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Google One now backs up MMS messages on Android

Since launch, Google One has provided additional cloud storage, family sharing, expert support, and occasional promos. The subscription service is now adding automatic Android phone backups.

Google One is “giving you even more” than Android’s backup feature that’s on by default. The standard functionality built into the OS and doesn’t require a subscription stores app data, call history, contacts, settings, and SMS messages.

The primary addition offered by Google One is backing up multimedia messages (MMS) in apps like Messages. As a result, you can restore conversations when you set up a new Android phone. Google is also touting existing Google Photos cloud capabilities for images and videos in original quality.

Another benefit is how automatic phone backup can be managed in the clean and simple Google One client. Opening the app today should prompt you to “Back up your device’s media with your extra storage.” Three categories of data are listed: Multimedia messages, Photos & videos (Google Photos), and Device data.

The latter is already backed up, with users given an option to disable the other two before preceding. “Not now” is also available, while you can determine whether uploading over cellular data is permitted.

There is a new “Device backup” card in the Home tab that notes the “last backup” time and current status. You can quickly turn off Google Photos storage from here, as well as manually trigger a “Back up now” and “See details” to enable/disable the three options.

“Restore” lets you bring back any lost content. For Photos & videos, you can “restore in original quality with full resolution” in case you’ve offloaded any media in the past. It should also work with Multimedia messages. The “Manage backup” preferences and “Restore from your backup” are also available in the Settings tab.

As of today, Google One Android backup should be widely rolled out to users.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com