Backup important files and expand the storage on Android smartphones with these free cloud storage apps
Cloud storage enables users to free up space on a device by uploading and backing up content to the cloud (remote servers accessed from the Internet). But most importantly, it’s also an easy way to share files with others, access files from multiple devices on the go, and keeping important data safe. Using a cloud storage app is a no-brainer, plus there are quite a few best cloud storage available free for android.
What are the best cloud storage apps on Android?
We’ve done the legwork and spent time checking out a large number of these apps, so at least one of these best cloud storage apps for Android should suit your needs. These apps are free to download and offer free storage to start with, which can be upgraded with a small fee.
Google Drive
Google Drive naturally comes first in the list of best cloud storage apps for android. The app safeguards your files with secure backup and makes them accessible from smartphones, tablets, or computers. It provides quick shareable links to invite others to view your files or folders and edit them or leave comments, with different access levels if you wish. Files can be quickly searched by name or content and can be viewed offline for convenience. The integration of Office apps such as Google Docs and Sheet makes it one of the best productivity apps for smartphones.
Additionally, the Google Photos app lets you back up photos and videos and organize them. Google Drive also lets you scan documents and upload them to the cloud. It offers 15GB of free storage as standard, but just $1.99 per month gets you an upgrade to 100GB.
Amazon Drive
Amazon Web Service is a major payer in the cloud computing space. One of the best things about storing content in the cloud is reassuring that files will still be secure no matter what happens to the device. Amazon Drive lets you upload photos, videos, music, or documents from any computer or Android device and then previewed or shared with other devices no matter where it originated. The app supports previews of PDFs, text, Word documents, photos, and videos, and you can create folders and move your files between them or download them to your Android device. Files can also be shared via email, text message, and more as links or attachments.
It has a friendly, clean interface, and Amazon Prime users currently get 5GB of free storage with unlimited photo and video backup. The other sers will need to pay $11.99 yearly for the same. Alternatively, you can choose the unlimited storage option for approximately $60 annually.
Amazon Photos
Amazon Photos is a dedicated cloud storage service for photos and videos. It offers free 5GB storage for full-resolution photos and videos. Primes members also get an additional 15 GB of free space. One of the excellent features is the ability to personalize Amazon Fire Tv and Echo Show devices to display your photos as a backdrop and also the ability to see photos from this day in previous years by simply asking Alexa voice assistant. There is also an unlimited photo backup option for $12 per year.
Degoo
Degoo cloud service app offers the most amount of space for free. Users get a whopping amount of 100 GB of free storage. There are some caveats though, such as the limitation of the number of files you can upload each day and the size limit that restricts you from uploading large files. Still, it’s a great option to free up space on your device by uploading less important files and photos or video clips, which you might need once in a while.
Dropbox
Dropbox is a familiar cloud storage app to many people. This user-friendly free cloud storage for android has many useful features that act as the central hub for your files synced and accessible across unlimited devices or any web browser. It makes large files are easy to share, even if the people you want to share them with are not Dropbox users themselves. This makes Dropbox an adequate collaboration space, and access to documents and files is also available offline so work can be continued while on the go.
Features include a document scanner, shared folders, the ability to sync, share and edit documents such as Excel, PowerPoint, and Word files, and much more. Unfortunately, Dropbox only offers 2GB of storage for free, and then in-app purchases are available for increased storage options.
Yandex.Disk
Yandex.Disk is another decent free cloud storage app worth taking a look at. It has a nicely streamlined user interface to easily access your documents, photos, and more when connected to the Internet, knowing your files are always secure in the cloud. Besides, you can save on mobile data charges by just sending a link for a file or folder to others. The app also features auto-uploading for photos and videos once your device is Internet-connected, so you don’t even have to worry about backing up them manually.
Up to 20GB of storage is available free and additional paid storage options are available up to 1TB at extremely reasonable rates.
Microsoft OneDrive
Microsoft’s OneDrive is one of the best-known cloud storage app that is well integrated with Windows Office products to edit Office files (such as PowerPoint, OneNote, and Word). It’s easy to access and organize your files and folders, and you can set a PIN if you want to limit access to them. When a document you’ve shared has been edited, you’ll receive a notification, and there’s also automatic tagging for photos. The app also adds some useful functions, including scanning documents, editing PDF files, and an extra layer of security with a personal vault for images and files. OneDrive is a truly business app with its powerful collaboration ability.
The free version offers 5GB of cloud storage for personal use but for a $1.99 monthly charge you can upgrade that to 50GB.
