Key Takeaways: The Best Android Cloud Storage
- Sync.com — Highly secure cloud storage service with great file versioning
- Icedrive — Secure and fast cloud storage service
- Google Drive — Great cloud storage for collaboration
- pCloud — Secure storage with unique features, such as a media player
- MEGA — Secure cloud storage with an encrypted live chat tool
- OneDrive — Great cloud storage, with a personal vault for extra security
- Box — Business-oriented cloud storage with lots of productivity and collaboration tools
Cloud storage services changed the way we use our Android phones. Instead of buying a memory card or external hard drive, we can now store our files in the cloud. Cloud storage services also help us collaborate thanks to their integration with other apps or services. With so many options, you may be unsure how to choose the best cloud storage for Android.
To help you solve this problem, we’ve ranked our picks for the top storage services for Android. We’ll begin by breaking down the criteria we based our selections on. If you’re interested in the best cloud storage apps for all your devices, not just Android, read our guide on the best cloud storage for personal use.
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06/24/2022
Updated Sync.com’s Teams pricing.
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05/18/2023
Updated information regarding Icedrive.
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10/22/2023 Facts checked
Our experts re-evaluated the best cloud storage services for Android and completely rewrote the article.
What Makes the Best Cloud Storage for Android
One of the most important qualities in a cloud storage app is ease of use — the intuitiveness of the app and the extent to which it’s designed for mobile. The best cloud storage options for Android design their interfaces to help users quickly become familiar with their operation.
Another key quality in an Android cloud storage service is excellent security. To protect user files at rest and in transit, it’s important the service uses strong encryption algorithms, such as AES-256 at rest and SSL/TLS in transit. All the services in this guide use encryption algorithms known to be secure.
Some cloud storage services use zero-knowledge encryption, meaning that the data you store is shielded not just from third parties, but also from the cloud storage service itself. Others go without zero-knowledge encryption, since it can affect speed and performance, and users may lose all their files permanently if they forget their password. However, if security is important to you, look for a zero-knowledge service.
Finally, to further enhance the user experience, the best cloud storage services for Android often have a unique feature or benefit that makes them stand out from other services. These can include media players, an additional security feature or collaboration tools.
The 7 Best Android Cloud Storage Services
We’ll now break down our favorite cloud storage services for Android, starting with Sync.com.
1. Sync.com
More details about Sync.com:
- Pricing: 2TB for $8 per month (one-year plan)
- Free plan: 5GB
- Provider website: sync.com
Pros:
- Excellent security
- Competitive pricing
- Great file versioning
Cons:
- Slower sync speeds
As shown in our Sync.com review, Sync.com ranks as the best cloud storage provider for several reasons. First, its security is top-notch. Being a zero-knowledge cloud storage provider, neither Sync.com nor any unauthorized third party can access your data stored on its servers.
Sync.com helps users get around the password recovery problem by letting them reset their password from the app itself. Since the password reset takes place locally instead of in the cloud where your files are stored, your encrypted files remain secure. Sync.com provides zero-knowledge encryption on all its plans, making it our best zero-knowledge cloud storage provider.
Sync.com’s Android app is easy to navigate. Storing and accessing files is seamless, and you can share and manage links with ease to control who has access to your files. You can delete access links at any time if you no longer want to share these files. Sync.com even lets you set passwords on links.
Protect Your Files With Excellent File Versioning
File versioning is another area where Sync.com excels; in fact, it’s our second-place pick for the best cloud storage for versioning. Sync.com stores full version history for each file with no impact on storage, so you’re covered in the case of a ransomware attack or other situation where you need to restore deleted files.
Sync.com provides 30 days of file versioning on the free plan and 180 days on the Solo Basic and Teams Standard plans. All the other plans allow users to roll back their files for up to a year.
For as low as $8 per month, you get 2TB on the Pro Solo Basic plan. Sync.com also has a free plan, which offers 5GB per month.
- 5GB
- 200GB
- 2TB
- 6TB
- Price per user
- 1TB
- Price per user
- Unlimited GB
2. Icedrive
More details about Icedrive:
- Pricing: 1TB for $4.17 per month (one-year plan)
- Free plan: 10GB
- Provider website: icedrive.net
Pros:
- Generous free plan
- Beautiful user interface
- Excellent security
Cons:
- Lacks collaboration options
- Zero-knowledge encryption limited to paid plans
As noted in our review, Icedrive has some interesting features that put it above other popular names. One of its strong points is security. To keep user files secure, Icedrive uses the Twofish encryption algorithm. Because it’s less widely used than other algorithms, Twofish is theoretically more secure, as hackers are less familiar with it. Icedrive also provides zero-knowledge encryption on paid plans.
