What Should I Do Before Google Photos End Unlimited Storage
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| Google Photos’ free unlimited storage for ‘high quality’ images ends on June 1. Photo KnowInsiders |
Google Photos’ free unlimited storage for ‘high quality’ images ends on June 1. Wondering what the price of storing all your snaps and videos in Google Photos will be after that date? We’ve gathered all of the important info here so you can get prepared for the Google Photos change.
Whether you’re new to Google Photos or a long-established user, it’s worth taking a few minutes to understand what the policy changes mean and how the new storage pricing structure will affect you. Luckily, we’ve explained everything below – as well as your options if you don’t want to shell out for a subscription.
What are the Google Photos changes coming on June 1?
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| Photo India Today |
When backing up your snaps to the cloud, you currently have two options: 'high quality' and 'original quality'. High quality photos are compressed to a size of no more than 16MB when they're uploaded to the cloud, whereas original pictures are left compression-free and at whatever resolution they were initially taken.
According to Tomsguide, at the moment, Google Photos provides users with unlimited cloud storage for their high quality photos, plus videos of up to size 16MP and 1080p resolution. That means any keen photographers can upload as many images and videos as they want to Google's trusted backup service, so long as they don't mind the reduction in quality.
So, what's changing? Well, beginning June 1, any new photos and videos uploaded to Google Photos will count towards the 15GB of free storage that comes with each Google account — irrespective of them being 'high' or 'original' quality. Back in November 2020, Google Photos lead David Leib laid out the reason for the move, arguing that free backups were becoming too costly to the company.
If you exceed this 15GB limit after June 1, you'll either need to sign up for Google One and buy extra storage, or risk Google deleting some photos; Google will at least repeatedly warn you before taking the latter option. It's also worth remembering that Google’s 15GB of free account storage is split between Photos, Drive and Gmail, so if you also have lots of big email attachments or PDF files stored in Drive, they'll count towards it too.
| Google claims that more than 4 trillion files are stored in Google Photos and another 28 billion photos and videos are uploaded every week. As advances in technology continue to increase the file sizes of pictures and videos, Google’s appetite to offer free unlimited storage for the masses has diminished for good reason. |
Who is exempt from this change?
For the Pixel 5 or older Pixel users, current backup quality photos and benefits remain unchanged. Google has confirmed that uploads in high quality from the Pixel 2 to Pixel 5 smartphones will continue to receive unlimited free storage. However, photos and videos backed up from other devices in high quality after June 1, 2021, will start to count towards the user's Google account storage.
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| Photo India Today |
For Pixel 3a to Pixel 5 users, photos and videos uploaded in high quality are free and unlimited. However, photos and videos uploaded in their original quality will count towards the user's Google account storage.
**READ MORE: Google Pixel 5a: Release Date, Price and What to Expect!
What are your options?
Considering Google Photos is one of the best photo tools you can get on the Internet, there are not many alternatives. There are a few photo services, but they also come with a storage quota.
Dropbox is one cloud service that users can try out for uploading, but it offers only 2GB to a single user as part of its free basic personal plan. Users will have to buy storage if they wish to store more content on this cloud service.
Microsoft OneDrive is another decent option for users who are looking for a Google Photos alternative. The OneDrive service offers a free tier of 5GB, and if users want more space, they can buy the 100GB plan for Rs 140 per month.
Amazon Photos is one good option for Prime members, which offers unlimited, full-resolution photo storage and 5GB video storage. But this is not available in India.
The Google Photos free tier ends on May 31, which means there's still about more than ten days left, and users who are yet to make a move should do it right away. If you're on the high-quality tier, upload all your photos and videos right away before the deadline of June 1 comes into effect and unlimited free storage ends for almost everyone.
Google One subscription: Plan prices and featuresIf you decide you want more space for your photos and videos, you can sign up for Google One plans which are available in India. All Google accounts include 15GB of storage, which is free of charge, but Google One bumps this storage quota to 100GB. The Google One plans start at as low as Rs 130 per month for 100GB cloud storage. Users can also choose to opt for an annual plan that offers some discount, like in the 100GB plan case, users can get an annual subscription for Rs 1,300. There are also 200GB, 2TB, and 10TB plans available for interested customers. The good thing about Google One subscription is it offers some additional benefits, like when you get a 100GB plan, and you automatically get access to Google experts, the option to add your family, and extra member benefits. The Google Photos free tier ends on May 31, which means there's still about two weeks left, and users who are yet to make a move should do it right away. If you're on the high-quality tier, upload all your photos and videos right away before the deadline of June 1 comes into effect and unlimited free storage ends for almost everyone. |
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