Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage on 1st June 2021

[Zoom7000]

Google Photos will end its free unlimited storage on 1st June 2021

 

We launched Google Photos more than five years ago and since then, it's become more than just an app to manage your photos. It's become a place you go when you feel nostalgic and want to reminisce. Today, Google Photos is the home for more than 4 trillion photos and videos, including yours, and a remarkable 28 billion new photos and videos are uploaded every week. In order to welcome even more of your memories and build Google Photos for the future, we are announcing a change to our storage policy.

 

• Starting June 1, 2021, all new photos and videos backed up in High quality will count toward the free 15 GB of storage that comes with your Google Account or any additional storage you may have purchased, the same way other Google services like Google Drive and Gmail already do.
   
  
• All photos and videos you back up in High quality before June 1, 2021 are exempt from this change and will not count toward your Google Account storage. This includes all of your existing content uploaded in High quality.
  

We don't take this decision lightly and we acknowledge that this is a big shift, so wanted to let you know well in advance and give you resources to help you navigate this change.

 

Do I need to do anything right away?

No, you can continue to use Google Photos to back up your photos and videos. After June 1, 2021 we will reach out and send you reminders when you are nearing your storage limit. Most users will have years before they need to take action.

 

When will I reach my free 15 GB of storage?

We created a personalised estimate that shows how much time you have until you reach your quota. This estimate takes into account how frequently you back up photos, videos and other content to your Google Account.

 

What can I do to manage my storage?

On June 1, 2021, we will be launching a new storage management tool which will help you easily find and delete dark, blurry, and otherwise unwanted content. You can also purchase more storage with Google One where available.

 

We are grateful that you choose Google Photos to safely store your memories. This change enables us to keep up with the growing demand for photo storage and remain focused on building Google Photos for the future. To learn more about this change, check out our Help Centre article or Blog Post.

 

Thank you,

Your Google Photos Team

 

News Articles:

The Verge

9to5Google

[Arthur]

Google Docs files will start taking up more space too.

 

An update to storage policies across your Google Account

 

Over the past decade, Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos have helped billions of people securely store and manage their emails, documents, photos, videos and more. Today, people are uploading more content than ever before—in fact, more than 4.3 million GB are added across Gmail, Drive and Photos every day.

 

To continue providing everyone with a great storage experience and to keep pace with the growing demand, we're announcing important upcoming storage changes to your Google Account. These changes will apply to Photos and Drive (specifically Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms and Jamboard files) and will enable us to continue investing in these products for the future. We're also introducing new policies for consumer Google Accounts that are either inactive or over their storage limit across Gmail, Drive (including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms and Jamboard files) and Photos, to bring our policies more in line with industry standards.

 

Google Docs, Sheets, and other files will take up more account storage in 2021

 

Google is set to implement a major change to its consumer cloud storage policy. From 1 June 2021, new files created in Drive — including Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and Jamboard — will count against users' 15GB free allotment and any supplementary Google One storage. This is in addition to attachments in those files, which already do count. The news comes at the same time a similar revamp was announced for Google Photos storage.

 

Currently, only the attachments within a Drive document are tallied against user storage. But from the middle of next year, the actual document/spreadsheet/presentation file in any of the above services will go towards users' storage quota if they have been created on and after 1 June. They will also count if they were created before that date, but have been edited since.

 

You can see a full list of what files do and do not take space in your account right now and from next June with this Google One Help page.

 

The company is also setting a data-wiping policy for accounts that have not used Gmail, Drive, and Photos services for 2 years or have gone above their storage quota for 2 years, warning that content on inactive services may be deleted after an advance notice of 3 months. Account holders are being advised to check on their Inactive Account Manager to determine what should happen to their data and account when it becomes inactive. This policy also begins 1 June 2021.

[MkII]

Just High Quality photos from now on. Standard quality is still unlimited?

[ITGuyNW]

So essentially for Google for Education customers, nothing changes? It's still unlimited?

[paulkerton]

So essentially for Google for Education customers, nothing changes? It's still unlimited?

Currently. We don't know what they'll change when Google Workspace for Education comes along, but I can't imagine much, if anything, will change at all.

[Andycat]

Just High Quality photos from now on. Standard quality is still unlimited?

 

High Quality is "standard" I think?

[jmak]

Part of me is a bit annoyed and I know it's a business decision, not for the good of the World, but using energy and space and ever increasing resources to build new storage when most people just fill it up with useless carp* feels like a waste of resources.

 

*Makes note to self to delete no longer required files before June [emoji57]

[sonofsanta]

Just High Quality photos from now on. Standard quality is still unlimited?

 

High Quality is "standard" I think?

 

 

Yup--"full size" or "high quality" which is downscaled