It’s that time of year when you’re likely taking a lot of photos of friends and family. The holidays means your Photos app will be busting at the seams (just like your waistline after grandma’s Christmas cookies). The natural urge is to back your photos to the cloud, and you might even have your Settings configured to backup automatically–but not so fast. We consulted with leading tech experts to discover the one mistake you’re probably making when doing so:
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Syncing Vs. Backing Up
“Make sure you are actually backing up to your iCloud versus just syncing through your iCloud,” Shuaib Shakoor of Nerd Rangers tells us.
“Many people confuse the two features,” he warns. “Syncing keeps your content in sync across multiple iOS devices and does not actually backup your photos, videos, etc.”
So, how do you do it correctly? “You physically need to ensure data is being backed up to your iCloud drive by logging into iCloud.com and checking periodically.”
Not Storing Them Securely
“One of the biggest mistake people make when they save photos on iCloud is to confuse it for a private or secure storage for your sensitive data,” Omer Yarkowich of My Permissions warns.
“iCloud is a great solution for those who wish to extend their device's storage. But iCloud wasn't designed with privacy and security consideration in mind.”
When you share your device with another person—say with your spouse, children or even a work colleague or the guy at the AT&T store—your sensitive/private photos are right there available for browsing, Omer warns.
The best way to protect them is to use another security tool, such as MyPrivacy which allows you to hide sensitive photos by encrypting them, rather than just sending them up to a cloud.
