When the time comes to preorder your Galaxy S24 or Galaxy Z Fold 6, you’ll probably be very glad of Samsung’s latest software service. It’s called Temporary Cloud Backup, and it lets you save an entire copy of all the important data stored on your phone, from photos to contacts, in the cloud and all for free. Then, when your new phone arrives the backup can be downloaded to it, and you never have to worry about accidentally losing valuable data during the switchover.
If you’re wondering where the catch is, the clue is in the name. This isn’t a long-term storage solution like Google Drive or a Dropbox account; it’s a temporary service designed to give you a secure and easy way to save data for a short period of time, at those points where you absolutely need it. This is really the only caveat though, as Samsung has gone all-out to provide a robust, useful feature.
For example, there’s no storage limit at all, and the individual file limit is a whopping 100GB, so it’s unlikely many people will run into problems backing up data from a smartphone. It doesn’t require access to a computer or to use a cable, it’s all done on your phone via Wi-Fi, and the Temporary Cloud Backup is linked to your Samsung account and uses Samsung Cloud storage space. Once the backup has been created, you’ve got 30 days before it’s automatically deleted from the cloud. It’s reminiscent of a similar feature from Apple, where the free, included amount of iCloud storage is temporarily increased after ordering a new iPhone so that you can utilize it for a backup.
The new feature is most obviously useful when you buy a new phone. Temporary Cloud Backup will be an option during setup, but it will also help if your phone has been away for repair, ensuring you don’t have to worry about data being lost. It’s not just an action available during setup either, as it’s part of the Maintenance Mode under Settings on your Galaxy phone, so it can be used at any time.
Temporary Cloud Backup will be available on Galaxy S and Galaxy Z devices running Samsung’s OneUI 6 software, which is expected to exit its beta stage in the near future. Initially, the feature will launch in South Korea, with a global launch coming during the fall.
