How to Back Up Photos and Contacts So You Never Lose Them

By Riley · Reviewed by CaseyLast updated March 2, 2026

The easiest way to make sure you never lose your photos and contacts is to turn on automatic backup through your phone’s built-in cloud service — iCloud on an iPhone, or Google on an Android phone. Once it’s turned on, your photos and contacts are copied to a secure online storage account automatically, so if your phone is ever lost, stolen, or damaged, you can get everything back on a new device by signing in with the same account.

This takes about five minutes to set up and then runs in the background — you don’t have to remember to do anything else.

Before you start

You’ll need to be connected to Wi-Fi, since backups can use a lot of data. You’ll also want to know your Apple ID (iPhone) or Google account password (Android) — if you’ve forgotten it, see our article on getting back into your account.

How to back up an iPhone with iCloud

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap your name at the very top of the screen.
3. Tap iCloud.
4. Tap Photos, then turn on Sync this iPhone (this uploads every photo and video to iCloud).
5. Go back to the iCloud screen and make sure Contacts is turned on too.
6. Scroll down and tap iCloud Backup, then make sure Back Up This iPhone is turned on. This backs up nearly everything else on your phone, not just photos and contacts.
7. Tap Back Up Now to start your first backup right away, while connected to Wi-Fi.

Storage note: Apple gives every account 5 GB of free iCloud storage, which may not be enough for a phone full of photos. If you see a message that you’re out of storage, go to Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Manage Account Storage to see paid plans, which start at a low monthly cost for much more space.

How to back up an Android phone with Google

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Google (or, on some phones, tap System, then Backup).
3. Tap Backup, and make sure it’s turned on.
4. To back up photos specifically, open the Google Photos app.
5. Tap your profile picture in the top corner, then tap Photos settings.
6. Tap Back up & sync, and turn it on.
7. To check your contacts are backing up, open Settings → Google → Contacts (wording varies slightly by phone brand) and make sure syncing is turned on.

Storage note: Google also gives a limited amount of free storage shared across your account. If you run low, you’ll see a notice with an option to buy more space through Google One.

How to check that your backup actually worked

Don’t just turn it on and assume it’s working — check it once:

1. On iPhone: Go to Settings → [your name] → iCloud → iCloud Backup. You should see “Last successful backup” with a recent date and time.
2. On Android: Open Google Photos, tap your profile picture, and check that it says “Backup complete” rather than showing a spinning icon or an error.

If it doesn’t say “complete,” make sure you’re connected to Wi-Fi and that you haven’t run out of free storage space (see the storage notes above).

How to restore your photos and contacts on a new phone

If you ever get a new phone, lose your old one, or need to reset it:

1. Turn on the new (or reset) phone and follow the setup screens.
2. When asked to sign in, use the same Apple ID or Google account you were backing up with.
3. Choose the option to restore from backup when it appears during setup.
4. Stay connected to Wi-Fi and give it time — restoring photos can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours depending on how many you have.

Frequently asked questions