A second copy of your iCloud Photos, in Google Drive, kept current.
iCloud is where your photos live. It should not be the only place. AlbumFlow keeps an automatic copy in Google Drive, under your Google account, as the original files sorted by album, so one lost Apple ID or one bad swipe does not take the library with it.
Why iCloud alone is not a backup
iCloud Photos is a sync service. Delete a photo on your phone and it is gone from every device and from iCloud within seconds, with a 30-day recently-deleted window as the only net. Lose access to your Apple ID, through a forgotten password, a lockout, or a family dispute over a shared account, and the library goes with it. Apple’s own advice is to keep a separate copy.
A copy in Google Drive is independent on every axis that matters: a different company, a different login, a different billing relationship, and plain files you can open anywhere.
Set it and forget it
- Connect iCloud and Google Drive once; about five minutes, with the verification code from your iPhone.
- Create a sync with “Everything” selected, pick a Drive folder, and leave mirrored deletions off so Drive keeps everything.
- Choose the schedule: every 6 hours on Starter, hourly on Pro. New photos are in Drive on the next run.
- Email alerts tell you if the iCloud connection needs renewing (roughly every two months) or a run has stopped.
What the copy contains
Original files: HEIC and JPEG photos, HEVC and H.264 video including 4K and slow-motion, ProRes where you shot it, screenshots, and the video half of Live Photos. Capture dates are preserved. Each album is a folder, so the backup is browsable in Drive without any app, and a single album can be restored by downloading one folder.
What it costs
From $20 a month for the sync, plus Google’s own storage pricing for the space the copy uses. Every account begins with 7 free days, enough to complete a first backup of most libraries and see the result. Plans and limits.
Questions
It is a second copy in a different company’s cloud, under a different login, which is the part most people are missing. It protects against a locked Apple ID, an accidental mass deletion that has already synced across your devices, or simply leaving iCloud. It is not a versioned archive: Drive holds the current file, not every past version.
Your choice per sync. Leave mirrored deletions off and the Drive copy keeps everything ever synced, which is what most people want from a backup. Turn it on and Drive follows the album, within safety limits that block unusually large deletions.
Not yet. The copy is organised by album, so a photo is included once it belongs to at least one album. Whole-library backup including loose photos is on the roadmap.
About the same as your iCloud usage, since files are copied as is. Google gives 15 GB free; Google One starts at $1.99 a month for 100 GB and $9.99 for 2 TB.
The files in Drive are ordinary originals. Download them, or import them into any photo app, including Apple Photos, at any time.