Double saving is better
Five tips for secure backups with cloud services
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If you don't want to risk the total loss of data, you shouldn't trust your photos and other data to your smartphone's memory alone, which is also limited. Cloud services are an obvious and practical solution, as long as you take the right measures.
If you don't want to lose documents, photos and other important data, you should create backups. One practical way to do this is to use cloud services, where you can access the stored files at any time. But how do you ensure that they are really safe in the cloud? The Association of the Internet Industry (eco) offers five tips.
It all depends on the platform
The first step to securely storing photos in the cloud is choosing a provider. Up to a certain data volume or for lower quality, use is often free, beyond that you usually have to take out a subscription.
According to eco, well-known providers such as Google Photos, Apple iCloud, Amazon Photos and Microsoft OneDrive offer a user-friendly platform for storing photos. However, anyone who attaches particular importance to compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) should choose a provider based in the EU. In this case, Stiftung Warentest recommends Strato HiDrive. Some providers also allow encrypted storage of images and videos, which offers additional protection against unauthorized access.
Automatic synchronization
To ensure that valuable memories are not lost, eco recommends activating the automatic synchronization and backup function on your mobile device. This way, photos are uploaded to the cloud without you having to worry about it. Android smartphones and iPhones already have solutions for this.
Android users open the Google Photos app, log in with their Google account if necessary and tap on their profile picture in the top right corner. Photos settings you choose Backup and turn this option on. Further down you can set the storage quality. Here it is worth Save storage space to avoid filling up the total 15 gigabytes (GB) of storage too quickly. Photos are saved in a maximum of 16 megabytes, and videos in HD quality.
If you are using an Apple device, open the settings via the gear icon and tap on your Apple ID at the top. Then select iCloud and then photos. Here you switch Sync this iPhone to automatically upload and save images. The free storage space provided by Apple is very small at 5 GB, which is why a paid subscription for additional storage is usually necessary.
Keep order
To keep things organized, you can divide photos into albums or categories. This not only helps you keep track of things, but also makes it easier to find specific images. Some services also offer facial recognition and geotagging to make organization more efficient.
Geotagging automatically adds geographic information, such as latitude and longitude, to photos so they can be sorted by where they were taken. This makes it easier, for example, to compile all the images from a particular vacation destination or city.
Passkeys or two-factor authentication
It is extremely important to protect an account with a cloud provider from unauthorized access with additional security measures, especially if it is also a Google or Apple account. To do this, at least activate two-factor authentication (2FA), whereby you confirm a login with a code sent via SMS, for example. Passkeys are even better, whereby you log in to a device using a fingerprint or facial scan; all major services now offer this option. It is also worth checking the privacy settings and, if necessary, specifying which photos should be visible to others.
Regular backups
If a cloud service experiences technical problems and the photos are no longer accessible, valuable memories can be lost. That's why it's important not to rely solely on the cloud. You should also make regular physical backups, for example on an external hard drive or network storage (NAS).
