WAH! I’m crying like a baby as I write this. Google announced that starting June 1, 2021, Google Photos will no longer offer free unlimited storage space. Oh well, it was great while it lasted. Here’s a summary of forthcoming changes:
When Google Photos was launched more than 5 years ago, it provided 2 options for photo storage. The first option was to store the original photo, in which case photos were counted against the default 15 GB storage limit that accompanied each Google account (note that there have been ways to expand beyond the default 15 GB; my account has a 17 GB storage limit). The second option was to store “high quality” images using Google’s image compression algorithms, in which case users were given free unlimited storage space. In my opinion, the high quality option would meet the needs of a vast majority of people since the image compression algorithms did a great job of preserving image quality. I can honestly say that I could not tell the difference between the original and “high quality” compressed images without significantly zooming in to each image. Google later also introduced a third “express backup” option which further limited the size of photos. Read about Google Photos backup options here.
But alas, the free unlimited approach is not sustainable in the long run, so it makes sense that Google would eventually count all photos toward its 15 GB quota. Starting June 1, 2021, users will either need to delete photos to make room for newer ones, or subscribe to a Google One storage plan.
For a customized overview of the Google Photos storage policy, including your personal storage limit and an estimate of how long it will be after you run out of storage, visit https://photos.google.com/storagepolicy.
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