You’ll soon have the option to back up your Android phone to your Windows PC without touching the cloud, but there might be a catch. Google is now known to be developing an automatic backup feature for PCs, but Samsung phones won’t be supported.
An information page Android Authority has unearthed in Google Play Services reveals that you can soon set the Quick Share app on Windows to automatically start local backups of your Android phone’s photos and videos over Wi-Fi. You’ll only have to make sure that both devices are signed into the same Google account. You can choose the media files you want to preserve, and there will be daily backups as long as the hardware is turned on.
7/10
SoC
Google Tensor G4
Display
6.3-inch Actua display
However, the page explicitly mentions that “Samsung phones aren’t supported.” While there’s no explanation as to why, this is likely due to existing backup options in Samsung’s Smart Switch app. Those aren’t automatic, though, so the functionality won’t be as seamless as with Android’s upcoming backup feature.
It’s not clear when the automatic backup function will be available on Android, or whether the Samsung restriction is temporary. With that said, it’s not surprising that Google would steer clear. While Google and Samsung have harmonized on apps and services like Google Messages and Gemini, Samsung still tends to opt for in-house software (such as Smart Switch and DeX) over stock Android implementations.
Why is automatic PC backup coming to Android?
Not everyone wants their media online
Google hasn’t formally announced the automatic backup feature, so there’s no official explanation so far. There are a few potential reasons for introducing the option, however.
Many experts will tell you local backups are still important. You might not want to lose a priceless family video to a cloud outage, or depend solely on a subscription service to store your vacation photos. As with iPhones (which already have some backup options on Windows PCs and Macs), having your files both on a nearby device and in the cloud gives you a redundancy that could avoid a disaster.
Related
How to Back Up Your Google Photos Library to a Hard Drive
Don’t let cloud storage be your only backup.
Physical backups can also be crucial in regions where a fast, reliable internet connection isn’t guaranteed. Cloud uploads that take minutes in a major city can take hours in a rural village. Data caps and throttling sometimes make online backups impractical as well — you don’t want to choose between backing up photos and making an important video call.
And yes, you might simply distrust the cloud. If you’re worried that Google or hackers might access your photos without permission, or that one failure could wipe out decades of memories, a local automatic backup might be ideal.