To access your iCloud settings, open the Settings app and tap “iCloud.” Scroll down to “Backup” and check that iCloud Backup is “On” to confirm you’re using it on your current device. Allow the app to upload your photos with “High quality (free unlimited storage).” The Assistant screen in the app will show you the progress and you can view your photos on the web. To back up your photos with Google Photos, install the Google Photos app and enable the “Back up & sync” option.

RELATED: Banish iCloud Storage Nagging with Google Photos You can also access Google Photos on the web, and there’s an Android app–something which makes it more cross-platform than Apple’s solution. There are other photo storage apps you could potentially use, like Flickr, but we really do recommend Google Photos. Google Photos offers completely free storage of an unlimited number of photos as long as you’re willing to automatically compress them a bit to “high quality.” It even supports live photos now.

Instead, just dump iCloud Photo Library and use an alternative service. You don’t have to give up those convenient online photo backups.

Backup mac to icloud and erase hdd