Android's own backup uses your Google account's storage, and Google One is what sells more of it. Every account gets 15 GB free, shared across Photos, Drive and Gmail, with paid plans starting at 100 GB. Copy Shelter is a separate app that encrypts your photos and files with a key only you hold, and writes them wherever you choose.
Google's backup and Copy Shelter fail for different reasons: one is tied to your Google account being reachable and in good standing, the other to storage you chose and control yourself. Running both is a reasonable way to have a second, independent copy.
Can you get a file back today, from the backup as it is now, on a phone that has never seen it? Try it with one file before you need it. Copy Shelter's answer is csctl and the published format.
For backing up your photos and files with a key only you hold, yes. Google One is storage sold by Google; Copy Shelter is an app that encrypts your files and lets you choose where they go, which can include storage you already pay for elsewhere.
15 GB, free with every Google account, shared across Gmail, Drive and Google Photos as well as your device backup. Google One plans add more, starting at 100 GB for $1.99 a month.
It does not have to. Copy Shelter adds an encrypted copy of your photos, files, contacts and calendars somewhere you choose, alongside whatever Android already backs up to your Google account.
Yes, for one backup location, with no time limit. Pro adds more locations, older versions and scheduled deep checks, on every platform it runs on.
Google One figures are from one.google.com/about/plans, read on 19 September 2026. Prices change, so check them before deciding. Related: Copy Shelter for Android, Copy Shelter and Time Machine.