Cloud storage tips and how-tos.

If you have never used a cloud storage app before, the useful thing to understand first is what backing up actually does, because almost every problem people hit comes from misunderstanding this one point.

Backing up keeps a second copy of your files somewhere other than your phone. The original stays exactly where it is. Your gallery looks identical afterwards, nothing is moved and nothing is hidden. That copy simply means your photos are no longer tied to one piece of hardware that can be lost, stolen or dropped.

Once you have that, free cloud storage stops being an abstract idea and becomes a practical answer to two very common problems: a phone that keeps warning you it is full, and years of photos that exist in exactly one place.

• Set up a free cloud storage app properly the first time
• Understand what 100GB free cloud storage actually holds
• Learn how to backup photos so nothing is quietly missed

Read the full backup setup guide if you want the whole process in one place, or pick a specific topic below.

Android gives apps more freedom than iOS, which is useful and also the reason Android cloud backup fails in more interesting ways. Three things decide whether it works: file permissions, battery restrictions and folder coverage.

Full file access matters because anything less leaves screenshots, downloads and messaging media invisible to your backup. Battery optimisation matters because a restricted app cannot upload while the screen is off, which is exactly when you want it working. Cloud storage for Samsung phone owners has an extra layer on top, since Samsung adds its own power management that can put apps to sleep independently.

Folder coverage is the one people discover too late. Photo backup Android setups default to the camera folder, and photos friends sent you through messaging apps live somewhere else entirely.

Read the Android guide for the full walkthrough, including how to free up storage on Android once your backup is confirmed.

Free cloud storage iPhone setups have a different weak point. When an app asks for photo access, iOS offers a limited option where you hand over a specific set of images. It sounds cautious and it breaks automatic backup completely, because anything you photograph afterwards is not included.

Background app refresh is the second one. Without it, uploads only progress while the app is open on screen, which turns automatic iPhone photo backup into a manual chore without telling you. Low Power Mode suspends background uploads too, so a phone left in that state for a week is a phone that has not backed up for a week.

Get those right and you can store iPhone photos online, then free up iPhone storage by clearing local copies once the upload is verified.

Read the iPhone guide for the permissions walkthrough and how to move photos from iPhone to cloud storage.

Not everyone wants to install an app immediately, and you do not have to. A cloud storage web app runs in a browser, which means you can upload files online, store files online and access files online from any machine without installing anything at all.

Browser cloud storage covers the situations a phone app cannot: pulling a document onto a work computer, downloading a batch of photos to a desktop for editing, or reaching your account from a borrowed laptop the day your phone goes missing. That last one is the reason web access matters more than it appears.

Cross platform cloud storage is the other half. One account across Android, iOS and web means you access files anywhere without duplicating anything, and switching phone platforms becomes a sign-in rather than a data migration.

Read the web storage guide or the cross platform guide.

Phone storage full is the reason most people start looking at cloud storage in the first place. The good news is that once a backup exists, reclaiming space is quick and safe. The order is what matters.

Back up everything first and wait for it to finish. Confirm the files are genuinely in your account by opening a few of them there. Only then delete the local copies. Doing it in any other order is how people lose things permanently.

When you do start clearing, sort by file size rather than working through your gallery chronologically. It is almost always long videos at the top. Archiving five or six of them usually frees more space than deleting several hundred photos, and you lose nothing either way because the originals stay in your account.

Read how to free up phone storage or the guide to cloud storage for videos.

Storage figures mean nothing until you translate them into things you recognise. A single phone photo is roughly 2MB to 5MB, so 1GB holds about 250 to 400 photos and 100GB lands somewhere between 25,000 and 40,000 images.

Video changes the maths completely. A minute of 1080p uses around 60MB to 100MB, while a minute of 4K can reach 350MB or more. Ten minutes of 4K therefore costs about as much room as a thousand photographs, which is why a library that looks small can fill an account quickly.

For most people 100GB free cloud storage holds years of material. If you record long 4K clips regularly, expect it to move faster, and 250GB, 500GB or 1TB plans are there when you need the headroom.

See the full plan comparison on the features page.