Whether you’re still an avid Facebook user or just keep it there for those handy birthday reminders, one thing’s pretty certain: A whole lot of photos, videos and memories are stored in your Facebook account. Can you imagine suddenly just losing them all?
By creating a backup of your Facebook photos in the cloud, you ensure you still have a copy of your precious memories, even if you accidentally delete them on Facebook. It’ll also protect you from something worse: losing access to them if your account is ever hacked or deactivated.
In this guide, we’ll introduce a couple of methods for backing up your Facebook photos—including the Facebook and Dropbox integration that lets you transfer your photos and videos in just a few clicks.
How to download photos from Facebook
One way to create an off-line backup of your Facebook photos and videos is by downloading them from your Facebook account to your computer, tablet or mobile phone.
You can download single photos by opening the photo, clicking the icon of three dots, then selecting Download (desktop) or Save Photo (mobile).
To download all of your photos from Facebook, you need to submit a request to Facebook:
- Log in to your account.
- Click or tap on your profile picture in the top right, then Settings and privacy.
- Click or tap Settings.
- Click or tap Accounts Centre, then Your information and permissions.
- Click or tap Download your information, then Download or transfer information.
- Select the profiles that you'd like to download information from, then click or tap Next.
- Unless you want to download all of your profile information, click or tap Deselect all in the Select information to download list.
- Select Posts from the list, then click or tap Next.
- Select Download to device to download your files to your computer, tablet or mobile device.
- Click or tap Submit request.
Once your download is ready, you’ll have four days to download it from your Accounts Centre or your settings. You’ll receive an email notification from Facebook informing you that your download is ready. To download your files, go to the Available downloads section of the Download your information tool. Then click or tap Download and enter your account password.
How to back up Facebook photos to Dropbox
With the Facebook and Dropbox integration, transferring your entire photo and video libraries from Facebook is simple and secure. Just choose whether you want to transfer photos or videos, temporarily connect Facebook to your Dropbox account, confirm and… that’s it.
To transfer photos or videos from facebook.com or the Facebook mobile app to your Dropbox account:
- Log in to facebook.com or open the Facebook mobile app.
- Click the downward arrow in the top-right corner.
- On Android, tap the menu icon (stacked lines) at the top of the screen.
- On iOS, tap the Facebook logo at the bottom of the screen.
- Select Settings & privacy.
- Click Settings.
- Click Your Facebook Information.
- On mobile, scroll to Your Information.
- Next to Transfer a Copy of Your Information, click View.
- On mobile, tap Transfer a copy of your information.
- Click Next.
- Select Dropbox under Choose Destination.
- Choose whether you want to export your photos or your videos and click Next.
- You can only export one media type at a time. If you’d like to transfer both photos and videos, complete the process for one and repeat the steps to export the other.
- Click Connect.
- Click Confirm Transfer.
Your files will transfer to Dropbox in the background—no need to keep your computer on or stare at a status bar. You’ll receive a notification when the transfer’s finished, at which point you’ll see the files in a new “Photo Transfer” or “Video Transfer” folder. Everything will be grouped by album, ready for you to organise whatever way works best for you.
And with everything in Dropbox, you’ll have control over who exactly has access to your photos and videos. Your files will be private by default and from there you can share them with anyone, no one or just a few select people.
Easy and secure backup for your Facebook photos
Downloading and storing your Facebook photos is one thing, but obviously you want to make sure they’re of the highest quality. Some methods of downloading photos…just won’t deliver that.
Dropbox doesn’t compress photo resolution and allows you to make your files available for off-line access. That means you can view your photos any time you want in their original quality.
Plus, with Dropbox, your photo backups can be protected with extra security measures. Multi-factor authentication, end-to-end encryption and user permissions mean only authorised people can access and view your photos—giving you some much-needed peace of mind.
There’s nothing wrong with keeping all your precious photos, videos and memories stored on Facebook. After all, the whole idea is to post and share them for all your friends and family to enjoy together. However, you don’t need to depend on Facebook to keep a record of your life. Try Dropbox today to keep your photos and videos safe in the cloud.
