Google One Adds 'Automatic Phone Backup' for Android Users

Google One, the subscription-based cloud service by the search giant, has added an "automatic phone backup" feature. Initially available to Android devices, the new addition to the Google One service is designed to let users easily access the backup of the personal data stored on their phones. Users all have to need is the Google One app on their Android devices to get automatic backups of their content that they can restore easily in case of breaking, losing, or switching their phone.

The automatic phone backup feature is built on the standard Android backup functionality that allows users to back up their text messages, contacts, and apps. But Google engineers have expanded the backup functionality by letting users back up their original quality photos, videos, and multimedia messages (MMS) directly from the dedicated Google One app.

"With Google One, you already get more storage for your photos, videos, and documents—giving you the peace of mind that your memories and important files are stored in the cloud," said Google One General Manager Larissa Fontaine in a blog post. "Now with automatic phone backup, we're taking another step in helping you keep the stuff you care about safe."

To begin with the new experience, all you need is to subscribe to the Google One membership and install the Google One app on your Android device. The app has the Device Backup option that you need to turn on to begin automatic phone backups.

The new feature is notably available to all Google One members in the subscription. This means if you have other family members in your subscription, they'll also be able to avail the automatic phone backup on their devices.

To recall, Google One was announced back in May last year as an upgrade to the existing paid Google Drive storage plans and debuted in the US in August last year. The subscription-based cloud storage model also reached India soon after its US debut.

Google One comes with the ability to share your storage with up to five family members and each Google One plan can be used for storing content from Gmail and Google Photos in addition to a regular cloud storage access for storing usual stuff, such as documents, photos, and videos.

The Google One plans start at Rs. 130 in India ($1.99 in the US). Storage options start from 100GB to up to 30TB.