Auto Backup of your Xmas Photos and Videos

With the Xmas festivities just around the corner you will no doubt be attending a few parties and snapping some photos.
In order to ensure you don’t lose your captured moments even if your phone gets lost or broken you can check out this guide to Google+
Google + lets you set Auto Backup options on your device to have photos and videos automatically backed up to the cloud on your Google + account.
In order to use this service you just first have Google+ installed on your device. For Android users installing Google + will add a shortcut app icon to the Photos area of your account.

Enable Auto Backup

Auto Backup is not enabled as a default option as it can use up a large amount of data service on your phone or tablet.
When Google + is first installed you should be prompted about enabling the Auto backup option, if you didn’t see this option or which to enable it at a later time here is how you can access it.
On your Android device open the Photos App.  , and then select the settings options, indicated by the three little dots in the top corner. From the settings option you can select Auto Backup and then toggle the feature “on”.

Photo Size Options

Google offers unlimited upload for pictures that are 2,048px or less along their longest edge and for videos that are 1080p resolutions or lower and shorter than 15 minutes. If your camera takes pictures of a higher quality than this and you want to keep all that detail you will have to adjust the settings.   Go to the Photos App then enter the settings options and from the photo size pick your preferred resolution parameters.
If you’re saving videos or photos larger than the free settings then they will count towards your Google Drive Storage quota and if you start to approach the limit of this storage you will receive a notification.

Select Folders to Sync

When using Google + on Android you can select to sync downloaded media such as images from other apps to you could account. If you would rather not keep a copy of these files you can specify the folders to automatically sync with the Auto backup service.
Go to the Photos app and slide out the left hand menu. From here select the “on device” option. After selecting this you will be presented with all the folders that are being synced with your Google+ account and can change their settings.

Select a Data Connection When Backing Up

From the photos APP on your android device click the three little dots in the top right corner and then enter the settings menu. From the user backup settings tab select the “Back up Photos/videos” option and you will be presented with two options to chose from, these are Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi or mobile network.
Please note that uploading video and pictures over your mobile network will take longer and may incur data usage tariffs from your phones carrier or provider.

View Backed Up Files

Once you have backed up your files you can head to you Google+ account on the web to view the media. In the search box type in #AutoBackup and this will filter the photos that came from your device. You can use the AutoAwesome photos feature to animate media files.
Always keep in mind that any data shared or uploaded to a cloud service may not be 100% secure so it’s advisable to treat personal or private files with extra caution.
For more info on the Google + service you can visit the Google Support Page