For those of you who partake in Google’s unlimited photo storage, we have some bad news.
On Thursday Google announced it will be removing its free ‘high quality’ photo storage offering from June 1, 2021. After that date, new uploads will begin counting towards user’s 15GB of free Google Account storage.
Thankfully, this only applies to new photos and videos that are uploaded at this quality. Google was careful to point out that anything uploaded prior to this date will not be impacted.
So you’ve still got about six months to go absolutely ham on the service.
[related_content first=”1520683″]
At the present time any photos uploaded at their original quality already count towards your 15GB storage cap. ‘High’ quality photos and video are compressed before being uploaded to Google Photos.
“Starting June 1, 2021, new photos and videos uploaded in High quality will begin counting towards your 15GB of Google Account storage,” the Google Photos Twitter account said.
“All your existing photos and videos backed up in High quality and any new content you back up in High quality before June 1, 2021 are exempt from this change and will not count toward your Google Account storage.”
Starting June 1, 2021, new photos and videos uploaded in High quality will begin counting towards your 15GB of Google Account storage.
Learn more here: https://t.co/SuS34HFjAu
— Google Photos (@googlephotos) November 11, 2020
Google is also claiming that the majority of users shouldn’t hit their cap after June 1, 2021 for years.
“This change will not take effect for six months, so you won’t need to change how you use Photos or take any action at this time. After June 1, 2021 over 80% of you should still be able to store roughly three more years worth of memories with your free 15 GB of storage,” a further tweet said.
Google is also implementing new storage management tools to help users get rid of unwanted content, as well as personalised estimates of how long your free storage should last.
If you do find yourself running out of storage, the cheapest Google One plan in Australia is $2.49 a month for 100GB.
To help you understand how this impacts you personally, you can see an estimate for how long your storage may last. https://t.co/t6XsEjWc46 pic.twitter.com/1zXR9it6qa
— Google Photos (@googlephotos) November 11, 2020
Google Pixel users won’t be impacted
There are some users who won’t be impacted by this change — anyone with a Google Pixel.
Pixel phones will be exempt from the cap, allowing them to continue uploading high quality photos and videos without it counting towards their storage cap.
It’s worth noting that Google Pixel owners used to get an even better deal that offered no cap on original quality photos and videos.