What is the best way to back up my photos?
Automate two layers: let your phone back up to its native cloud (Google Photos or iCloud Photos) for convenience, then add an independent second copy: a true backup service like IDrive (which backs up phones directly), a periodic export to a different provider, or a synced copy on your computer that Backblaze archives. Photos are the files people cry about; one copy is not enough.
Photos are the highest-stakes data most households own: irreplaceable, emotionally priceless, and concentrated in one device that gets dropped, stolen, and replaced every few years. The good news is that the first layer of protection configures itself: Google Photos on Android and iCloud Photos on iPhone upload automatically, deduplicate, and survive phone loss. If you do nothing else, verify that this is actually on, today, including for the relatives whose photos you would inherit responsibility for.
The native clouds have two quiet weaknesses, though. They are sync-like: delete a photo on the phone (or let a child do it) and it eventually disappears from the cloud too, with a 30-to-60-day trash window as your safety net. And they chain your memories to one account: a lockout, a hack, or a payment failure threatens everything at once. That is why photographers preach a second, independent copy.
Practical second layers, in ascending effort: IDrive backs up phones natively into its versioned storage alongside your computers, the simplest true second copy. Or: let Google/iCloud sync photos to your computer (both offer this), and a computer backup service like Backblaze archives them with versions automatically. Or, for the deliberate: an annual ritual of exporting the year’s photos (Google Takeout, iCloud export) to an encrypted provider like Proton Drive or a pCloud lifetime archive. Pick the layer you will actually maintain; an imperfect backup that runs beats a perfect plan that does not.