We looked at automatically saving iPhone photos to an Amazon Cloud Drive account, but this is glaringly restrictive if you don’t have an Amazon account. If, however, you already use SkyDrive, you could choose to backup pictures there – and do it automatically at that.
SkyDrive has 7 GB of storage for the free plan. This is plenty space if you’re only using it to backup iPhone images. The procedure for keeping images backed up with SkyDrive is very easy to follow. We’re going to use BitTorrent Sync to pair the iPhone with a folder on a computer, which in turn is uploaded to SkyDrive. When the connection is established, the photos will automatically be sent to the folder on the computer that’s also using BitTorrent Sync.
Follow along below to configure automatic backups to SkyDrive.
Pair The Two Devices With BitTorrent Sync
Download BitTorrent for iPhone with this link.
Open the app and choose “Enable” in the “Backup” menu item. This will turn on the camera backup feature. On the next screen that shows, choose to “Send Secret by Email.”
Now download BitTorrent Sync for Windows or Mac with this link.
Open the email you received from the iPhone app and copy the string of secret characters. Open BitTorrent on the computer and choose “Add a Sync Folder.” Select a folder contained in SkyDrive for the bottom text area, and then paste the secret characters that you sent as an email from the phone.
The moment you choose “OK,” the photos should begin to transfer from your iPhone to your computer and, consequently, to SkyDrive. To ensure the photos will be backup up automatically, navigate to “Settings > Camera Backup > Automatic Backup” and toggle the feature to “ON.”
You could also choose “Use Cellular Data” from the “Settings” page to backup images even when you’re outside of a Wi-Fi connection. The files will backup immediately, indicative from the “Backup” menu tab, like so:
Things To Remember
- It looks as if BitTorrent Sync only backs up the images when the app is open – the connection isn’t continually paired when the app is closed. Just open the app at any time for the pictures to back up to SkyDrive.
- The backup is not a sync, like what may be expected with BitTorrent Sync. By this, I mean if you delete a backup photo from SkyDrive, the image will remain on the phone. Similarly, if you include an image in the backup folder that isn’t on the phone, the picture will not sync back onto the iPhone.
- Like with the previous point, removing an image from the iPhone will not remove it from the backup. Every image that’s added to the phone will be sent to the paired computer, no questions asked. The only way to remove it is to physically find it in SkyDrive and deleting it there.
Final Thoughts
I don’t use SkyDrive for anything, so having 7 GB of space for the sole purpose of backing up my iPhone images is superb. The process can be automatic and never use phone data, which makes it super simple and efficient for anyone.
While you’re backing up photos, learn how to backup your iPhone text messages with this post.
