The 9 best Android cloud apps – securing your smartphone data

You probably always carry a lot of your most important data with you on your smartphone. It is particularly annoying when your valuable device is suddenly stolen, lost, or broken. It is helpful if you’ve done a backup and saved your photos, videos, and other files in the cloud. Just like iOS, the Android operating system has its own tools for these tasks – but they’re not always enough.

Instead, you’re often better off relying on trusted Android cloud apps from external vendors. You’ll also enjoy a few benefits if you choose to use them. For example, you can create a document in the office, continue working on it using your tablet when you’re on the road, and share it with colleagues anytime, anywhere. We will introduce you to the best Android cloud apps.

To store photos, videos, and other files, you’ll need Google Drive already installed on your Android device – or another trusted android cloud app from an external vendor.

Android cloud apps are smartphone programs that allow you to back up data to the cloud instead of local storage and retrieve it from any device that you have authenticated (e.g., by using a password-protected sharing link). Apart from some minor differences, they all work in a similar way:

Users can manually back up their system or selected files or data categories at any time. Alternatively, you can create an automatic storage plan to load your data into the cloud at specified intervals or whenever you create, modify, copy, or delete a file. To save your mobile data volume and battery life, you can specify that backups are only initiated when you have a Wi-Fi connection or are on the road using UMTS or LTE. Some android cloud apps also allow you to back up all installed applications including the associated configuration, personal, and access data – provided your device is “rooted”.

As an Android user, you’ll most likely have already created your own Google Account, so it’s easy for you to simply use the Google Drive cloud for system backups and data backups. If you don’t want that, there’s always a wide range of external apps available, some of which are also compatible with the Google Cloud. However, with the myriad of tools in the Play Store, it’s not easy to pick the best of them unless you’re going with a well-known option like IONOS or Microsoft.

For lesser-known products, however, it makes sense to know exactly what makes a good cloud for Android before downloading it. For these, the same quality criteria apply as for cloud storage providers in general:

• As large a memory as possible (at least 1 GB for rare backups)
• A free version for private and occasional users
• A wide range of storable data categories (not just calendar entries and photos, but also app data)
• A high synchronization speed, so that uploaded files can also be retrieved immediately on other devices
• Optimum user-friendliness and smooth functionality
• Additional functions like file sharing, folder structures, and software integrations
• High levels of privacy (connection, encryption, server locations, and privacy policy)
• A good price-performance ratio for Pro versions

Some android cloud apps in the Play Store are generally more popular than others, but the mere number of downloads shouldn’t be the only criteria you follow when selecting one. The many different cloud apps for Android all work on the same principle but offer different amounts of storage space as well as different pricing models and additional functions. Ultimately, the only way to find out which one suits you best is to do a trial. Small details like the user interface design or menu structure can often be decisive. In this article, we offer help with the preselection process.

Customers can choose from different storage options: 100 GB, 250 GB, 1 TB, or 2 TB. Features include a user-friendly interface. The Pro edition can be extended to multiple backup devices and end-to end encryption.

For Android users with a Google account, Google Drive is the most convenient solution because the app comes pre-installed on the system, so no additional setup is required. With 15GB for backups, it offers the most free storage of any Android cloud app on our list. Plus, you can store an unlimited number of photos and videos. The same applies to documents, spreadsheets, and presentations created with Google Docs, our in-house application. For a monthly fee of approx. $1.99 you get 100 GB, with prices increasing to up to $9.99 per month for 1 TB of storage. With a yearly subscription, you can reduce these prices by 15%.

Folder management, data synchronization with the Google Cloud, and file sharing (with other Google users or through an external link) can be easily controlled through the “+” button on the start page. Photos can also be stored in the cloud through Google Photos, even automatically at the time of capture. Integration of popular Google Workspace applications: Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, and Google Presentations is another advantage of the app. However, you must first convert documents created with it into an Office format before you can download them and use them offline. Furthermore, Google Drive convinces with its resource-saving functionality and a high synchronization speed. A two-factor authentication and encrypted connections offer sufficient security. However, many Android users will not want to put their sensitive data into the hands of the large IT company.

An advantage is that Dropbox’s servers are located in the USA. The free storage space, however, is nothing special: 2 GB is far behind the 15 GB offered by Google Drive, but you can increase this number up to 16 GB by recruiting new users for Dropbox – per newly registered user there is 500 MB more.

