Regarding possible interventions prohibiting the uploading of one’s photos on an Android?

[montecarlo1987]

Hello. I have a couple of questions to ask you. This is regarding possible interventions prohibiting the uploading of one’s photos on an Android to Google Photos on the cloud.


I have the Android Moto G6 smartphone (USING Pie 9.0.0) with the semi-stock version of Android.


Question 1: When I upload to the Google Photos my photos taken with my Moto G6, and my Settings -> Display -> Sleep settings do NOT offer a “Never sleep option”, my display will blacken out at the (pre-)selected time interval. By default, the selection is set at 30 seconds. The question: When the screen blackens out at the specified time interval, will my Android smartphone STILL upload photos to Google Photos or is the operation to upload photos to Google Photos stopped or halted when the selected time interval is reached along with the screen blackening out appearing the Android smartphone to be turned off?


Question 2: What are all the possibilities that stop (end) or even not begin an uploading session of photos taken on my Android 9.0.0 (when an Android is set to factory settings)? I know most commonly (1) if the smartphone is off there will be no uploading to Google Photos to the cloud. Dah! (2) Another possibility is the Wi-Fi is turned off and/or the mobile data is off (if setup to upload using mobile data), an active session of uploading ends or cannot start uploading. What other (…or more complicated) scenarios stop or affect the uploading of photos session to Google Photos in the cloud? …interested in any scenarios when the Android smartphone is left totally alone on say on a table while it is uploading Google Photos to the cloud?


Please reply.


Thank you!

 

[Hadron]

1. I just tested this: set it going and turned the screen off, and the backup continued while it was off.

2. The most important one is that you have to actually open the Photos app before the upload will start. So if you take pictures for a week but don't open the Photos app in that time you will have no backup of those pictures.

 

[ocnbrze]

1. I just tested this: set it going and turned the screen off, and the backup continued while it was off.

2. The most important one is that you have to actually open the Photos app before the upload will start. So if you take pictures for a week but don't open the Photos app in that time you will have no backup of those pictures.

i'm not sure about your answer to number 2. when i take photos it will automatically sync to the cloud without ever having me going back or keeping google photos open. as long as you are on wifi it will automatically update.....at least on my note 10+ it is that way.

 

[svim]

Yes your Google Photos app won't backup/sync in the background when there's no online connection, (i.e. if you set your phone up to disconnect while its in Sleep mode) but you do not necessarily need to have the Google Photos app actively running for the backup/sync function to be working.
It's an automatic function but it's also a scheduled one, not something just happens instantly. I've never taken the time to actually measure the time interval, it's something that's set by the app's developers (...and since there's not user adjustable setting for this, frankly I just don't care).
For a lot of backup services, it's always a matter of setting up schedules so the process kicks in after a certain amount of time has elapsed (i.e. once a hour, or every half-hour, or whatever). The Google Photos backup/sync function will automatically run without any interaction on your part, just be patient. It is not an instantaneous process.

But specifically as for question 1, no simply because the screen goes into its sleep mode that doesn't necessarily mean your phone has too. You can set both up in your Settings menu so they each go idle when you want them to. They are independent from each other. This also overlaps into question 2 -- you can set your phone up the way that best meets your needs. Enable, disable, or adjust accordingly. And as for the Google Photos app you need to also look into the app's Settings menu to set up how the backup/sync option works (i.e. enable the use of mobile data too, as by default it will use WiFi). If you set your phone to always stay connected to your WiFi in the Settings menu, the Google Photos backup/sync function will eventually run in the background, but if you disable WiFi while your phone is sleeping it won't have an online connection (unless you've enabled mobile data connectivity in the Google Photos app Settings menu. So it's a bit convoluted but as far as your example of just leaving your phone on a table, just leaving your phone to use its default settings and your apps to use their own default settings will give you mixed results. Taking the time to set up your phone to your own particular needs will make it run the way you want, not how someone else thinks you want.

 

[Hadron]

Funny, because I've tested this many times, and it's always been the same on my phone:unless I open the app it doesn't back up.

Perhaps it depends on how much time you spend in the app: if you use it often and it's running in the background then the backup will work. But based on my observations I'd never assume that it will back up unless I've checked that it has happened.

 

[ocnbrze]

Funny, because I've tested this many times, and it's always been the same on my phone:unless I open the app it doesn't back up.

Perhaps it depends on how much time you spend in the app: if you use it often and it's running in the background then the backup will work. But based on my observations I'd never assume that it will back up unless I've checked that it has happened.

huh well i just took some photos for work and have not opened the app up since then. i just hoped on my computer and there they were. so it definitely backed up from my phone.

 

[svim]

Funny, because I've tested this many times, and it's always been the same on my phone:unless I open the app it doesn't back up.

Perhaps it depends on how much time you spend in the app: if you use it often and it's running in the background then the backup will work. But based on my observations I'd never assume that it will back up unless I've checked that it has happened.

Have not encountered a similar problem with Google Photos, except on devices where the user has changed a setting to prevent the automatic backup/sync function from working (i.e. the app has been restricted from running in the background in Battery Optimization).

 

[Hadron]

That's possible. In fact I was sort of thinking along these lines when I speculated about whether it might be running in the background or not. But I didn't fully join the dots because I couldn't see why my phone would be different from anyone else's.

However with Google's "adaptive battery" features battery optimisation is on by default and you have to actively exclude apps from it. I haven't done that for Photos (it's not prevented from running in the background, but neither is it excluded from battery optimisation) so that might explain our different experiences.