Getting a New Phone? Wait! Don’t Lose Your Pictures

Get your Mrs. Geek's Guide to Google Photos!
Google Photos is the best way to store your entire library of photos in one place. If you do it right, you will never need to worry about losing your photos.

Before you Give Up Your Old Phone

Notice that I said IF YOU DO IT RIGHT, you will never need to  worry. So, what do I mean by doing it right? There are 2 things you must do before you give up (or wipe out) your old phone.

1. Make sure your Photos have been backed up to your Google Account. Look at your Google Photos on your old phone. If you see an icon in the lower right corner of any of your thumbnails - either a circular arrow, or a cloud with a slash thru it – that means the photo has not been backed up. You are viewing the picture stored on your device.
   
2. Check the Google Account being used for the Back up & Sync setting. You may have forgotten that you set up your old phone with a Google account that you don’t use any more. To see what Google account is in use,
   1. Open your Google Photos app, tap the 3-line menu in upper left and then Settings
   2. The first item should say, “Back up & Sync: Backing up to myaccount@gmail.com
   3. Make a note of that email address – that is your Google account. You also need to know your password. If you need help with that, visit https://accounts.google.com.

The best way to check both issues at once is to use a computer, go to https://photos.google.com/ and sign in to the account you think stores your photos and see if they’re there! Your account shows in the upper right corner of the photos. If you see your photos then you know they’ve successfully made it to the cloud, AND you know you have the correct Google account username and password. You’re all set to use any device at hand and see all your photos.

Setting up your New Phone

If all the photos from your old phone were successfully backed up, and you know the account that was used, then setting up a new phone is a piece of cake!

1. Get the Google Photos app from the App store (iOS) or the Play store (Android) and Install it.
2. Verify that the correct Google account is being used
3. Open the Google Photos app and see all your pictures!

Note: you will need Internet access, either with Wi-Fi or your cellular data. The pictures are not stored on the phone, they are stored online, so you need access to view them. However, as you view them, Google Photos builds a library of photo thumbnails in cache memory in your phone. After a while, you will be able to view much of your photos even without being connected.

Here is a 6 minute video that demonstrates all of the above.

Book Launch: Mrs. Geek's Guide to Google Photos

The book is now available on Amazon and we are bundling it in a December Special on our website. We live streamed our Book Launch on Sunday, 12/18/16 at 2pm Eastern. Click here to watch.

Click The Book in the menu above for more information.

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Chris Guld is President and Teacher-in-Chief at GeeksOnTour.com. She has been in computer training and support since 1983 and owned a Computer Training Center called Computer Savvy from 1983-1996. She was one of the first WordPerfect Certified trainers in 1986; President of the International Computer Training Association in 1993; Author of the Beginner’s Guide to Picasa and the PicasaGeeks.com website. She is now a Top Contributor for the Google Photos Forum and owner of the LearnGooglePhotos.com blog. She loves to teach! If you want to learn, you’ve come to the right place.

Geeks Teach Google Photos at Central Florida Computer Society

Central Florida Computer Society, cfcs.org, meets at the Seminole county library just north of Orlando. This is not too far from the Thousand Trails RV park where we are members, so we used the meeting as an excuse to go RVing for the week.

Jim and Chris Guld, aka Mr. and Mrs. Geek outside their motorhome in Orlando, Florida

The CFCS group were joined by some members of CFGS, the Genealogical Society and they were really interested in learning about Google Photos. Everyone stayed well beyond our normal 1 1/2 hours, and we were able to demonstrate all aspects of our favorite program! 

• How it can automatically gather your photos from phones, tablets, and computer hard drives
• How to search for any picture, and explore what Google categorizes under people, places, and things
• How fun it is to use the editing tools
• How easy it is to create animations, collages, and movies
• How to organize your photos into albums and then share them

Chris and Jim taking a selfie during their presentation to Central Florida Computer Society

We gave everyone a handout so they didn't need to take notes. You can get the handout here.

If you have a computer club, genealogy group, or photography group, check out our calendar and see if we'll be in your area at any time. Maybe we can teach you Google Photos too.

Meanwhile, thru the rest of December, we have a special deal for a printed copy of our brand new Mrs Geek's Guide to Google Photos AND our complete learning library on USB drive.

If you were in the audience, we'd really appreciate hearing about what you learned. Please leave a comment here!

Try Searching your Photos

You may be very surprised at what Google Photos can deliver just by searching for whatever comes to mind.

On your phone, your tablet, or your computer bring up Google Photos and notice the search field at the top of the screen. Type anything in there, for example:

Birthdays

July 4

Dancing

Snowstorm in Minnesota

Fishing in California

Kayaking in Florida

Hugs

Cake

​Just type in whatever comes to mind, then touch Search on the device keyboard, or just press Enter on the computer. 

What did you get?

I love this one that came up when I searched for "Hugs"

Did you know that there is even a game, it's called Camera Roll, where you draw cards with words on them and it's your goal to find photos to go along with the words. Here's a few minutes in our Button Show where we demonstrate the game.

Give the gift of learning! 

December special: Geeks on Tour Learning Library on USB Drive PLUS our new book on Google Photos for $49. Click here for more details.