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The existing backup feature on Android doesn't do an incremental backup. I just ran a backup, and it was 850MB. So having my phone upload something of that siz

The existing backup feature on Android doesn't do an incremental backup. I just ran a backup, and it was 850MB. So having my phone upload something of that size every day would be a bit annoying. Most of the major cloud storage platforms don't offer sync on Android. It's not really a good fit for how the filesystem is used by Android apps. I currently only do a Signal backup every few months (when I remember), and manually upload it to OneDrive. I'm not going to pay for their new service - I already pay for too many storage services.

styanax 1y ago
> I just ran a backup, and it was 850MB. So having my phone upload something of that size every day would be a bit annoying It may be inconvenient but this can be solved by using the features in the app to review your storage and save those thousands of images/audio/file sequestered inside the app out to the filesystem, then delete them from the app. You're not backing up "chats" you're backing up your image library being stored inside a chat app. (yes I get the argument that you need to store them "in context" so save those and do the rest. there's no way 100% of that 850MB is "must have saved inside the app in chats" data, I'll bet $10 USD on it)
- daveoc64 1y ago
  Reducing the size of the backup would solve one problem, but it's really the lack of automation of the process that's the annoying part.
  - styanax 1y ago
    We're partially there, under Storage is an option allowing you to set how long to keep messages and I've set mine to one year. Possible: forever (default), 1y, 6mo, 30d - and it works, my old chat messages (not the whole chat, just individuals) are properly culled over time. Edit: in context, Google Messages has none of these features and I have friends still married to Google Voice who send me tons of pics. Culling SMS requires using a third party tool to export and re-import etc. leagues behind Signal. None of it's backed up without the same third party tools as well and no built in image management.

styanax 1y ago

> I just ran a backup, and it was 850MB. So having my phone upload something of that size every day would be a bit annoying It may be inconvenient but this can be solved by using the features in the app to review your storage and save those thousands of images/audio/file sequestered inside the app out to the filesystem, then delete them from the app. You're not backing up "chats" you're backing up your image library being stored inside a chat app. (yes I get the argument that you need to store them "in context" so save those and do the rest. there's no way 100% of that 850MB is "must have saved inside the app in chats" data, I'll bet $10 USD on it)

daveoc64 1y ago
Reducing the size of the backup would solve one problem, but it's really the lack of automation of the process that's the annoying part.
- styanax 1y ago
  We're partially there, under Storage is an option allowing you to set how long to keep messages and I've set mine to one year. Possible: forever (default), 1y, 6mo, 30d - and it works, my old chat messages (not the whole chat, just individuals) are properly culled over time. Edit: in context, Google Messages has none of these features and I have friends still married to Google Voice who send me tons of pics. Culling SMS requires using a third party tool to export and re-import etc. leagues behind Signal. None of it's backed up without the same third party tools as well and no built in image management.