Google is reportedly working to improve Android-to-PC backups, but Samsung may be omitted from its future plans.
The Android 17 developer is said to be working on a new automated Windows PC-based backup system for its mobile platform that works through the Quick Share app.
According to Android Authority, however, Samsung phones may not be supported in this new initiative.
Having delved into version 26.26.33 of Google Play Services, the website has discovered an information page that runs through a yet-to-launch Automatic backup system.
Foundry
Said system would be free to use, and would automatically save selected files to your PC without the need for any cloud storage. You’ll just need to ensure that you’re signed into your Google account on both your phone (which seems a given) and your Windows PC.
Photos and videos will then back up on a daily basis when your phone and PC are in close proximity and on the same Wi-Fi network.
Samsung users will not be able to make use of this feature, though no explanation is given as to why. It seems likely that Samsung’s own Smart Switch provision with its own competing backup process is to blame. Still, as stated, it wouldn’t have been the first instance of Google and Samsung duplicating features.
Given that Samsung’s solution doesn’t currently support automatic backups, it seems a shame that Samsung phone users are going to miss out.
Google gets stingy on storage
While we’re on the subject of Google backups, the company has revealed a slightly stingy new approach to calculating account storage.
Starting from 7 July (via 9to5Google), all Android backup data will be counted against a user’s storage limit. Prior to this, only media was counted.
New sign-ups will be affected by this change right away, while existing Google customers will find it being implemented over the coming months.
Google doesn’t anticipate this being a huge issue, with Android backups said to take up around 40MB of storage on average. The company will also be offering more fine control over which data and apps are backed up.