Despite all the convenience and quality of Google’s sprawling ecosystem, some users are fed up with its often fishy privacy policies and wary of its looming shadow over the internet at large.

If you’re ready to ditch Google, or even just reduce its presence in your digital life, this guide is here to help.

Google Drive’s automatic device backup feature is apparently busted for a number of Android users. So far, the bug has been reported on Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy/Note, Motorola, OnePlus, and Huawei devices, and across both Android 9 and Android 10. That’s a large cross-section of Android devices, but the issue could be even more widespread.

Phones break or get lost all the time, but that doesn’t mean you have to lose your personal data when and if that happens.

Starting July 10, when you upload photos to Google Drive or Google Photos those images won’t automatically sync over to the other service as well.

While Google is letting users test out the upcoming Android Q through a public beta program, it’s not going to be for everyone.

If you updated to the Android Q beta build and find your device has slowed down, that the battery isn’t as efficient, or that certain apps don’t run the way they’re supposed to (or at all), you’re not alone and chances are that you need to roll back to Android 9.

It’s not a stretch to assume you probably use Gmail—it seems like most of the world does, these days. That reality has created consternation over some of the recent privacy and security-related changes to Gmail and Google Chrome.

Confession time. This week’s Ask Lifehacker is a bit of a head-scratcher, because the wide world of PDFs is confusing, at best, and typically more frustrating than anything else. There are a ton of different apps you can find that let you open, edit, and mess around with PDFs. Some of them are free and meh, a few of them are free and awesome, and most cost anything from a mild to an outrageous amount of money.

If you spend a lot of your day working in Google Drive, creating new documents, slides, sheets, and forms just got a lot easier. This week Google introduced a bunch of new shortcuts for Google Docs that allow you to create new files without having to go to Google Drive proper in order to do so.

Got an email address? Use a computer? Is that a smartphone in your pocket? Then you need to get yourself some cloud storage. Having an always-accessible repository of your most important photos and files makes sharing files with friends less of a hassle and grants you peace of mind. With options from every major tech company, you might find yourself drawn to one or another based on the tech you use on a daily basis and what each service offers.

Automated backups are nice, but even better is the ability to initiate one yourself. Until recently, that wasn't possible on Android, however, it appears Google is now supporting the option, though it's unclear which devices or versions will ultimately get the feature.

The subject of file backups and online storage came up the other day at a Lifehacker staff meeting, and resident door-holder Nick Douglas chimed in that his solution for backing up his laptop was easy: He never keeps any important files on it. Everything — and he means everything — lives in the cloud.

Android: Earlier this week Google announced that thanks to a partnership with WhatsApp, backups from the app will no longer count against your Google Drive storage limits. That means it’s an even better idea than ever to use Google Drive as a backup for your messages.

Google is revamping its online storage offerings with a new-look, new-name product dubbed Google One. How much will it cost and what's going to happen to existing Google Drive customers? Here's what you need to know!

If you use Google Docs (or Sheets, or Slides) you may have noticed a recent pop-up letting you know that "Editors can now see view history". Without any context, the message is a little confusing - even disconcerting if you're the paranoid type - but there's nothing to be worried about. Here's what you need to know about the latest feature coming to Google Drive.

The latest update to Google Drive's collaboration tools now means you can comment on files created in Microsoft Office just as you would in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides - without opening a third-party app.

In today's fast-paced world, staying on top of your daily to-dos is no easy feat. While tools like Google Calendar and Drive help organise your workload, having your tasks spread across multiple apps tends to make things slip through the cracks. That's where Moo.do Premium comes into play.

Backups are wonderful. They provide peace of mind, a way to protect your future self from potential misery. Unless, of course, those backups get deleted with almost no warning, kind of like what Google will do for your Android device if you don't use it for a couple of months.

Last week, Google made a confusing announcement that could easily scare the crap out of 800 million people: Google Drive's going away -- but actually, no, it's not. However, there are a few things you should know about the changes that are coming.

This week, Google announced that it's replacing its Google Drive apps for Mac and PC with a more functional version, Backup & Sync. You'll still be able to use your cloud storage from Google Drive in the same way, but the updated apps for Mac and PC will let you sync individual folders anywhere on your desktop, as well as manage your cloud photo uploads. Support for the current versions of the Google Drive apps will end on December 11, with the apps shutting down completely on 12 March 2018.