Turning on iCloud Photos, Step by Step
Okay so this is the lesson where we actually do the thing. Phones out, charger plugged in, and if you're on wifi right now, good, keep it that way for this whole lesson. This part goes a lot faster on wifi than on cell data, and if you've got years of photos it can chew through your data plan fast.
This lesson is for iPhone. If you're on Android, hang tight, sit with someone next to you who's got a Samsung or a Pixel, because Google Photos backup is a different set of menus and I'm shakier on that side. I'll get to it but I feel like someone in this room probably knows it better than me anyway.
Here's exactly what we're doing.
Step 1: Open Settings
Tap the gray gear icon, Settings. Not the Photos app yet. We start in Settings.
Step 2: Tap your name at the top
Right at the top of the Settings screen there's a banner with your name and your picture if you've got one set. Tap that. That takes you into your Apple ID account, which is where all your cloud stuff lives.
Step 3: Tap iCloud
Should be near the top of that list. Tap it.
Step 4: Tap Photos
You'll see a list, iCloud Drive, Photos, Mail, all these different things Apple can back up. We only care about Photos right now. Tap it.
Step 5: Turn on "Sync this iPhone"
This is the one. There's a toggle, might say "Sync this iPhone" or on older phones it says "iCloud Photos." Switch it on. It'll turn green.
That's it. That's the whole setup. I know that feels too easy after I built it up so much, but that's genuinely all there is to flipping the switch.
What happens next
Sooo, here's the part nobody warns you about. The second you turn that on, your phone starts uploading every single photo in your camera roll. Not just from today forward. Everything. All the way back.
I remember turning mine on the first time and just sitting there watching the little progress thing at the top of the Photos app. It said "Uploading" with a number, and I watched that number climb. 4,000. 9,000. It got past 22,000 photos and I actually felt a little sick. Eight years of camera roll, just sitting there on my phone the whole time like it weighed nothing, and it turns out it weighed a lot. I had no idea I'd let it pile up that much.
So don't panic if you turn this on and your phone suddenly looks like it's working really hard. It is working hard. Depending on how many photos you've got and how fast your wifi is, this can take a few hours. For some of you with a lot of video in there, it might take overnight. Leave the phone plugged in and connected to wifi and just let it run in the background. You can still use your phone normally while it uploads, it just does it quietly.
A word of caution here
While that first big upload is happening, do not delete anything off your phone yet. I know some of you are going to want to start cleaning things out right away, especially after last week when I got bossy about picking one system. Wait. Let the whole backup finish first, confirm it says "All photos uploaded" or something similar at the top of your Photos app, and then start deleting. Deleting mid-upload can get confusing and I don't want anyone losing something they meant to keep.
Checking that it's actually working
Open your Photos app. Tap Albums at the bottom, scroll down, look for "iCloud" or check that little cloud icon. If you see photos with a small cloud symbol in the corner, that means it's synced. If you're not sure, just wait a day and come back to it. It should just be running.
About storage space
Apple gives you 5 gigabytes free, which sounds like a lot until you remember modern phones take huge photos and even bigger videos. Most of you are going to blow past 5 gigs almost immediately, probably during this exact backup we just started. When that happens, your phone will pop up a message asking you to buy more storage. It's usually about a dollar a month for 50 gigs, sometimes two or three dollars for more than that.
Just pay it. I know some of you are going to want to find a workaround, delete stuff to squeeze under the free limit, mess around with settings. I feel like your time is worth more than that. Two dollars a month to never lose Skylar's recital again is nothing. Pay the fee, move on with your life.
Before next time
Let your backup run all the way through this week, and check back in on it once a day just to see the number climbing. Next time we're going to look at what's actually in there, screenshots and receipts and all, and start talking about cleaning it up.