It was a good run but, starting in July 2021, Google Photos will no longer offer users unlimited storage for their digital media.
Starting in 2015, Google Photos has always had unlimited storage to a degree but that will all change with the company’s rollout of its Google One program.
From Google’s post on the changes,
“Starting June 1, 2021, any new photos and videos you upload will count toward the free 15 GB of storage that comes with every Google Account or the additional storage you’ve purchased as a Google One member. Your Google Account storage is shared across Drive, Gmail and Photos. This change also allows us to keep pace with the growing demand for storage. And, as always, we uphold our commitment to not use information in Google Photos for advertising purposes. We know this is a big shift and may come as a surprise, so we wanted to let you know well in advance and give you resources to make this easier.”
While unlimited is probably the best option for photographers, 15GB is not too bad.
Interestingly, “Any photos or videos you’ve uploaded in High quality before June 1, 2021 will not count toward your 15GB of free storage. This means that photos and videos backed up before June 1, 2021 will still be considered free and exempt from the storage limit.”
And, if you’re a Pixel owner, you might be exempt from most of these changes depending on how you uploaded your photos.
“If you have a Pixel 1-5, photos uploaded from that device won’t be impacted. Photos and videos uploaded in High quality from that device will continue to be exempt from this change, even after June 1, 2021,” the post from Google reads.
You can check out the whole press release on the Google Photos policy change by clicking here.
Do you use Google Photos? Will the elimination of unlimited storage make you start to shop around for a new service? Let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments section below.
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