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Google Photos is one of the most popular Google apps and it has become more and more popular due to the unlimited cloud storage it offers. The service has been free unless users choose to upload media in original quality. But now it seems that Google may be working on other methods to monetize Google Photos.
According to the people of XDA DevelopersGoogle may be working to reserve certain editing tools, which were previously free, for its paid Google One subscribers.
The evidence was found in a teardown of the Google Photos v5.18 app that recently started rolling out for Android users via the Play Store. Shortly after the evidence emerged, an XDA reader reported that this is already live on his phone.
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For the reader, the Color Pop feature is locked behind a Google One membership. If you don’t know, Color Pop is a feature that Google introduced in 2018 and it basically discolors the background while maintaining the color of the subject. This feature has been free and available for use even at the time of writing. But from the looks of it, this may not be the case for long.
Although, in a clarification to The edge Google says that the Color Pop feature behind a paywall is actually a more advanced version. While the free version only works on photos that have depth information, the paid version works even on images that do not have depth information.
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At the time of writing, it is unclear if Google will put more features behind a paywall in the near future. Either way, it’s not too hard to see that Google is doing its best to make money from Google Photos. The Mountain View-based giant recently tried to monetize the service by allowing customers to receive 10 print shots per month for a small fee. We’ll have to see what else Google does to monetize Photos.