Icedrive’s Android app is highly intuitive. By default, the app’s theme is dark, but you can toggle the appearance freely in the settings. Icedrive enables file sharing through links, though most of the file sharing options are only available on the premium plans.
Icedrive allows users on the paid plan to restore previous versions of files from the last 180 days. Its free plan only allows users to restore files that have been modified within the last three days. On the paid plans, users can restore a maximum number of 10 past versions of any file, while free users can restore five.
The above versioning only applies to files that haven’t been completely deleted. Icedrive lets users recover deleted files from within the last two weeks, though you have to contact Icedrive to do so.
Store Your Files With a Secure and Fast Cloud Storage Service
Most times, there’s a trade-off between security and speed in a cloud storage service. However, this is not the case with Icedrive. Based on our speed test, Icedrive is the fastest cloud storage service around.
basic plan starting at $1.67 per month.
Icedrive’s free plan is excellent, offering 10GB of free storage, which is above average. Besides the free plan, Icedrive offers three paid plans, including a 150GB yearly plan that costs $1.67 per month and a 1TB yearly plan for $4.17 per month when billed annually.
- Bandwidth limit: 3GB
- 10GB
- Bandwidth limit: 250GB
- 150GB
- Bandwidth limit: 2TB
- 1TB
- Bandwidth limit: 8TB
- 5TB
- 3TB
- 10TB
3. Google Drive
More details about Google Drive:
- Pricing: 2TB for $8.33 per month (one-year plan)
- Free plan: 15GB
- Provider website: drive.google.com
Pros:
- Integrates Google Workspace
- Plenty of third-party apps
- Excellent for collaboration
Cons:
- No zero-knowledge security
- No shared links passwords
- Frustrating Android interface
Google Drive is one of the most popular cloud storage services, for good reason. With 15GB of free storage space, it’s hard to beat Google Drive in terms of generosity. Google Drive also lets you create, edit and share documents using Google Docs. This makes it a great cloud storage service for collaboration.
Google Drive integrates with Google’s large ecosystem and even comes preinstalled on some Android devices. The Google Drive app for Android is not the most user-friendly — the files take up lots of space on the screen, which can make it a bit difficult to find what you’re looking for. That said, the search bar on the homepage makes things easier.
Google Drive doesn’t use zero-knowledge encryption, and you can’t set passwords when sharing links. It does have two-factor authentication, though, which protects your account on login by requiring you to input a code sent to your email address.
Collaborate Seamlessly With Google Drive
One of the most popular Google services integrated with Google Drive is Google Workspace, a collection of office collaboration tools that includes Docs, Sheets and Slides. Docs allows you to create, edit and share documents, Sheets is a spreadsheet tool and Slides lets you make and manage presentations.
All the files you create using these tools are saved to your Google Drive account. You can share them with your team members and grant editing permission to whomever you want. Collaboration is the best reason to choose Google Drive, even over Dropbox and OneDrive (read our comparison of Google Drive vs Dropbox vs OneDrive for more).
to use across Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos.
Google One is the collective name for Google Drive’s premium plans, which include a 100GB plan that costs $1.99 per month, a 200GB plan that costs $2.99 per month and a 2TB plan that costs $9.99 per month. All plans are slightly cheaper if you opt to pay annually instead.
- Free plan
- 15GB
- 10TB
- 20TB
- 30TB
4. pCloud
More details about pCloud:
- Pricing: 2TB for $8.33 per month (one-year plan)
- Free plan: 7GB
- Provider website: pcloud.com
Pros:
- Great value service
- Zero-knowledge encryption
- Integrated media player
Cons:
- Zero-knowledge encryption costs extra
pCloud is a great cloud storage service, offering unique security features like pCloud encryption and other impressive features for managing media files. pCloud encryption is a paid add-on that protects your files and folders with client-side and zero-knowledge encryption. This means pCloud encrypts the files on your device before they are uploaded.
