Google Play services 26.43: Play Protect reminder, Quick Share backup
How to read Google's 2 November system notes: the Play Protect switch you can check today, and the Quick Share PC backup that still has no device list.
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Play services 26.43 gives you a sentence about backing photos up to a Windows PC. Play Store 53.9 gives you a nudge if Play Protect is off. Neither line, dated 2 November 2026, says the backup is already on your phone.
Two lines you can find, and one you cannot use yet
9to5Google's roundup of the Google system release notes lists Play services v26.43 and Play Store v53.9, both dated 2 November. The official notes match. The Play Store entries say you get a reminder if Play Protect stays off for a while, and that game pages gain at-a-glance highlights for gameplay style, review summaries and community activity.
The Play services entries are thinner. The notes say you can now open an Android Family Hub for family tools in Android Settings, and that Password Manager lets you manually choose which credentials to keep when importing conflicting passwords and passkeys. They mention updates to Wallet loyalty cards and stop there. A system-management line says services will improve battery life, connectivity, performance, privacy, security, stability and updatability. There is no number attached.
Under device connectivity, for PC and phone, sits the line that sounds like a finished feature: automatic backup of photos and videos from Android to Windows through Quick Share. No models, no regions, no switch.
July's screenshot left Galaxy out
On 8 July 2026 Android Authority activated an info page in Play services v26.26.33. As they describe it, the backup starts in the Quick Share app on the Windows PC. Phone and PC share a Google account. Photos and videos you select copy once a day when both devices are on, nearby and on the same Wi-Fi, and you can start a copy by hand. XenoSpectrum, summarising that report, says the files land on the PC "without uploading to the cloud and without any additional cost".
Android Authority says that page will not support Samsung phones. The text gives no reason. Their guess is Smart Switch, which already saves a Galaxy to a PC or Mac, though they note Smart Switch does not run an automatic backup. XenoSpectrum records the gap in one line: "neither Google nor Samsung has explained the reason for the exclusion". The 2 November notes do not repeat the exclusion and do not withdraw it. They also do not name who receives the feature. Android Authority warns that a teardown can describe a feature that never ships. 9to5Google says a changelog line is not a wide rollout, and some take months.
The tap that matters is Play Protect
Google's Android help page shows the Google Play system update under Settings, About phone, Android version, next to the Android version and the security update. Software updates sit under Settings, System. Before an install, the page says to use Wi-Fi and charge to at least 75%. It does not say where the Play services version number is. 9to5Google points to the Play services App info screen for that. An older build than 26.43 is not, on these pages, proof the phone failed to update.
Play Protect is the setting the new reminder refers to. Google says it is on by default, "but you can turn it off", and that it should stay on. Open the Play Store, tap the profile icon, then Play Protect, then Settings, and check Scan apps with Play Protect. The help page says Protect reviews Play Store apps before download and scans for harmful apps from other sources. The reminder is for a switch left off. No source defines how long "a while" is.
Do not plan around the Quick Share backup yet. For a Galaxy, the last published description is still Android Authority's July page, which said Samsung phones are unsupported. November's notes never mention Galaxy. Keep the photo copy you already use.
No one timed the backup
No source here measured battery life, timed the Play Protect reminder or watched a photo arrive on a PC. Turn Play Protect back on if it is off. Wait until Google names the phones before you drop the backup you trust.