If your phone died today, what would you lose?

Phones get dropped in water, stolen, or just stop turning on. The phone itself is replaceable. What's on it — years of photos, your contacts, and the codes that prove you're you — often isn't, unless it's backed up.

iPhone

• iCloud Backup: Settings → your name → iCloud → iCloud Backup → turn it on. It backs up automatically when your phone is charging, locked, and on Wi-Fi
• Storage: Apple includes 5 GB free, which fills up fast once photos are involved. Check Settings → your name → iCloud to see what's using space. The cheapest paid tier is inexpensive and usually enough for one person
• Or back up to a computer: plug into a Mac (Finder) or a Windows PC (the Apple Devices app, or iTunes on older setups). Choose "Encrypt local backup" so passwords and health data are included

Android

• Google backup: Settings → Google → Backup (the exact path varies by phone brand) → turn on Backup by Google One. It covers app data, call history, contacts, settings, and SMS
• Photos: Google Photos backs up photos and videos separately — open the app and make sure backup is on
• Storage: Google includes 15 GB free, shared across Gmail, Drive, and Photos

The step almost everyone forgets: your two-factor codes

If you use an authenticator app for two-factor logins and your phone dies, you can be locked out of your own accounts. Before that happens:

• Turn on your authenticator's backup or sync if it has one (Google Authenticator and Microsoft Authenticator both can sync to your account; many password managers store codes too)
• Save your backup/recovery codes when you set up 2FA on important accounts — print them or store them in your password manager
• Passkeys saved in iCloud Keychain or Google Password Manager sync to a new phone automatically

The 3-2-1 rule, simplified

The rule IT people use: 3 copies of anything important, on 2 different kinds of storage, with 1 copy somewhere else. For most people that means: the phone itself, a cloud backup, and an occasional copy of your photos to a computer or external drive.

Check that it's actually working

A backup you've never checked is a guess. Once in a while, look at the "last backup" date (it's shown on the same settings screen). If it says weeks ago, something — usually full storage — is stopping it.

Quick reference

• iPhone: Settings → your name → iCloud → iCloud Backup
• Android: Settings → Google → Backup, plus backup on in Google Photos
• Back up your authenticator app and save 2FA recovery codes
• 3-2-1: three copies, two kinds of storage, one somewhere else
• Check the "last backup" date every so often