We are all guilty of taking a ton of pictures with our phones and then never doing anything with them. Many people want one place where all the photos from everyone’s devices can be stored to help create a slideshow for the end of the year, or even put them in a digital scrapbook. Parents are also looking for new ways to monitor kid’s activity on their devices. Finally, family members also want to be sure that their photos will be safe if they lose or otherwise destroy their device.
What if I told you there was a pretty simple way to accomplish all three tasks with one solution!?
There are actually a few ways to get each of the above done, but one way that will be the easiest.
Automatic backups
As I mentioned, there is actually a few ways to automatically save any photo you take with your device. Google Photos has the option to do this, OneDrive by Microsoft also allows you to turn this on, but I use Dropbox. When you install Dropbox on your device, go to settings and turn on camera uploads. You can even specify if you want to upload just photos or photos and videos. You can also make sure that it only uploads to Dropbox when the device is on WiFi to save your data plan allotment. With this setting on, Dropbox will even save my screenshots to my Dropbox folder.
With this turned on, you never have to worry about what will happen to all of your memories when you accidentally lose or destroy your phone.
Share camera uploads
When you install Dropbox on your child’s phone and turn on the setting, photos and screenshots will automatically get uploaded to their “Camera Uploads” folder. You can go into the folder in their account, and share it with your own Dropbox folder. Now each time they take a picture with their phone, you will automatically have that photo in your own Dropbox folder.
I actually like doing this not only for photos but for files my daughter creates. Whenever she draws a picture on her tablet and saves it to a specific folder, it automatically gets uploaded to a Dropbox folder that is synced with my account. It allows me to have copies of every awesome piece of art she creates on her device.
Sharing all the photos between devices will allow you to compile a complete picture of the year for your family. I also like to share Dropbox folders with extended family members from time to time as well. This is especially helpful if you have a family reunion, then each family can see all the pictures from the trip together!
Monitoring
Once you have set up your child’s device to automatically upload photos, videos, and screenshots to Dropbox, not only do you get a window into their life, but you can also see if they are doing anything inappropriate with their camera. Kids need you to trust them, but it is always a good idea to check up on them from time to time. This way, you can correct the behavior before it gets out of hand.
Gone are the days where you would take a picture, and have to wait until the entire roll was finished to go get it developed. You can have instant access to the pictures your child takes at any time! With these automatic uploads, you can delete the pictures from your phone to save a little space, knowing that your photos are going to be just fine!
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