SkieWhen should I turn off cloud backup on managed devices?
Turn off cloud backup when you do not want school device data copied to a personal cloud account. It is an optional Skie protection using Android's backup service control, and it is off by default. It fits shared devices, exam tablets and any rule that data stays on the device.
Android can back up app data and settings to a cloud account. On a family phone, that is a useful safety net. On an organisation's device, it can mean student work or school app data ending up in an account the school does not control, or being restored onto a personal device.
Skie turns the backup service off as the device owner when the switch is on. The device then does not send app data to cloud backup, and a person cannot turn it back on from Settings. This protection is separate from account locking, covered elsewhere. You can use one without the other.
It is optional because backups help in some cases. If a tablet is replaced, a student might want their app data restored. Skie keeps its own nightly backups of its configuration, which you can download, restore or roll back to a previous version, but those are about the Skie setup and not the student's app data. Consider what your learning apps store and where they keep it.
The admin sees one switch in the hardening section, with its state read back from Android after each apply and shown in the compliance score.
Practical tip: if your policy says student work should live in a school platform, not on the device, turn this on and tell staff why. It also lowers the amount of personal data stored in places you do not manage. Check with your legal adviser on the data rules that apply to you.