Credit: Jimmy Westenberg / Android Authority
Five years after its launch as a service that you can use exclusively for free, some people will soon have to start paying for Google Photos. On Wednesday, Google announced that as of June 1, 2021, it will no longer offer unlimited “high-quality” storage. Any new compressed photos and videos that you upload to the service after that date will count towards your Google Drive limit, and if you exceed the 15GB free limit, you will need to pay for a Google One subscription. The 100GB base tier costs $ 1.99 In the USA.
Loading surveyIn a post on its keyword blog, Google said the change will allow it to “keep up with the growing demand for storage.” According to the search giant, Photos users upload approximately 28 billion photos and videos per week, and there are already more than 4 trillion images on their servers. The company was also quick to point out that for 80% of Photos users, they probably won’t have to pay for additional storage for a couple more years.
Related: Google One vs. the competition
Still, it’s a major change to the way Photos works, and one that takes the best advantage of the platform. Understandably, this leads you to reevaluate how you use the service. With that said, do you plan to subscribe to Google One to keep using Google Photos? Or will you seek other services? As always, let us know by voting in our poll and sharing your thoughts in the comment section. We’ll highlight the best in a follow-up post.
