesn’t offer the generous free storage it once did, it’s still a viable option with the ability to store up to 1,000 photos with a free account.
Those wanting more storage will need Flickr Pro, which offers unlimited storage for $6.99 per month.
Download: Flickr (Free, subscription available)
Back Up iPhone Photos Manually With Flickr
Follow these steps for manual backup with the Flickr app:
Open the Flickr app. Tap the Plus icon at the bottom. Select an album, then choose which photos to back up to Flickr. Tap Next when you’ve selected your images. Make edits to the photos, if necessary. Tap Next again. Fill out the necessary details for your photos, including the title, album, tags, and similar. Tap Share to complete the process.
Back Up iPhone Photos Automatically With Flickr
With Flickr Pro, you can back up your photos automatically. This isn’t available for users on the free plan.
To run an automatic backup with Flickr Pro:
Open the Flickr app. Tap the Profile image in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Tap the Settings icon in the top-right corner. Select Auto-Uploadr. Toggle Auto Upload photos to the On position.
Back Up Everything Important on Your iPhone
It’s great that there are so many different services for backing up your iPhone photos. Some are great for the photographer in you, while others are easy for backing up everything that you take, save, and record.
Photos are just one important kind of data, though. Make sure you have your other iPhone memories backed up!
