A Guide to Back Up iPhone Data to Google Drive

Your personal data is invaluable. Whether it’s photos, contacts, or files, you wouldn’t want to lose precious memories or important phone numbers. But you never know when you may end up losing the data on your iPhone; so it’s best to stay prepared. This is exactly why taking a backup of your data is extremely important.

The best way to back up your iPhone’s data is through iCloud. However, iCloud only provides 5GB of free storage. Therefore, if you have a lot of data, you will need to purchase additional storage. If you don’t want to spend money, Google Drive is a good alternative. It offers 15GB of free storage, which should be enough for most users. To switch from iCloud to Google Drive for backing up iPhone data, continue reading.

Types of iPhone Data You Can Back Up to Google Drive

Before we begin, you might be curious about the types of data you can back up from your iPhone to Google Drive. Is it similar to an iCloud backup where your apps, settings, and passwords are also backed up? Unfortunately, the backup process for iPhone data to Google Drive is not as comprehensive or seamless.

There are three specific types of iPhone data that can be backed up to Google Drive: Photos (including videos), Contacts, and Calendar events. You can also directly backup your files to Google Drive using the Files app on your iPhone. To ensure you have sufficient space, please refer to our guide on what is included and excluded from Google Drive storage. If this meets your needs, continue reading for the step-by-step instructions in the next section.

Things to Remember Before Taking a Backup on Google Drive

Before starting the backup process, there are some important pre-requisites to keep in mind. Ensure you’re connected to a reliable Wi-Fi network, not mobile data. If you’ve previously backed up your data, the new backup will only include newer data. So, if you have 1200 photos with 1000 already backed up, only the remaining 200 photos will be backed up. Organizing photos in albums won’t be backed up through this method. Lastly, contacts or calendar events from FaceBook or other third-party services will not be backed up. Now, let’s move on to the process.

Let’s start by exploring how to back up photos, videos, contacts, and calendar events using the Google Drive app.

Step 1: Open the App Store on your iPhone.

Step 2: Tap the Search icon at the bottom right.

Step 3: Use the search bar to find Google Drive.

Step 4: Install the Google Drive app. Update it to the latest version if necessary.

Step 5: Open the Google Drive app.

Step 6: Tap the three horizontal lines at the top left for additional options.

Step 7: Select Settings.

Step 8: Tap Backup.

Step 9: Choose the data you want to backup. Select Contacts and enable the toggle for backing up your iPhone’s contacts to Google Contacts.

To make the content more concise and impactful, I would eliminate redundant words and phrases in the provided text:

“Go back and select Calendar events, enable the toggle.”

Finally, choose Photos & videos and enable the toggle. You can also select the quality of photos to backup. Original quality uses more space, so it’s not recommended if you only have 15GB of free space. High-quality is a better option as it doesn’t significantly affect the quality and takes up less storage.

If you want to back up your photos in original quality and are running low on storage, consider these ways to free up storage on Google Drive.

Step 10: Select all relevant options and click the Start Backup button.

Your iPhone data will be backed up to Google Drive. You can access your photos and videos through Google Photos, contacts through Google Contacts, and calendar events through Google Calendar.

How to Back Up Files and Folders on Your iPhone to Google Drive

You may have important files downloaded on your iPhone. There’s a trick within the Files app that allows you to back up these files to Google Drive. Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Open the Files app on your iPhone.

Step 2: Tap on the three dots in the top-right corner.

Step 3: Select Edit.

Step 4: Toggle on the Drive option.

To sign in with your Google account on your iPhone, follow these steps:

– If you haven’t already, sign in with your Google account.

– Tap Done.

Step 6: Navigate to the file(s) you want to back up.

Step 7: Hold the file you want to back up until additional options appear. This can also be done with a folder.

Step 8: Select Copy.

Step 9: Go to the main screen on the Files app and choose Drive under Locations.

Step 10: Tap and hold any blank space to bring up more options, then select Paste.

The file or folder will be copied to your Google Drive.

Note: You can also manually back up your photos and videos using the Google Photos app, but we don’t recommend it. This is because you need to keep the app open on your iPhone throughout the process, while also ensuring that your iPhone’s display doesn’t turn off. This isn’t practical since you can’t use your iPhone for hours.

Any piece of technology is prone to failure. If your iPhone’s storage partition fails or you need to factory reset it, a backup can be helpful. The Google Drive app offers the option to back up iPhone data, as well as features like hiding photos and videos.