One downside to pCloud’s security is that you have to pay extra for the zero-knowledge encryption folder. This is unfortunate, since most cloud storage services with zero-knowledge encryption provide it for free. Other aspects of pCloud’s security are free though, such as TLS/SSL encryption for information transferred from your device to the cloud servers.
The pCloud app has a simple user interface. On the homepage, you’ll find a plus sign, which you can click to upload files. The hamburger icon, located at the top-left corner of the screen, allows you to access your uploaded files, offline files, shared folders and shared links. Check out our pCloud review for more details on the interface.
Manage Your Songs and Videos With pCloud’s Media Player
pCloud is one of our top choices for the best cloud storage for music, thanks to its excellent media player. The media player operates almost like a full-fledged music streaming platform. You can play your music or video files, search for songs and create playlists. You can also shuffle songs, loop albums or playlists and download music to your phone for offline listening.
collaboration, security and file management.
pCloud offers a 7GB free plan, if you complete a few basic tasks after signup. Beyond that, you can invite 3 friends for another 3GB of free storage or upgrade to pCloud’s 500GB or 2TB yearly plan. The 500GB plan costs $49.99, while the 2TB plan costs $99.99. If you’d like to pay a one-time fee, you can opt for one of pCloud’s lifetime plans.
- 7GB
- 500GB
- 2TB
- 10TB
- 2TB
- 10TB
- Price per user (minimum 3)
- 1TB
- Price per user (minimum 3)
- 2TB
- Encryption for pCloud Drive
5. MEGA
More details about Onedrive:
- Pricing: 2TB for $9.06 per month (one-year plan)
- Free plan: 20GB
- Provider website: mega.io
Pros:
- Strong security
- Encrypted live chat
- Plenty of free storage
- Fair paid plans
Cons:
- Not good for collaboration
- MEGAdrop folders are less convenient than upload links
When reviewing MEGA, it stands out for its solid security and unique features. MEGA implements two-factor authentication and zero-knowledge encryption on all plans to keep your account secure. The service also provides the ability to set passwords on links used for file sharing.
The app’s user interface is similar to other top cloud storage services, with a plus sign at the bottom-right corner of the screen for uploading files and a hamburger icon at the top-left corner that reveals the slide-out menu when clicked. There’s a bar at the bottom-section of the app which contains shortcuts to your encrypted chats, cloud drive, shared folders and photos.
MEGA doesn’t give you the option of creating upload links for folders. Instead, you have to create MEGAdrop folders, which let anybody use a link to upload files (even without a MEGA account). MEGAdrop folders revert to regular folders when you share download links for them, though, which really makes us miss general upload links.
Use MEGA’s Live Chat for Collaboration
MEGA has a live chat feature, which allows users to communicate with each other while working on a document. To keep chats secure, this feature is encrypted. However, metadata, such as your email address, remains unencrypted. File sharing in MEGA’s chat feature can be done either directly from your computer or from your MEGA cloud drive.
Files shared in the live chat do not include thumbnail previews, so you’ll need to remember the file name. Unfortunately, that’s about it for collaboration with MEGA. Its priority on security narrows the scope for collaboration, so it’s not integrated with third-party apps in the same way as Google Drive.
MEGA is one of the best free cloud storage services, offering 20GB of free storage per month. It also has an achievement system that lets you earn bonus storage for a year when you complete tasks, such as installing apps and referring friends. MEGA’s paid plans range from a 2TB plan that costs around $9.06 a month to a 16TB plan that costs around $27.17 per month when billed annually.
- 20GB
- File transfer: 2TB (Monthly plan) 24TB (yearly plan)
- 2TB
- File transfer: (monthly plan) 96TB (yearly plan)
- 8TB
- File transfer: 16TB (monthly plan) 192TB (yearly plan)
- 16TB
- Price per user (minimum 3)
- Unlimited GB
6. Microsoft OneDrive
More details about Microsoft OneDrive:
- Pricing: 1TB for $5.83 per month (one-year plan)
- Free plan: 5GB
- Provider website: onedrive.com
Pros:
- Office 365 integration
- Good document sharing
- Large variety of features
Cons:
- No zero-knowledge security
As we found in our OneDrive review, Microsoft’s cloud storage service prioritizes collaboration and productivity tools. As the cloud storage service by Microsoft, OneDrive integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office products, and its paid plans include access to Office 365.
