Is It Worth Paying For Cloud Storage On Your Phone?

 Buying a phone isn’t as simple as it used to be. A few years back, you bought a phone and that was it, but these days, there are more options than ever when it comes to storage and a lot of people have trouble deciding how much storage they need. The ones with the most storage are naturally more expensive, but if you watch a lot of movies or download music on your phone, you probably need the model with the most built-in storage, right? 

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Actually, there is another option. Most companies offer a cloud storage service for an extra charge. You will get some storage for free, but if you want to use more, you have to pay a monthly or yearly fee. The prices are not unreasonable (99 cents per month for 50GB) but a lot of people wonder whether it’s really worth it or not. This article will break down some of the benefits of paying for cloud storage on your phone to help you decide whether it’s right for you. 

You Get More Space 

The most obvious benefit is that you have more space to store files. If you take a few photos and use a couple of social media apps on your phone, you probably don’t need to pay for cloud storage. But phones are multimedia devices capable of listening to music, watching movies, and playing games. If you use your phone for all of that stuff, you may need to think about paying for cloud storage. 

A high definition movie, for example, could take up between 1GB and 3GB. If you’re a movie buff and you download at least a couple of movies a week, you’ll soon max out the built-in storage on your phone. If you want to keep your library without deleting anything, you’re going to some extra storage. The same is true if you shoot a lot of videos or download a lot of music on your phone. 

You Can Back Everything Up

Backing up your data is so important because, if your phone gets lost or stolen or you break it, you could lose a lot of stuff. Some of that might be sensitive personal information but you also need to consider the photos and videos you have on there. If you take a lot of family photos, they have great sentimental value and it would be such a shame if you lost them all. 

Having a cloud storage account that automatically backs up your files will stop that from happening, so even if your phone is damaged or lost, all of your files are still there, ready for you to recover them. However, it’s worth remembering that many phone insurance plans also have a backup function included with them. So, if you are already planning to buy insurance for your phone and your storage needs aren’t that great, it may not be worth paying for cloud storage. If you are only buying it for the backup benefits, you are essentially paying for the same things twice. On the other hand, if you need extra space, the backup is just an added benefit.   

Files Are Accessible On Multiple Devices  

Uploading to the cloud usually means that you can access your files on multiple devices, especially if you are an Apple user. You can upload photos to iCloud from your phone, laptop, or iPad (visit https://backlightblog.com/how-to-upload-photos-to-icloud-from-your-iphone-mac-or-pc for a guide on how to do this) and they will appear across all three devices. That means no more messing around sending files back and forth via email. 

Having your files accessible across all of your devices is useful for a lot of reasons. If you want to keep your photos organized instead of having them in a huge list on your phone, you can start putting them in folders as soon as they are automatically uploaded to your computer. You can use your note apps on your phone while you are out and about and then pick up where you left off on the computer when you get home. Once everything is seamlessly integrated, you will find that you get a lot more out of your devices. 

It’s Easier When You Switch Phones 

Getting a new phone is exciting but it can be a bit of a pain. On your old phone, you had all of your apps, your photos, and your numbers stored and arranged just how you like them. Now that you’ve got a new phone you have to back all of that stuff up and then restore it to your new phone, then spend time setting it up in the same way that you had it organized before. This isn’t the end of the world if you only use 3 apps and you don’t really like taking photos. But if you shoot hours of video and download music and movies, it takes ages to restore everything. However, when you have cloud storage, it’s quick and easy to set your new phone at the click of a button. 

It’s Often Cheaper Than The Alternatives

People are put off by the added cost but when you consider the alternatives, cloud storage is often cheaper. The price of phones varies a lot depending on the amount of storage space they have. A 16GB iPhone 12, for example, costs you $799 to buy outright, but that price jumps to $949 if you want 256GB of storage. Check out https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/iphone-12 for more detailed information about how storage affects the price. If you’re paying a monthly contract for your phone, your payments will be significantly higher if you want the version with more storage too. When you consider that it’s only $2.99 a month for 200GB of cloud storage, you can see that it’s often the cheaper option. 

You may decide to buy an external hard drive instead of cloud storage. Although it’s only a one-off cost, it will be significantly more expensive and you also run the risk of it breaking. 

Although it seems like the added cost might not be worth it, when you consider the benefits, most people would be better off buying cloud storage for their phones.