What is the best way to back up my photos?
The short answer
Set up two automatic layers. Let your phone back up to Google Photos or iCloud Photos for everyday convenience. Then add an independent second copy. IDrive can back up your phone directly, or Backblaze can archive the photos synced to your computer. A regular export to another provider works too.
In detail
Photos are the most precious data most households own. You cannot replace them. They also tend to live on one phone that gets dropped, stolen or replaced every few years. The good news is that the first layer almost sets itself up. Google Photos on Android and iCloud Photos on iPhone upload automatically and remove duplicates. Your photos then survive the loss of the phone. Check today that this is switched on. Do the same for relatives whose photos you may one day look after.
These built-in clouds have two limits. First, they work much like sync. If you delete a photo on the phone, it eventually leaves the cloud too. A child can do this just as easily. The trash keeps it for 30 to 60 days. Second, all your memories sit in one account. A lockout, a hack or a failed payment affects everything at once. That is why photographers keep a second copy somewhere independent.
There are three practical second layers, from least to most effort. The simplest is IDrive. It backs up phones directly into its versioned storage, next to your computers. Another route is to let Google or iCloud sync your photos to your computer. Both offer this. A computer backup like Backblaze then archives them with versions automatically. If you like a yearly routine, export the year’s photos with Google Takeout or the iCloud export.
Store them with an encrypted provider like Proton Drive or in a pCloud lifetime archive. Pick the layer you will actually keep up.