How to Backup All Photos to Google Photos

Google Photos is an excellent cloud-based platform that you can use to store and create backups of your precious memories, which include your photos and videos. 

Its user-friendly interface, practical features, and a fairly adequate free storage space of 15 GB are some of the reasons why this platform is so popular amongst many users. 

Backing up your photos to Google Photos is a relatively straightforward process across all devices, but if you are still confused about how to do so, this guide is here to help you!

So, without further ado, let’s look at how to backup all your photos to Google Photos on your devices.

How to Backup All Photos to Google Photos?

Before you start with the backup process, there are a few things you should take into consideration. First, ensure you have an active and stable internet connection. Otherwise, the backup will fail to process. 

Also, please make sure your photos do not exceed over 200 MB. For videos, the file size limit is 10 GB. On the contrary, Google Photos will not support file sizes under 256×256 pixels.  

Likewise, Google Photos supports JPG, PNG, WEBP, GIF, HEIC (commonly found in Apple devices), BMP, TIFF, ICO, and some raw files for image files. As for video formats, you can use 3GP, 3G2, ASF, AVI, DIVX, M2T, M2TS, M4V, MKV, MMV, MOD, MOV, MP4, MPG, MTS, TOD, and WMV files.

Due to the different interfaces on your mobile and PC devices, we have created separate step-by-step guides for you to follow down below. 

Backup Photos to Google Photos on Mobile 

Here are some steps you can follow to backup all your photos through the Google Photos mobile application available in your Play/App Store.

Here are some steps you can follow.

1. Locate and open the Google Photos app from your device. 
2. Sign in with your Google Account credentials if prompted. 
3. Navigate to the top-right corner of your screen and tap on your Profile icon. 
4. Tap on the Google Photos Settings option. 
5. Next, tap on Back up & sync. 
6. Finally, turn on the toggle for Back up & sync to enable automatic photos sync.
   

Additionally, if you are on an iPhone or iPad device, you might need to take an extra step by allowing Google Photos to access your Photos app. To do so, 

1. Head over to the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap on Privacy > Photos. 
3. Next, locate the Google Photos app.
4. Under Allows Photo access, tap on the All Photos option. 
   

Backup Photos to Google Photos on PC

There are mainly two possible ways to backup your photos to Google Photos on a PC. You can either upload it through the Google Photos website from your web browser or download the Drive for Desktop app and configure it through the settings to start the backup process. 

Through Web Browser 

1. Open your web browser and head over to photos.google.com.
2. Head over to the top-right corner and click on the Upload button. 
3. Now, click on the Computer option.
    
4. Locate and choose the photos or videos you want to upload to Google Photos. 
5. Click on the Open button.
   
6. From the pop-up, select your preferred upload size.
7. Finally, click on the Continue button to start the upload process. 

Through Drive for Desktop App 

1. First, download and install Google Drive for desktop to your device.
2. Once the download and installation process is complete, sign in with your Google Account. 
3. Navigate to the bottom-right corner and click on the Google Drive icon in the System tray. For Mac users, it should be right next to the Control center.  
4. Next, select the Preferences option.  
5. Now, click the Add Folder button and choose the folder you want to upload to Google Photos.
6. Check the option for Back Up to Google Photos. 
7.  Click on the Done button. 
8. Finally, click on Save to apply the changes. 

Backup Apple Photo Library 

Additionally, if you are on a Mac device, you can configure Google Photos to back up your entire Apple Photo Library. Here is how you can do it.

1. Open Google Drive and navigate to the top-right corner of your screen. 
2. Click on the Google Drive icon next to the Control Center. 
3. Now, click on the Gear icon and select Preferences. 
4. Click on the Gear icon. 
5. Scroll down and under the System Folder Library section, check the option for Upload Photos and videos to Google Photos. 
6. From the pop-up, click on the Confirm button
7. Finally, click on the Done button to apply the changes. 

Related Questions 

How to Check if Photos Are Backed Up on Your Phone? 

Here are some steps you can follow to check whether the backup process is completed on your device.  

1. Launch the Google Photos app from your device. 
2. Head to the top right corner of your screen and tap on the Profile icon. You will either see an initial or your Profile picture.
3. You should see a green tick labeled Backup Complete if it is finished.

How to Change Upload Size of Uploaded Google Photos?

Switching up your upload size in Google Photos is a relatively easy process and should not take more than a few minutes of your time. Depending on your device, here are some steps you can follow. 

On PC 

1. Open Google Drive. 
2. Navigate to the bottom-right corner and click on the Google Drive icon in the System tray. For Mac users, it should be right next to the Control center. 
3. Click on the Gear icon and select Preferences.
    
4. Next, click on the Gear icon.
5. Scroll down and under Upload Size, and select your preferred setting.
6. Click on the Done button to confirm your action.

Likewise, if you are on a web browser, head to the Google Photos website and click on the Gear icon in the top-right corner of your screen. Under the Upload size for photos and videos, choose your preferred option. 

On Mobile

1. Locate and open the Google Photos app from your device. 
2. Navigate to the top-right corner and tap on the Profile icon. 
3. Select the Google Photo Settings.
    
4. Now, tap on Back up & sync > Upload size. 
5. You can either select the Orginal quality or storage saver option.
   

How to Retrieve Google Backup Photos? 

If you want to retrieve your deleted Google photos, here are some step-by-step guides you can follow. 

On PC 

1. Navigate over to the Google Photos website. 
2. From the left panel, click on the Trash icon. 
3. Select the photo or video you want to retrieve. 
4. Now, click on the Restore button. 
5. Again, click on the Restore option to confirm your action.

On Mobile 

1. Launch the Google Photos app from your device. 
2. From the bottom section, switch to the Library tab. 
3. Tap on the Trash icon. 
4. Now, tap on the photo or video you want to recover. 
5. Tap on the Restore option.
6. Click on the Restore button to confirm your action.