When did your phone last back up?

Not "I set it up once." Actually backed up — recently, completely, successfully.

Most people we talk to in store genuinely don't know. And that's completely understandable — because when backup is working properly, you never see it. It happens in the background while you sleep.

The problem is when it stops working, you don't see that either. Until something goes wrong — a phone is dropped, lost, or stolen — and the photos of your kids, the contacts you've built up for years, the messages that mattered, are just gone.

Here are the five signs we see all the time that a backup isn't doing its job.

1. You haven't checked it in over a month

If you don't know when it last ran successfully, treat it as if it isn't running. Backup that fails silently is the most common kind.

2. Your phone storage is full

When a phone runs out of room, the backup often stops working without telling you clearly. Photos pile up locally, then one knock and they're gone. If you keep seeing "storage almost full" warnings, your backup is probably one of the things suffering.

3. Your cloud storage is full

The other side of the same problem. The free tier on iCloud or Google Drive fills up quickly — especially if you've ever had multiple devices on the same account. Once it's full, new photos and files stop being saved. The phone keeps reminding you, the reminders get ignored, and the backup just stops.

4. You changed phones and "everything came across fine"

That's a good sign your contacts and apps came across. It's not proof your backup is working going forward. We see plenty of devices where the new phone is set up but nothing is actually backing up anymore — the old account is still doing the work, or no account is.

5. You can't actually find your photos from a year ago

The real test of a backup isn't whether it says "on." It's whether you can pull a specific photo from twelve months ago, right now, from a different device. If you can't, your backup isn't doing what you think it's doing.

The honest fix

Backup isn't complicated, but it does need to be set up properly — once — and checked occasionally. The settings differ between iPhone and Android, between iCloud and Google, between phones and laptops. And there are usually two or three small things wrong that you'd never spot unless you knew where to look.

This is one of the most common things we sort out in store. It takes about 20 minutes. And it's the kind of thing that, when something does go wrong six months from now, you'll be very glad you did.

Not sure if your backup is actually working?

Come in for a Cloud Backup Setup check — we'll make sure your phone, photos and important files are properly protected. Open 7 days. Find your nearest store at kingit.com.au.