Follows A change in Android’s backup policy This week, Google is introducing new settings to control whether SMS, MMS, and RCS messages are backed up. Additionally, Android is starting to offer native Documents backup.
When you go to Settings > Accounts & backup > Google Backup > Other device data (on Pixel), there are new on/off buttons for SMS and MMS messages, Call history, and Device settings.
Previously, these three items were always backed up, but Google now lets you control whether or not they’re uploaded to the cloud. This joins the links for every app that is part of the latest release.
For the record, Google has confirmed this 9 to 5 this week “SMS and MMS messages” includes RCS despite the name.
We see these updated settings starting to roll out with version 26.25 of Google Play services.
Google announced earlier this week that all Android data is now accounted for in Google Account storage. On average, this is expected to increase user backups by about 40 MB.
In other related developments, Google is starting to test the new Docs backup. as viewed in February“local file backup” will “automatically save your downloaded files to Google Drive, keeping them safe and accessible from any device.”
Once your device is live, the Backup page will have a new “Documents” menu, along with Photos and videos and other device data.
Once activated, a folder named after your device will appear in Google Drive and this page will provide a shortcut to it. Google explains it:
- “Supported file types include .DOC, .PPT, .XLS, .PDF and all other documents stored on this device.”
- “Changes to these documents in one location will not be synchronized with other locations.”
- “Documents are encrypted as they travel between your device, Google services, and our data centers.”
- If you disable this feature, “the previous backup will not be deleted from Google Drive”.
You can manually trigger device backup to download your latest Documents, but it follows an automated daily schedule.
We see this rolling out with the latest Google Play services beta version.
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