Family photos used to be kept in albums, and those albums were usually carefully protected, whether they were kept in boxes in the attic or on shelves for all to see. Although you can certainly still put all your photos in a physical album if you want to, most of the time, family photos are now kept on devices like smartphones and tablets. That might seem like a great place to have them, as they’re easily accessible at any time, but the fact is that they’re vulnerable. So here’s what you can do to keep them safe. P.S. This is a sponsored post. Please see my disclosure for more information.

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Phone Security

One thing that’s important when you want to keep your family photos safe is the security you have on your phone. Take a look at the best security apps for iPhone, and you’ll see there are lots to choose from, proving just how important it is to keep your phone as safe and secure as possible.

Also make sure you’ve got strong passwords, and you’ve enabled two-factor authentication (which includes facial recognition and fingerprint ID, for example) so that you’re the only one who has access to your phone.

The Cloud

Of course, your photos will only be safe on your phone if your phone is safe and with you – if you lose it or it’s stolen, or even if it’s damaged in some way, that means you can’t use it anymore or access what’s on it. All your photos could be lost forever.

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The good news is you can use cloud storage which is often free, at least until you decide you need some more storage space. Things like Google Photos, Dropbox and iCloud can all give you storage for your photos in a safe space, and even if you lose or damage your phone, it won’t matter because everything will be safe in the cloud. You can just download it when you get a new device, and nothing will be lost. 

Physical Backups

Sometimes it’s best not to rely too much on technology to keep your photos safe because you never know what could go wrong, and even with plenty of backups and third-party storage, problems could still occur. 

That’s why having a physical backup isn’t a bad idea. It might feel as though you’re going back in time, but printing out your photos and storing them in physical albums can be one of the best ways to keep them safe. Plus, you’ll actually look at them. 

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When your photos are all on your phone, you might scroll through them once in a while, but it’s not the same as sitting down with friends and family and looking through physical photo albums together.