Android just made a big change to your backups and there's good news and bad news

Date:
Tue, 07 Jul 2026 11:34:45 +0000

Description:
Your Android backups are going to start using more of your Google account storage, but at least you'll also have more control over what gets backed up.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Google is adding more toggles
to Android backups, so you can control exactly what gets backed up However, the company is also now counting everything in the backup towards your Google account storage This change is rolling out now, starting with new Google accounts Android backups are changing in two small but significant ways starting from today (July 7) and one of these changes will be more appreciated than the other.

Let's start with the good news: you can now take more granular control over what actually gets backed up, with individual on/off toggles being added for SMS & MMS messages, Call history, and Device settings. So, you can choose whether you actually care about saving each of those things, so that you can restore them if you ever set up a new phone. Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

More control is nice, but presumably, the reason Google has made this change is that all of these things will now also count towards your Google account storage. The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future) Stealing your storage Previously, when you backed up an Android phone, Google would only count the images and videos in Google Photos and MMS messages towards your account storage. Now, SMS messages, call history, and device settings are also being counted, meaning your backups will take up more of your valuable cloud storage data. You may like Google is asking for phone numbers to get the full 15GB of Gmail storage Google's upcoming Android app policy changes spark user backlash Android phones come with two built-in
tools for freeing up storage space here's how to use them

And thats unfortunate, since for free, Google only gives users 15GB or as little as 5GB for new accounts that dont register a phone number. And that free allowance isnt just for Android backups, its also shared with Gmail and Google Drive, so its easy to eat through even without SMS messages and the like counting towards it.

So, where before you could back up SMS messages, call history, and device settings without giving it a second thought, you might now want to be a bit more selective about whats backed up hence why these new toggles have been added (or at least we think that's the reason). Get daily insight,
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The good news is that this change shouldnt make a big difference to how much storage your Android backups use, with a Google spokesperson telling 9to5Google that we expect this to only add 40MB on average. Still, it all
adds up, and could mean users have to move to paid storage plans sooner than they might otherwise.

If youre an existing Android owner, you might not see these changes yet, with Google said to be rolling them out over the coming months. But new accounts should be subject to these restrictions and benefit from the new toggles immediately. Today's best Android phone deals Contract Deals Sim Free Google Pixel 10 24 months Unlimited mins Unlimited texts 5GB data 30 upfront 60.21 /mth View at O2 Mobiles See all prices Google Pixel 10a 36 months Unlimited mins Unlimited texts 30GB data 30 upfront 27.58 /mth View at EE See all
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View at Mobiles.co.uk See all prices Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 36 months Unlimited mins Unlimited texts 25GB data 30 upfront 53.59 /mth View at EE See all prices We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/phones/android/android-just-made-a-big-change-to-you r-backups-and-theres-good-news-and-bad-news


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