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Google Photos for Android gets a manual backup option

Immediately store your smartphone snaps online.

Sometimes a seemingly small update can have a large impact on your favorite app. That might be the case with Google Photos, which has just received a manual backup option for Android phones and tablets. Before, you needed to specify whether the app should be uploading your photos over a WiFi connection, or at any time using a WiFi or mobile network. If you have a plan with a strict data cap, you're probably using the former -- but sometimes, just sometimes, you'll want to break that rule in order to quickly sync and share your smartphone snaps. Well, now you can.

To get started, you'll need to open up the app and long-press on the photos that you want to store online. They'll be highlighted with some blue ticks, at which point you can tap the three dot menu in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Select "backup now" and voila -- those images are being synced with your Photos library. The handy feature comes with version 1.18 of the Photos app, which is rolling out now in the Play Store.