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THIS WEEK ON Live A Better Life, we’re looking at all things tech, and bringing you expert info on how to make the tech side of smartphone ownership a cinch.
Today, we’re tackling something that a lot of us ignore: backing up our phones.
Live A Better Life is all about making your phone work for you, and backup is essential for having a harmonious relationship with your phone.
Why? Well for one thing, just think of the huge amounts of data you have on your phone: photos of family and friends, voice memos, videos, all sorts of things.
What if you lost or broke your phone tomorrow? Then some of your data could be gone forever.
As MacWorld puts it:
Backing up your iPad or iPhone is easy to do, and it’s also incredibly important – if we had to give three pieces of advice to iPhone (and iPad) owners, they would be back up, back up, back up.
Or as two of our staff members here put it:
I lost loads of photos of my dog that died. Now I backup everything.
I lost all my WhatsApp chats a couple of months ago. In some ways it was a nice, enforced detox but in other ways I felt like I lost a written history.
Apples and Androids
If you’re an Apple user, Apple says that:
If you back up your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you’ll have a copy of your information to use in case your device is ever replaced, lost, or damaged.
But first, you must choose a backup method: iCloud and iTunes. Here’s a page that outlines the difference between them. You can make a backup in both, if you want.
Here’s the full guide to backing up with iCloud or iTunes. The first thing you need to know is that connecting to a wifi network is pretty much essential for this.
You can increase storage in your iCloud – but it costs money. Here’s more info on that.
If you like to backup your phone using iTunes, make sure to store your password somewhere safe, because as Apple says, “there’s no way to recover your iTunes backups without this password”. If you want to save your Health and Activity data, you need to encrypt your backup.
If you’re an Android user, you’ll know that your Google account comes in very handy for backing things up.
The backup is pretty simple – go to Settings > Accounts (Google) > Select Google account> and then check everything you want to sync.
Here’s more on backing up Android devices.
There is also Backup and reset, in your settings, which should be enabled. Everything should be backed up to your Google account.
Backing up individual apps
There are also ways to backup some of your most-used apps, like WhatsApp. There is an option to backup your chat history depending on what phone you have.
On some phones, you’ll need to make sure to manually backup those chats before you uninstall the app.
If you want to backup your photos, use something like Google Photos or Dropbox, which enable you to access your photos from a PC or mobile device. Google Photos in particular comes highly recommended by our team in here.
One way to wirelessly transfer photos and videos is the Photosync app, which also comes recommended by staff in here. It can be used across a range of devices and computers.
Do you backup your phone regularly? Tell us in the comments.
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This happened the same day as the mother and baby report was released. FFG know well what they’re at timing it as such. Shower of…..
@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: majority of comments deleted due to language unfortunately. I wish that we all contact our elected politicians today and say NO. I didn’t break regulations and I do not accept this from banks nor political parties or anyone.
@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: FFG is not a party. Bit like saying SFDUP which would be inaccurate.
@Fionn Darland: well there are some very major differences between sf and the dup, you may have noticed them, on the other hand there are zero differences between ff and fg so to all intents and purposes they are one party.
@Fionn Darland:
FFG pretends to be 2 separate parties but they can be regarded as a solitary party.
@Paul Somers: couldn’t of said it better myself
Do as I as I say, not as I do.
@John Fairclough: farcical.
@John Fairclough: excuse me, but how can a comment that I or you made now appear in a different article. Neither of us saw this poor article, we respectfully commented on a well articulated article two days ago.
Couple months off on full pay, and snouts back in the trough. They’re taking the p.
Same old thing. coalition and FF will be gone within 6 months.
@John Collier: To be replaced by what exactly?
@Eoin McCarthy: Sinn Fein?
Getting FFG out of power is essential. They have had 100 years uninterrupted power.
The housing crisis and health crisis will never be solved with FFG in power so they need to go. Urgently.
Things are moving in that direction. its downward spiral of support continues. Currently at 43% support the next election should hopefully further rediuce its support to 35%.
Very smart of them to say ‘I shouldn’t have been there in the first place’ rather than saying that the tax-subsidesed Party shouldn’t have happened in the first place
Personal responsibility when it reflects bad on their mates, shared responsibility when it looks refkects on them as individuals. The typical FFG line. Yawn.
@Dylan Byrne: How was it subsidised by tax payer? FFG is not a party. Bit like saying SFDUP which would be inaccurate.
@Dylan Byrne: It wasn’t taxpayer subsidised
Con men.
Typical FF.
Totally gutless.
Their a rses w hipped is what should be done !
When will the people of this country wake up and stop voting for this FFG Mafia.
Funny how they ‘shouldn’t have been there in the first place’ isn’t ‘that Party the tax payers paid for shouldn’t have happened in the first place’
Personal responsibility when it reflects badly on their mates – Shared responsibility when it reflects badly on themselves.
Typical FFG line, it’s hardly surprising anymore.
This is not a Fairway to treat the Public, it’s Bunker politics again and putts stroke play back on the cards.
@James Keogh: Hole in one there!!
Definition of insanity electing the same low life and expecting a different outcome
At this stage I have to ask why do people vote for them?
This world is doomed 70m trump supporters says it all
@Helena O Riordan: sorry to say but when there is a reasonable alternative. They are all the same at the moment. All there to skim what they can from the surface and crawl away with all the benefits and not be answerable to anyone.
@Edward Reid:
It’s time to give Sinn Fein a chance. If they screw up then they can be voted out again.
Getting rid of FFG is now urgent.
Oh what contempt ff and fg hold the people of this country in! And to announce this at midnight in the midst of the mother and baby report findings. Proof if any was needed that those who hold the power in this country laugh at the “little people “.
Election on the way by the look of this crack.
It’s just a magic roundabout that goes around and around. Rest in peace zeibidee, the way you popped up to surprise us back in them days is long gone.
Bigger issues to be dealt with tbh. Are we all so innocent. One thing about politicians is they are open to criticism every day, we the people are not
@Fintan O’Halloran: when you enter that life, you take the good and bad that comes with it, I have no time for “selective” politicians. If you live in the public life, you accept the public criticism, end of.
@Fintan O’Halloran: They should be held to a higher standard than us, the people that elect and pay them.
@Fintan O’Halloran: The politicians with their salary plus vouched and unvouched expences should certainly be open to criticism . The circus continues.
@Fintan O’Halloran: Sure they attack and undermine each other more than the public does. I wouldn’t be too concerned with their feelings. You can be sure they’re not bother about yours.
How cynical can you get?…releasing this news on a big Newsday with the Mother and children’s homes report. The media in this country have a lot to answer for.
GOOD OLD IRISH POLITICS
FF looking after their own
Ahem…..
I wonder if we will ever get an honest government in power in Ireland?. The dealings and bull s**t that spout from hese people beggers belief.
This is appalling.
We had a referendum on keeping the Seanad in 2013. We voted – with a very small margin – to keep it, on the clear understanding that it would be reformed and made democratically accountable.
Nothing has happened since.
ALL senators are thieves. They are claiming a salary of 70,000 eur a year each for doing absolutely nothing.
The Seanad needs to be abolished.
18 comments here. 108 on one if another county’s politics. This is why these things continue here.
Ooh friend.! Fukn politican friend!
Someone once said we get the government we deserve…that says it all
Makes me sick the way these ars–olesget away with breaking the law
Goes to show how deluded ffg are. They seem to not think breaking the law is a problem. Funny how this happens when the gravest of reports is released, so the attention is off them. A report that subsequently critized numerous ffg governments
have your say