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Other Does anyone here use Google Photos as an additional backup for your iPhone pictures?

felixroqu3

felixroqu3

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 5, 2012
649
685
New York, NY
I have about 6,500 photos and they’re all stored in iCloud. I don’t backup anywhere else and if anything were to happen to iCloud, I’d lose everything. So I’m wondering if I should start using Google Photos for extra insurance. Would this be a good solution?
 
I do. I remember it was tricky to set up at first, because I was worried about maintaining the integrity of my iCloud photo library, which I consider my primary backup. I didn't want, for example, to delete Google Photos some day and find that I had wiped my iCloud Photos as well. But after some googling I think I figured out how to do it. Now I look at Google Photos whenever I want to search for something. It's so much better in that respect.
 
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I use iCloud, Amazon and Google Photos, as well as an external hard drive. There really is no excuse not to use them, since they're free. If you value your photos it's a good idea to have multiple backups. It's really easy to setup and use!
 
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I have my full library on iCloud, my MacBook, my iMac and my backup drive. My phone and iPad have optimized libraries. I think I'm covered. But if the Cloud was my only backup, I might look into another just in case.
 
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I have all my photos stored in iCloud and on my MacBook Air. Might look into backing up to google photos also.
 
Google photos is awesome, BUT

1) When you use it, make sure you turn off Cellular Data until your complete library is backed up
2) Do the sync overnight with the app open. The sync slows down significantly if it's done in the background

It's definitely a better user experience than Photos.app but make sure you do those two things above. Once your whole library is backed up, turn cellular data on.
 
unobtainium said:
I do. I remember it was tricky to set up at first, because I was worried about maintaining the integrity of my iCloud photo library, which I consider my primary backup. I didn't want, for example, to delete Google Photos some day and find that I had wiped my iCloud Photos as well. But after some googling I think I figured out how to do it. Now I look at Google Photos whenever I want to search for something. It's so much better in that respect.
Click to expand...
I just downloaded the app and I can’t figure out for the life of me how to start backing my iPhone photo library to Google Photos. Doesn’t seem to do anything.
 
I refuse to let Apple nickel and dime me, so I ran out of iCloud storage long ago. I back up my photos to Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, at no extra cost. And because all these are cross platform, if I leave Apple - which I’m very close to doing - all my photos are safe.
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felixroqu3 said:
I just downloaded the app and I can’t figure out for the life of me how to start backing my iPhone photo library to Google Photos. Doesn’t seem to do anything.
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Tap the hamburger menu at the top left, tap the grey cog, tap backup and sync.
 
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I have my photos and videos on my iPhone, on my MacBook, on an external drive via time machine and in icloud. If all of those fail at once then I’m screwed lol.
 
rbrian said:
I refuse to let Apple nickel and dime me, so I ran out of iCloud storage long ago. I back up my photos to Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, at no extra cost. And because all these are cross platform, if I leave Apple - which I’m very close to doing - all my photos are safe.
[doublepost=1537641439][/doublepost]

Tap the hamburger menu at the top left, tap the grey cog, tap backup and sync.
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Awesome. Thank you.
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unobtainium said:
I do. I remember it was tricky to set up at first, because I was worried about maintaining the integrity of my iCloud photo library, which I consider my primary backup. I didn't want, for example, to delete Google Photos some day and find that I had wiped my iCloud Photos as well. But after some googling I think I figured out how to do it. Now I look at Google Photos whenever I want to search for something. It's so much better in that respect.
Click to expand...
Nvm. I quit the app and opened it again. Seems to be backing up now! How did you figure out to not delete your iCloud library if something from google photos deletes? iCloud is my primary too. I wouldn’t want to delete something from GP and then have it mess up iCloud.
 
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felixroqu3 said:
Awesome. Thank you.
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Nvm. I quit the app and opened it again. Seems to be backing up now! How did you figure out to not delete your iCloud library if something from google photos deletes? iCloud is my primary too. I wouldn’t want to delete something from GP and then have it mess up iCloud.
Click to expand...

I’d like to know wheather it’s bi-directional sync too. Thus, if I delete a photo, does it delete in Google Photos as the next sync.
 
iCloud Photo Library plus Time Machine of one of your computers plus another offsite backup of that computer should be more than enough.
 
maka344 said:
I’d like to know wheather it’s bi-directional sync too. Thus, if I delete a photo, does it delete in Google Photos as the next sync.
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I deleted photos on Google Photo from the backup app recently, and it deleted the same photos on iCloud, just FYI. Have had them operating together for a long time now and my only complaint is that google seems to spend a lifetime backing up constantly because of how Photos for Mac optimizes on computer space and based on edits you make on Photos for iPhone and Mac, but then again... that's how backups work! LOL
 
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Any still I take is automatically backed-up to my G-mail drive through IFTTT...
So are all my tweets...Received email attachments...etc...etc...
 
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Newtons Apple said:
I do not use Google for anything.

Dropbox stores everything I want including all of my company files. You can select who has access to each folder and works cross platform so any device can access.
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Except if you have PowerPC Macs or MBPs that can only run Snow Leopard max. :D

But I use Dropbox for my iPhone too.

That said, no important picture remains on any device. It's always backed up to media somewhere. I don't use iCloud for storage at all, except my normal iDevice backups.

As I've said many times, I could lose everything on my device and be okay because nothing important is stored permanently on it. 3500+ photos wiped out? Great, I just cleared out all the screencaps and shopping pictures that have cluttered my camera roll since 2012.
 
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eyoungren said:
Except if you have PowerPC Macs or MBPs that can only run Snow Leopard max. :D

But I use Dropbox for my iPhone too.

That said, no important picture remains on any device. It's always backed up to media somewhere. I don't use iCloud for storage at all, except my normal iDevice backups.

As I've said many times, I could lose everything on my device and be okay because nothing important is stored permanently on it. 3500+ photos wiped out? Great, I just cleared out all the screencaps and shopping pictures that have cluttered my camera roll since 2012.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Once a week I look at that weeks images and move them into DropBox for filing in the correct folder. I also backup my iPhone nightly but not my images. Once a week I back up to iTunes with a full encrypted backup. My Quickbooks company file is not only backed up on Dropbox but also on a USB jumpdrive.

Does not sound like either of us are going to lose a thing!
 
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MEJHarrison said:
I have my full library on iCloud, my MacBook, my iMac and my backup drive. My phone and iPad have optimized libraries. I think I'm covered. But if the Cloud was my only backup, I might look into another just in case.
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Yep, pretty much what I have. Full library on the iMac back-up to an external drive. Then optimized photos on my iPad and iPhone.

Refuse to use Google. I just don't like the the amount of services you have to turn on to even use it. Plus I'm just not comfortable with a) compressed photos and b) what's being done with them once uploaded.
 
I have iCloud set up on my pc so photos sync up to iCloud, then down to my PC. From there they’re added to my other photos which are backed up to onedrive and google photos
 
I don't trust Google and I don't use any of their apps except for YouTube, and I don't log into it, I don't allow it to save my history or use location services. I'm sure it's still tracking me and saving my history though, because it's a dishonest company. I would never give them access to all my photos.
 
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I use Google Photos for backup. Plus my family is a pretty even split between iOS and Android, so we use shared albums with Google Photos.
 
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