FolderSync
FolderSync doesn’t offer its own cloud storage space. However, this is one of the vital cloud storage apps that make using different cloud services a lot better. As most cloud services app offers limited storage space, using multiple cloud apps to expand the free storage option is inconvenient. FolderSync will save from this situation by synchronizing different device folders to additional cloud services or even uploading to an FTP server. Users have full control over sync frequency and can configure various rules or even sync manually.
Autosync
Autosync is another useful cloud services app that brings all the cloud storage app you use into a streamlined interface and access them from one app. Autosync is universal cloud sync and backup app for android that works as a cloud storage manager that performs two-way syncing between your phone and cloud storage service at set intervals. You can browse files from various cloud services and download them to the device as you want.
MEGA
One of MEGA’s most vital features is that it offers user-controlled encrypted cloud storage, meaning it can only be encrypted and decrypted by a user’s device and not by Mega Ltd. The only snag with that is that you will lose access to stored files if you forget your password, as Mega will not be able to access or reset your password. Therefore it’s important to remember your password or back up your Recovery Key.
The app also now offers end-to-end user-encrypted video chat, and a big appeal with MEGA is the 50GB of free storage that you’ll get when signing up. If that’s not enough, you can choose from various paid plans that go right up to 8TB of storage space and 16TB of transfer quota per month (PRO III). We found we encountered the odd glitch with this app but found it hard to argue with 50GB of free storage each month.
MediaFire
MediaFire is the most popular online file sharing platform. Its free cloud storage app takes a slightly different approach than many other cloud storage apps. Although you’ll automatically get 12GB of space free, you can earn up to 50GB of storage space by referring other people. You can upload files and folders from anywhere by selecting “Share to MediaFire,”. The app offers automatic backup for videos and photos.
Whether you want to securely store photos, documents for work, spreadsheets, presentations, or reading material, MediaFire makes it easy to do this and access them at your convenience. Overall, it’s a top free cloud storage service for android that doesn’t cost a dime.
Box
The box is gaining a good reputation as the best cloud storage free app. It’s easy to use with plenty of useful features to take advantage of. It offers 10GB of free cloud storage, and you can upload photos, videos, Microsoft Office files, PDFs, and more. Box has a preview feature for more than 200 file types with full-screen quality, has file-level security controls, and enables file and folder offline access. This cloud storage app works smoothly, and if you want more than 10GB of storage, you can pay more for a premium package starting from 100GB for $10 per month or opt for one of the business packages.
Tresorit
Tresorit is one of the newer cloud drive apps. This is far from being the cheapest option for cloud storage, but if you really value security, you might feel it’s worth paying a bit extra. Tresorit features built-in end-to-end encryption, so files are encrypted on your device before they are uploaded to the cloud, thereby protecting them from prying eyes such as authorities and hackers. You can create shared folders dubbed tresors, and even if a person you want to share them with doesn’t have an account, you can send an encrypted link instead of an attachment.
Tresorit also removes any concern about somebody else accessing the app if they get hold of your phone, as your account can be safeguarded with 2-factor authentication and an app passcode. The app is free to download, and you’ll get a 14-day trial of the premium plan. Various other plans are available from 1GB of storage through to 2TB. For example, you can get 200GB of storage for a monthly payment of $12.50.
Resilio Sync
Resilio Sync is not an actual cloud storage app, instead its a great wireless file transfer app between devices or network storage. However, If you still don’t trust remote cloud storage systems, you might want to check out Resilio Sync that allows you to come up with something like your own private cloud. It features peer-to-peer technology to connect your devices to sync and backup files, so there’s no need to send them for storage to a third party server. Practically it’s unlimited storage as long as you have the necessary storage available on your receiving device (NAS, tablet, laptop, PC, Mac). However, you’ll need the receiving device to be kept on so syncing can take place.
Although the app is free, if you want the Pro version’s full features, you’ll need to make a one-off payment for lifetime access.
Nextcloud
Nextcloud works similarly to the app above ad lets you create your own cloud server on the PC, which then lets you sync files between your computer and your phone. This is a very easy to set up option for those who want to copy their phone’s storage for peace of mind.
We recommend you try out several of the above cloud drive apps to see which you like using the best and which one most suits your needs. One thing to take into account is the amount of free storage you get while another thing to consider is how much you’ll need to pay to get additional storage. This is our pick of the best cloud storage apps for Android and they offer a wide variety of features and available storage space. However, do send us a comment if you’d like to recommend your favorite cloud storage app if it doesn’t appear in our selection.
