“The Cloud” is not a storage system!
iCloud details: $10 a month for 2TB. It syncs pretty seamlessly and is overall a super easy way to have peace of mind for what is currently on your phone. This is also handy if you are using multiple devices and want access to your stuff on all of them. I like that I can manage my albums from my desktop. Here’s the important thing to understand: if you delete from your phone then it’s deleted from iCloud. This is meant to be a backup for your phone, not a storage system. Like I say over and over again, it’s so important to think long term with your photos.
There are two main companies that offer backups that am going to cover.
Google photos:
$2 month for 100 GB. Free for photos that are 16 mega pixels or less. Any video if it’s 1080 or less.
google photos converts RAW to jpeg if over 16mb. You can share with 5 others.
Google photos has an app that will automatically backup your photos. I actually don’t recommend this unless you don’t ever plan on deleting photos. By sending every single photo you take to a cloud for storage, you are making it really hard to find things down the road. BUT, if this seems like the best solution for you, go for it!
Amazon Photos:
If you are an Amazon Prime member you get free storage! Amazon saves the original size, including RAW. You only get 5 GB of video storage so this is the one place you made need to upgrade. Family vault for up to 6 people. Amazon also has an app. Their filters for finding things have gotten better. After I have sorted my entire year I upload that album to my Amazon photos. I can also do the same from my husbands phone (he doesn’t take as many photos. I usually go through and select what I want from his camera roll).
Both of these services have print options. Both have facial and object recognition (although Google is a little better). You can organize both on a desktop as well.
I personally prefer Amazon right now. Their desktop version is easy to use and I like to use their print options for phone photos. I use Google for my work photos so I can access it on the go for social media posting etc.
There are also companies that backup your entire computer and hard drives (I like Backblaze for my business).
Sources: https://www.guidingtech.com/amazon-photos-vs-icloud-photo-backups-iphone-comparison/
