A lot of us have mobile devices on multiple platforms. Maybe an iPod, an Android tablet, and\/or a Windows Phone. Or perhaps you have a BlackBerry or Kindle Fire to throw into the mix. Whatever your combination of devices, it can be cumbersome accessing each platform's respective storage service to manage photos and videos you take. An easier solution is to use one service to consolidate all of your photos and videos in one spot. Both OneDrive and Dropbox have apps for each of the major mobile platforms and will back up photos and videos automatically no matter which device you're using. <\/p>\n
With each new generation of smartphones, the cameras continue to improve, offering higher-resolution photos and videos. But with higher resolution comes larger files and the need for more storage space. The good news is cloud services like Dropbox and OneDrive are continually increasing the amount of storage space to keep apace with this ever-increasing demand. They also allow automatic backup from virtually any type of mobile device. Let's start by looking at OneDrive. <\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it was doubling storage capacity for users of a free account to 15 GB. It's also worth noting that the company increased OneDrive storage for subscribers of Office 365 to 1 TB per user. Of course, if you need additional space, Microsoft offers different tiers of storage and pricing. <\/p>\n
OneDrive is available on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Amazon Fire Phone and tablets, and Windows Phone. As an extra bonus, when you set your non-Microsoft phone or tablet to auto backup to OneDrive, you will get an extra 3 GB of free storage space for a total of 18 GB. And that's not too shabby If you're just getting started. <\/p>\n
As you might expect, it's easier to set OneDrive up on Windows Phone as it is built into the phone's OS and there's no need to download anything. Just go to Settings > Backup > photos + videos. There you have a few options on the quality you want the photos and videos to be uploaded at. If you pick Best quality, you will need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network, which is also a good idea even on lower quality settings if you're on a limited mobile data plan. <\/p>\n
When first setting up your shiny new Android device, you may have selected to auto backup photos to Google+ but it's easy to change it to OneDrive. Download the OneDrive Android app and launch it. Then sign in with your Microsoft Account and one of the first setup screens will ask if you want to turn on Camera Backup and get 3 GB of extra storage. If you don't want your photos backing up to two locations, launch Google+ and go to Settings > Auto Backup and switch it off. <\/p>\n
Typically your photos on an iOS device are stored to iCloud. But OneDrive is also available for iOS and it works similar to the way it does on Android. Just download the app, start it up and log in with your Microsoft Account. That will allow you to select OneDrive as your automatic storage service. It also will give you an extra 3 GB of storage, but you'll only be able to upload pictures and video over Wi-Fi. <\/p>\n
Since you're saving your stuff to OneDrive, you might want to disable iCloud backup, otherwise photos will be backed up to both services. Go to Settings > iCloud and disable My Photo Stream. <\/p>\n
Sharing your photos via OneDrive is simple, and it gives you a lot of options. You control the level of security of who's able to see and download the stored pictures or videos. After you select the image you want to share, you can create a short link to it, post it on Facebook or Twitter, or email it to someone. It also allows you to invite people from your contacts list to view or download the photos or videos. The person you're sharing the item with do not need to have, or create a OneDrive account if they don't have one. <\/p>\n
It also includes a the ability to setup a PIN code to restrict access to the items you don't want to share or only want select people to see. You can set up the photos and videos you want to share directly from your device, the Windows 8.1 app, file explorer in Windows 7, or directly from the onedrive.com site from any browser. <\/p>\n
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Automatically back up photos and videos from any mobile device to the cloud<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A lot of us have mobile devices on multiple platforms. Maybe an iPod, an Android tablet, and\/or a Windows Phone Continue reading