Cloud storage solutions have made our lives much more comfortable, allowing us to save our files so that they can be accessed from any of our devices. The only thing we need for this is an Internet connection which the iPhone already offers us at all hours.
It’s no secret that the space that services like iCloud give us for free is too limited these days. But we can use other services to gain additional space in the cloud with our iPhone: whoever has a Gmail account has a treasure.
Google Drive fits your iPhone like a glove
A Google account covers several well-known services: Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive or Google Photos among others. For everyone, the Mountain View company provides 15 GB free, triple the space than the 5 GB that Apple offers us in its iCloud.
In these 15 GB we can save all the files we want, integrate them into the Files app to unify this service with the rest of the directories we use. You just need to have a properly configured Google account (if you don’t have one, you can create it for free from this link), and the Google Drive app installed on your iPhone with the session connected using from this Google account (you can download it for free from the App Store).
If you meet these conditions, simply follow these steps:
- On your iPhone, open the Files app.
- Click the “Explore” icon in the bottom bar.
- Click the button with the ellipsis in the upper right corner.
- Click ‘Edit’.
- In the list of services, activate the ‘Drive’ option:
With this, the Google Drive folder will be added and integrated into your iPhone. You can move all the files you want there to another folder, provided you respect this 15 GB maximum space. Also keep in mind that your Gmail emails and Google Photos are also stored in that 15GB, so you probably won’t have that space completely free.
Do you need more space? Use more Google accounts
A tip that is not as absurd as it seems at first glance is to use multiple Google accounts, each with 15 GB of storage, to be able to store even more files. This can be a lifesaver if you urgently need extra space and can’t afford to upgrade your original Google account space.
Now though: This doesn’t mean you’ll be able to add multiple instances of Google Drive in the Files app.. There you can only have one Drive directory, and it will always be that of the Google account that you have active in the Google Drive application.
It will be in this application that you will have to add and modify between the Google accounts that you may have, using the button with your profile image in the upper right corner:
When you switch between Google accounts, the files that appear in the Files app will also change. For those who cannot pay, this can be a smart solution. Although the most practical will always be to pay to expand the storage space whenever you want.
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