Google Will Delete Your Backup If You Haven’t Used Your Android Phone in 60 Days

If you’ve got an Android device, you most likely have a backup of it stored in your Google Drive account. Unfortunately, that backup can expire in 60 days if you leave your Android device untouched, even if you’ve got more than enough space to store it.

The potentially crippling data deletion policy completely wiped and removed a lot of  Android smartphone backups. Including saved Wi-Fi passwords and personal preference settings. And all of this happened in the two-month time span during which the backup was deleted.

 While it might come as a surprise to most Android users with backups, Google knows it’s treating your backup data as ephemeral when your Android device becomes inactive. According to its support page, “Manage & restore your device backups in Google Drive.

Your backup will remain as long as you use your device. If you don’t use your device for 2 weeks, you may see an expiration date below your backup.

“Expires in 54 days.”

In short, if you want to keep your phone’s cloud backup, you’ll have to use it once a week at least to keep the expiry date at bay. Otherwise a longer period of inactivity without accessing the data will make it prone to automatic wipe from Google.

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