Google Photos FREE Unlimited Storage will no longer be FREE come June 21, 2021
According to a Google official post, more than 4 trillion photos are stored in Google Photos, and every week 28 billion new photos and videos are uploaded.
They say nothing free lasts forever. That the Almighty Google would eventually wake up one day and start charging for one of its world’s most popular used photo storage product may be disappointing, but it’s no surprise.
Starting from June 1, 2021, once you go over 15 gigabytes, you’re going to have to pay up, says Google.
This is it! Google is capping its free unlimited photo upload to 15 GB, meaning you can no longer upload those awesome high definition photos to Google Photos once your storage hits 15 GB.
The Alphabet owned company made this announcement today, Wednesday 11, 2020.
What You Really Need to Know
It’s important to be clear about what exactly is changing here. All Google accounts come with 15 GB of free storage, which you eat up with Gmail messages and attachments, Google Drive files, and Google Photos uploaded at their original size. All of that still applies. But you’ve had an option to this point to let Google resize your photos to a 16-megapixel maximum when you upload them. Those photos, as well as videos that top out at 1080p resolution, have not counted against that 15-GB cap. As of June 1, 2021, new uploads of any size will.
Your existing high quality photos and videos are exempt from this change
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.
From June 2021, you’ll be able to access a new free tool in the Photos app to easily manage your backed up photos and videos. This tool will help you review the memories you want to keep while also surfacing shots you might prefer to delete, like dark or blurry photos or large videos.