Similar to its competitor Google, Dropbox also offers its own word processing tool called Dropbox Paper, which you have to download and link to the app. Although it isn’t nearly as extensive as a Microsoft Office program, it can be linked directly to this and Adobe Acrobat products. Dropbox Plus with 1 TB of storage space is available for about $9.99 per month. The business version is available on request from the manufacturer. It costs just as much and offers 2 TB per user.

New customers get 5 GB of free storage – previously 15 GB – but don’t have to worry about functional limitations compared to the more expensive versions. Even with the best price/performance ratio before, Microsoft had to make a few cutbacks because of high data peaks: 100 GB for approx. $1.99 per month is still considered competitive. You can also purchase OneDrive as a package with an Microsoft 365 subscription. The personal version offers one user 1 TB of storage for approx. $9.99 per month for five users and 5 TB of storage and contains special premium functions. In addition, there is an attractive business package.

Unfortunately, videos and music do not belong to the storable file categories. The backup of apps and data is only possible on a rooted device. A special function is the recording of entire telephone calls as MP3 – whether you want to grant the app comprehensive access rights for this is up to you. Another small bonus is the option to display the minimalist but functional design of the app in dark mode.

However, despite all its possibilities, Super Backup offers rather little in terms of operation. Each category needs to be saved and restored manually. In addition, the time settings for the automatic backup can only be personalized to a limited extent. Premium users only pay a small, one-off amount of approx. $2 to get rid of advertisements, permanently. 

Titanium Backup lives up to its reputation by giving you deep access to your Android system. Thanks to additional functions like encryption, data manipulation, and data carrier cleaning, the app qualifies as a multifunctional tool that is constantly being further developed and maintained by ambitious developers. In return, they only require a one-time payment of approx. $6 for the complete PRO version. However, beware: if technical terms like XML, Nandroid, and ADB don’t mean anything to you, you won’t be able to do much with the Titanium Backup (PRO). For those who are eager to learn, the development team offers comprehensive support in the form of a Wiki and the in-house knowledge base titaniumtrack.com/kb.

Although the cloud app for Android is still quite new on the market, its flawless functionality easily keeps up with the more well-known competition. In addition, Box is already integrated into many file management programs. The professional tool Titanium Backup Pro (see above) even allows backups in the Box cloud. Only when uploading larger files, Box can sometimes have trouble. This is due to the comparatively small maximum file capacity. You should upload your data in a well-organized way, in several small blocks.

In the following, we summarize the features of the 9 best Android cloud apps:

If you want to always have your important files at hand, online storage is the right choice. Access your data from a variety of devices and collaborate with others on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. But online storage isn't meant to protect your data. If you want to secure your sensitive data in the long run, you should look into an online backup solution.

An online backup service stores professional backup copies for you - automatically and at short, regular intervals. Should your PC, laptop, or smartphone be infected by malware, get lost, or stop functioning, you will always have your sensitive data safely stored online. You decide how extensive the backups should be and how often the backups should be created. We have two options that may be suitable for your backup strategy.

MyDefender is available in four packages: 10 GB, 100 GB, 200 GB, and 500 GB. The two smaller packages let you connect one and two devices, respectively. MyDefender with 200 GB and 500 GB storage capacity can be connected to an unlimited number of devices to backup. This way, you can use the cloud to back up your laptop, PC, and your tablet. MyDefender is available for iOS, Windows, and macOS. All data are 256-bit AES encrypted and are stored in ISO-certified data centers.

Special features of the cloud app include automatic detection of new devices. Set-up is simple: just download and install the software on your smartphone, log-in and the connection is established automatically.

With MyDefender you get a comparatively large amount of storage space to accommodate different needs. Cloud Backup offers a total of eight different capacity categories between 50 GB and 5 TB. This means that the solution is scalable. The “Cloud Backup Flex” package is fully adaptable. This lets you pay per gigabyte used. The backup system provides different options for versioning, incremental backups, and log files. All data is encrypted with 256-bit AES.

When looking for the best cloud app for your Android device, you should ask yourself the following questions: How much disk space do I need? What is my budget? How important is data security to me, and how much do I know about software and hardware? Both IT teams in companies and private individuals have a wide choice of free and fee-based Android clouds.