While Android has automated, built-in backups for plenty of data, including photos, apps, and settings, local files have been excluded. In order to ensure you don’t lose PDFs, documents, and other files stored on your device, you have to manually upload or copy them to the cloud or another location. But that’s changing, at least in part: the February Google Play Services update comes with a new feature that will copy and upload your Downloads folder to Google Drive.
This is a meaningful update to Android’s backup system, but it has some limitations. Here’s what to know before enabling it.
How Android will back up your files after the update
As Android Authority describes, the local file backup feature applies only to items in your Downloads folder. It will not cover your device’s entire internal storage. The backup will go to Google Drive as a static copy, meaning that files will not be continuously synced, and if you make changes in one location, they won’t be reflected in the other. Backups will likely take place occasionally, such as when your phone is idle, charging, and connected to wifi.
Android handles videos and photos similarly with backups to Google Photos. Other device data, like your call and text history and system settings, are backed up to Google Drive.
What do you think so far?
How to check your Android backup settings
While automatic backups of local files are useful for anyone who doesn’t already have a comprehensive backup plan (and if you don’t, you should), they could potentially take up a significant amount of space in your Google Drive storage. If you keep lots of invoices, tickets, documents, or installers in your Downloads folder, you may want to be more selective about what you back up and where—especially if you already pay for extra Drive capacity and need it for other purposes.
Thankfully, file backups are disabled by default. To turn them on, go to Settings > Google Backup and select Downloads. You can also change your backup preferences for photos and videos and “other device data” from this menu. Note that this feature is expected to be rolled out gradually and may not be available on your device immediately.
