Google Will Now Let You Back Up Your iPhone On Drive, But Do You Really Need This At All?

Google is expanding the Google One membership which will now allow Apple iPhone users to back up data from their phones to Google Drive. The data that can be backed up includes photos, videos, contacts and calendar events from your iPhone to your Google Drive. This new feature set will be part of the Google One app that will be rolled out on the Apple App Store in the coming days. This follows the Android backup functionality that Google had introduced with the Google One Membership that includes options to add more storage space to your Google Drive of the free 15GB space isn’t enough for you, share with family and more perks.

The thing is, do Apple iPhone users really need the Google One backup option now? After all, they have probably been using alternatives for years now, and whether it make any sense to switch remains doubtful. It is likely that iPhone users are already on a paid Apple iCloud storage subscription tier, which includes seamless backup for the iPhone, as well as slick syncing of your files and folders across macOS, iOS, iPadOS and Windows 10 devices. In India, the 50GB iCloud plan is priced at Rs 75 per month, the 200GB plan costs Rs 219 per month and the 2TB plan is priced at Rs 749 per month. It is also simpler to back up to the iCloud because if and when you do upgrade to a new iPhone, restoring all the data from the iCloud storage is seamless. It is unlikely that Google One backups will be a part of the iOS data restore options at this time.

At the same time, Google One gets you the default 15GB of free storage space shared across Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos (if you are doing full resolution backups from your phone—otherwise it is unlimited free). You can choose to upgrade to 100GB space for Rs 130 per month, 200GB space for Rs 210 per month or 2TB space for Rs 650 per month. Just as with iCloud, you can share the space with family members who also have Google accounts.

“And if you have an iPhone, we’re introducing a new iOS app that lets you store photos, videos, contacts, and calendar events with Google. Start backing up your phone with the Google One app, and save the stuff you care about using the free 15 GB of storage that comes with your Google Account. If you break, lose, or upgrade your phone, you can rest easy knowing that your data is safe in the cloud,” says Larissa Fontaine, Director, Google One.

Google is also adding a storage manager for Google One on the app and on the web, which will give you a better idea of what’s populating your cloud storage space. The Google One app for the iPhone will be available in the coming days on the App Store.