Google did it again. It’s closing down one of the most popular features across its entire product universe – Google Photo’s free unlimited storage. The company said it will end this service as of June 1, 2021.
After that date, all photos uploaded will count toward your 15GB free data limit. However, all photos uploaded before June 1 of next year will still be available with the option of free unlimited storage.
Google Photos, which has more than 1 billion users, has offered free unlimited storage for high-quality (read: compressed) photos for users on all platforms. So it was easy to activate the back and sync option with those quality settings and let your photos upload to the cloud with no storage worries. I’ve relied on it to back up photos from all the Android and iOS devices I’ve used over the years.
The company said Photos is home to more than 4 trillion images and videos, and users upload 28 billion every week. It added that while media uploads would count toward its 15GB free data limit, 80 percent of users will not reach that limit for 10 years.
Images compressed in Google Photos occupy approximately 1 to 4 MB of space. So you can easily squeeze more than 300 photos per GB. So with Gmail and Drive storage, you will still have plenty of room for lots of photos. You can check your current Google Photos storage consumption here.
Since your next June photo upload will count towards your storage limit. You may want to periodically check which photos you would like to keep. Fortunately, Big G said that it will release a new storage management tool for Google Photos next year, so you can easily delete images that might not be valuable.
If you still need more storage space, you will have to pay. If you use multiple devices, it might still make sense to use Google Photos by paying for additional storage through Google One subscription. Plans start at $ 1.99 per month for 100GB of storage and prices may vary by country. On the personal level, you can get plans for up to 2TB of space.
For storing photos, Flickr is an excellent service. It allows you to host 1,000 media items with a 200MB file limit for images and a 1GB file limit for videos. That’s pretty handy if you’re just backing up things taken with your phone’s camera. Alternatively, you can go Pro with an annual plan of $ 5.99 per month, and that gives you unlimited storage. Probably the best option if you take a lot of photos from your phone and camera.
Then there’s Dropbox, which offers 2TB of space for a $ 9.99 per month annual plan for individuals. You can check other plans here. If you’re immersed in the Apple ecosystem, it makes sense to get additional iCloud storage after you run out of the default 5GB space. Apple offers plans starting at $ 0.99 for 50GB per month. You can check prices in all countries here.
The unlimited storage of Google Photos has been a highly appreciated feature around the world. But free stuff doesn’t last forever. This move by Google makes more sense than its ruthless product shutdowns that included Inbox and Google Reader. Furthermore, this could also mean that other cloud storage providers have the opportunity to offer amazing deals and attract some Google customers.
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Posted on Nov 12, 2020 05:33 UTC
