Google Photos free unlimited photo storage is about to come to an end. The company announced a major change to its Google Photos storage policy. Starting from the 1st of June 2021, all new uploads of your photos and videos will count towards your existing Google Cloud storage, which means there will no longer be free unlimited storage.
Google Photos Free Unlimited Photo Video Storage No More
First introduced in 2015, the unlimited photo storage feature was introduced and limited to photo quality of up to 16MP and videos up to FHD resolution. Once it’s setup, all your photos and videos from your devices will automatically be backed up to Google Photos, and can later be easily accessed from the Google Photos app or website.
According to the company, Google mentioned there are more than 4 trillion photos stored in Google Photos, and 28 billion new photos and videos are uploaded every week. To ensure the company’s product continues to meet your needs in the long run, Google is updating its storage policy to build Google Photos for the future.
Users will also be introduced to a new free tool in the Photos app in June 2021 that will highlight photos you might want to delete. These photos might be dark or blurry photos, or even large videos that you may not need anymore.
What About My Existing Photos?
Don’t worry, as your existing photos and videos that are uploaded in “High Quality” before 1st June 2021 will not count towards your 15GB of free storage. All your old uploads will remain stored for free, and excluded from the storage limit. Do note this only applies to photos that are uploaded in “High Quality” and not “Original”.
What If I’m Using A Google Pixel?
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If you own a Google Pixel 1 to 5, photos you’ve uploaded in High Quality will not be affected, but this only applies to photos you’ve uploaded from the Pixel device itself. Photos and videos uploaded in High Quality will be exempted from the new policy change after 1st June 2021.
As for Google Pixel 1 to 3 users, you get to enjoy the unlimited Original quality feature for a longer time. It’s free for the first Pixel, while the Pixel 2 and 3 can enjoy the benefit until 2021/2022 depending on your device. As for the newer Pixels, Google has stopped offering unlimited “Original” quality storage.
What If I Want More Storage?
You can upgrade your cloud storage with Google One, but Google is still offering 15GB of free storage, that is shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos.
All upgrade plans gives you access to Google Experts, the option to add a family member, as well as additional member benefits. Here are the prices for the different upgrade plans according to their storage quota:
- 100GB – RM8.49/month | RM84.90/year
- 200GB – RM11.99/month | RM119.99/year
- 2TB – RM42.99/month | RM429.99/year
- 10TB – RM214.99/month
- 20TB – RM429.99/month
- 30TB – RM644.99/month
