The thing with our smartphones is that when it is good, it is so good and when it is bad, it is so bad. You are not sure of what I mean? Well, with your smartphone you can take snaps that inscribe lifetime memories in still images and videos.
When your phone is in perfect working condition, we tend to think of it as a repository device where we can store all our life inside it. Up to until the point, your phone takes a swim in the sink, or shatters on the floor. Sure, in the commercial they say it is water/dustproof and has Corning Gorilla Glass or something like that, but do they really live up to expectations.
Long story short, you do not want your pictures and videos to disappear with your lost or spoiled smartphone. And you know what, you don’t have to.
Set up Google Photos to automatically backup your Gallery in the Cloud
If you own an Android device, you must have noticed Google apps comes installed on the phone right out of the box. One of which is Google Photos, a service that backs up, stores, and organizes your photos as soon as you capture them. Below is a walkthrough on how to set it up:
Ø Open the Google Photos app
Ø Sign in using your Google account
Ø Select your desired picture quality setting
Ø Choose your desired quality setting
Ø Voila! Sit back and wait for the app to sync your photos
Select the folders on your device you want to be backed up on Google Photos
So you got Google Photos up and running on your phone. Perhaps you do mind that it will back up each and every picture and video on your device. You would rather it backs up pictures taken from the camera, and perhaps screenshots, while excluding pictures downloaded from the internet, Facebook, WhatsApp, and other apps.
You can choose which folders you want to be backed up, and which one to be excluded. To select the particular pictures:
Ø Open the Google Photos app
Ø Tap on the overflow icon (looks like 3 lines) located at the upper left corner of the app
Ø Open Settings by tapping the gear icon
Ø Tap on the first option, Backup and sync
Ø Tap on Backup device folders
Ø To select a folder, tap the toggle on, and to deselect a folder tap the folder back off.
Choosing the image quality of the Google Photos backups
When you first set up Google Photos account, you get to choose the quality of the image being uploaded. You can make a choice between two options; high quality or original quality. If you select high quality, you will save yourself both bandwidth and not max out your Google storage fast. However, if you set original quality, your photos will be backed up in their original quality, but it will take more bandwidth to back them up and in retrieving them. Not forgetting, high quality also maxes out your Google storage space much faster.