OneDrive meets standard security requirements, employing SSL/TLS encryption for data in transit and 256-bit encryption for data at rest and securing user logins with two-factor authentication. Unfortunately, it does not have zero-knowledge encryption, so there’s no way to prevent OneDrive from, theoretically, accessing your decrypted files.
OneDrive also has a useful automated feature that notifies users when there’s been a data breach. This notification prompts users to restore compromised files, change their password and configure other helpful OneDrive security features.
OneDrive has a very concise user interface, with everything in one place. At the bottom of the screen, you’ll find shortcuts to your saved files, shared files and photos. You can also click on the “me” icon to access files available for offline viewing, the app settings and notifications. The “+” icon for uploading files is located at the top of the screen.
Secure Your Most Sensitive Files With Personal Vault
Personal vault is a designated folder in OneDrive for storing sensitive files and folders that comes with additional security features. It secures your account with two-factor authentication, which you can set up using alternative forms of identification like fingerprint, face or PIN. Personal vault automatically locks after a period of inactivity and requires re-authentication to access.
Personal vault is available on the OneDrive home and personal plans, but unavailable on OneDrive business, work and school accounts.
OneDrive’s free plan comes with 5GB of free cloud storage. You can upgrade to the 100GB, 1TB or 6TB plan, which (when billed annually) costs $1.67, $5.83 or $8.33 per month, respectively. OneDrive also has business plans.
- 5GB
- 100GB
- Comes with Office 365 Personal
- 1TB
- 1TB
- Comes with Office 365 Home
- 6TB
- Price per user
- 1TB
- Price per user
- Unlimited GB
- Price per user
- 1TB
7. Box Business
More details about Box:
- Pricing: 100GB for $10 per month (one-year plan)
- Free plan: 10GB
- Provider website: box.com
Pros:
- Third-party integrations
- Strong security
- Robust sharing features
Cons:
- Encryption only available on pricier plans
Box is one of the best cloud storage services for business, but as we point out in our Box review, it’s not the best value for personal use. Most of its plans are business-oriented, and it integrates with several third-party collaboration tools.
Security-wise, Box gets a lot right, but it also has a few flaws. It secures user files at rest on its servers with AES 256-bit encryption — the gold standard for encryption algorithms — but zero-knowledge encryption is only available on the higher-priced plans.
The Box Android app has a similar user interface to other popular cloud storage services. Navigating the app is pretty easy. You can see all your files in one go, or filter by categories like recently added files and files stored for offline viewing. You can add new folders, files or documents by clicking the plus sign at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Enjoy Third-Party Integrations With Collaboration and Productivity Apps
You can use Box and many popular apps simultaneously. For example, you can start or join a Zoom meeting directly from Box Preview, which lets you view your files in any Box application without downloading them to your device. When an app is integrated with your Box account, a small green check mark appears on the app.
plan offering very little storage for money.
With Box’s free plan, you get 10GB of storage. Its premium plans are quite expensive, including the personal plans. Its most popular business plan offers unlimited storage for $15 per user per month, but with a minimum of three users.
- Single user
- 10GB
- Single user
- 100GB
- Price per user, minimum of three users
- 100GB
- Users: No limit
- Unlimited GB
- Users: No limit
- Unlimited GB
- Users: No limit
- Unlimited GB
Final Thoughts
If you want to manage your files with ease on your Android phone, you can’t go wrong with any of these options. Sync.com has great security and excellent file versioning. Icedrive is a secure and fast cloud storage service that also offers extensive versioning. Google Drive, OneDrive and Box are great services for collaboration. MEGA stands out for its live chat feature, and pCloud for its media player.
What did you think of our list of the best cloud storage for Android? Do you use any of these options? What has your experience been like? Let us know in the comment section below, and as always, thanks for reading.
FAQ: Cloud Storage for Android
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Yes, there are cloud storage services for Android phones. The best options include Sync.com, Icedrive, Google Drive and Box.
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You can get cloud storage on your Android device by signing up for a cloud storage service, such as Icedrive, Google Drive or Box.
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The best cloud storage for mobile is Sync.com, which has great security and excellent file versioning.
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One of the best photo storage services for Android is pCloud. It offers fast upload speeds and doesn’t put any cap on the size of files you can upload.
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