Google One, Google’s unified cloud backup service, offers subscribers the ability to automatically back up device data, multimedia messages, photos, and videos from their Android devices. As of today, that same feature is rolling out to all Android users for free.
The backup function is a convenient and worry-free way to preserve your texts, contacts, applications, photos and videos. And everything is automatic, so users must do very little work. If you end up breaking, losing or updating your device, all your important information will be saved in the cloud. Most Android devices already support data backups in the cloud thanks to the Google Play Service backup manager service that uploads files to a private directory in users’ Google Drive accounts. However, this backup solution does not sync MMS or original photos and videos, which is an available benefit of Google Photos / One.
In addition to the free backup feature, Google also introduces a storage manager, which will be available in both the mobile app and online. This will allow users to delete files from the various services that One supports, including Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos, to free up space. You get 15 GB of free storage with a Google account, and it’s $ 1.99 / mo for 100 GB of data on Google One after that.
As usual, One allows subscribers to share their plan with up to five additional members, so if you need more than 15 GB of storage but not 100 GB or more, you can divide the additional storage space with your family members. That is a clever incentive to upgrade. A membership also features premium support, Google Play credits, and Google Store member rewards. There are also indications that a subscription will be required to access the premium editing features on Google Photos, but we have yet to see it materialize.
Google said it also plans to launch a Google One app for iOS soon, so iPhone users will also receive free automatic backups. The Android app is available on the Google Play Store right now.
Source: Google
