We get it—our parents never had to deal with this: Instead of a few albums, most of us are sitting on tens of thousands of images across phones, drives, and apps. It’s overwhelming, and no one ever taught us how to handle it. That’s exactly why we wrote this: a calm, non-techy plan to make your photos safe—fast.
This guide provides three key steps to preserving your family photos:
- Turn On an Automatic Cloud Copy
- Keep a Calm “Home Base” on Your Computer
- Add a Small External SSD (Quick, once-a-month copy)
Small confession: we learned the hard way when we lost photos from our honeymoon in Portugal. That pit-in-the-stomach feeling is what we want to help you avoid. 
Want to find out more about backing up and using your family photos? Check out our complete Use Them, Don’t Lose Them guide.
The core idea to preserving your family family photos: Multiple formats + multiple locations = resilience. You don’t need a perfect system—just pick a couple options that fit your life and add more later. Seamless beats perfect.
Step 1 — Turn On an Automatic Cloud Copy
We’re choosing to keep this simple and focus particularly on the native cloud back-up services.
iPhone/iPad — iCloud Photos
- Go to Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Photos → make sure Sync this iPhone is selected.
- Choose Optimize iPhone Storage (saves space on device) or Download Originals (stores full-res locally too).
- Pro tip: You’ll likely need to buy the 2tb plan, which is way more than most families will use. Avoid paying for multiple plans by using the family sharing plan.
Android — Google Photos
- Open Google Photos → profile icon → Photos settings → Backup.
- Pick Wi-Fi/data preferences and (optionally) choose device folders to include (e.g., Downloads, Screenshots).
Amazon Photos (Prime households)
If you’re already a Prime member, Amazon Photos offers unlimited photo storage for Prime (video has a separate 5GB pool by default) and a Family Vault you can share with up to five people. It’s a great secondary option, though not as tightly integrated as iCloud on Apple devices.
Step 2 — Keep a Calm “Home Base” on Your Computer
Create one master folder for full-resolution files. Keep downloaded galleries intact, and avoid renaming inside them so nothing breaks later. A simple pattern works: Family Photos / 2025 / 2025-09_Brooklyn-Bridge-Park. Pro tip: We like naming conventions that start with the year so when you sort by name, it will sort the files chronologically.
Step 3 — Add a Small External SSD (Quick, once-a-month copy)
Solid state external hard drives (SSDs) are small, fast, and more shock-resistant than old spinning drives. They’re worth having around (we like the Samsung T7 drives) Once a month: plug in → copy the latest year folder → eject. If you keep two drives, rotate one to a safe spot (work, a relative’s place). Label the pouch so it’s easy to find.
Want to Use These Photos More?
Safety first, but if all you do is backup your files, you’re not getting the most out of your family photos. You want your family photos in your life! For more info on using your pictures to their fullest, download Stylish & Hip Kid Photography’s Use Them Don’t Lose Them guide.
