Google’s new policy means Android phone backup will take up more of your space in the cloud.
Until now, data that counted towards your Google Account storage was limited to Gmail, Google Photos, and Google Drive, as well as MMS media.
Android device backups including SMS content, call history, device settings, and app settings did not count, but the new policy means this will change.
How much bigger will Android phone backups be?
Google says the average backup will increase by around 40MB once everything is included under the new policy. However, if you keep a lot of apps with their own data, your storage figure could be significantly higher.
How does Apple compare?
Apple’s iCloud backups have always worked this way. The free tier sits at 5GB and it has always been a shared pool for device backups, photos, and iCloud Drive.
iCloud Mail, Messages, Voice Memos, FaceTime, and Contact Photos and Posters all contribute to your iCloud storage usage.
If you’re backing up photos and video, you’ll quickly run into the paywall for iCloud backups.
What to do about the change
App data backups represent the largest portion of new storage usage. Even years of call logs and text messages shouldn’t amount to much more than tens of megabytes, but each app has an allotment of up to 25MB, meaning if you’re an app hoarder you could be facing a paywall.
Additionally, if you have multiple devices attached to the same account, it could add up to a larger chunk used when this policy takes effect.
If you’re sitting close to your free cap of 15GB due to email and photo backup, it might be time to review your backup usage.
- Visit one.google.com/storage in a browser that’s signed into the Google Account you want to check
- You’ll see a breakdown of your storage usage per service
- If you’re within a gigabyte or two of your limit, it’s time to go through and toss out anything unwanted; emails with large attachments are often a big, hidden contributor
If you’re looking for an easy way to clear out duplicate files and photos, check out our guide.
How to adjust what Android backs up
- Open Settings
- Navigate to Accounts and Backup
- Press Other Device Data
- Toggle on or off SMS/MMS, Call History, or Device Settings
- Head to the device backup list to see which apps back up their data and turn off any you don’t care to keep
The wording of these menu options may differ depending on your particular device. If you’re having trouble finding it, try searching “Backup” in settings.
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