Information technology feels like Google Photos has existed a whole lot longer than the five years information technology's been around. By 2019 the service had attracted over one billion users, meaning that Google's recent determination to stop providing free unlimited storage is a huge blow to, well, more than a billion people.

As of 1 June 2021 whatsoever photos or videos y'all upload, or which are uploaded automatically past the app, volition count confronting your 15GB of Google storage, or however much storage you have with your Google account.

But Google's own phones - the Pixel 2 through to 5 - will be exempt from the new rules. If you own one, here'due south what happens now:

  • Pixel 3a, 4, 4a, 5: You'll nonetheless have unlimited 'Storage saver' uploads, merely not Original quality.
  • Pixel 3: Unlimited free Original quality photos until 1 January 2022. After that, unlimited Storage saver uploads.
  • Pixel two: Unlimited Storage saver uploads.
  • Original Pixel (2016): Unlimited Original quality uploads until your telephone stops working.

For everyone else, you go to keep your uploaded photos and videos, but anything uploaded on or after 1 June will count confronting your Google storage.

Google Photos won't delete your photos

Technically, yous don't need to do annihilation differently now because photos and videos you lot take on your telephone will still be uploaded to Google Photos as normal, fifty-fifty later 1 June. But uploads (backups) will finish when your Google storage is full.

This means those images and videos will stay on your phone and won't be backed up in the cloud. That may exist ok with you, and it doesn't mean you can't view those photos in the Google Photos app on your telephone and benefit from all the bully features such every bit automatic tagging, the subject-based search (such as "cats" or "cars") and the automatic creations such as animations and videos.

Aside from the fact you no longer have an online backup of your photos and videos, y'all won't exist able to access them in Google Photos from any other device.

I honey being able to apace find a photo in spider web browser version of Google Photos, just once your storage is full, the spider web version won't update with new photos and videos.

What's Storage saver?

Google has inverse the name of 'Loftier quality' uploads to 'Storage saver'.

This is a tacit admission that this option, which compresses photos and videos and doesn't shop the original-quality files (except for photos 16Mp or nether), isn't really high quality at all. So you may desire to rethink your options and commencement uploading at Original quality.

If you don't want to pay for Google One storage - see beneath - and then hither are the best alternatives to Google Photos.

How tin I free up Google Photos storage infinite?

Y'all can clear out large files taking upwards space in your Google storage. But this is only a temporary set every bit that space will fill up upwardly over again with photos and videos sooner or later.

Google is also rolling out a tool that identifies blurry, dark photos and large videos then you tin can choose which ones to delete to free upward space.

Don't forget, though, that your 15GB of free storage is used by Gmail and Google Drive as well as Google Photos, so you'll need to keep some storage gratis if yous want to keep receiving emails and creating new Google Docs or uploading files.

You'll have received an email about the change and in it is a link to a personalised guess of when your complimentary storage will make full upwards, then it could be months or years depending upon how many photos and videos y'all take.

If you lot missed information technology, open the Google Photos app and expect in the Manage storage section (under Backup & sync) to meet the same guess.

What to do when Google photos free storage ends

Get more Google Photos storage with Google I

Ultimately, if you want to go on backing upward to Google Photos you'll accept to pay. This isn't as expensive equally you might fear. The service is called Google One - a sort of combined storage and VPN service.

Upgrading to 100GB is less than £2/$2 per month and you tin take up to 2TB if y'all need it. Check out our total guide to Google One for more than on the costs and benefits of the service.

If yous do add together more than storage to Google Photos, this is a not bad excuse to brand sureall of your photos and videos are backed upward in that location, so brand sure to bank check out how to upload every photo & video yous have.

What other options do I take to back upwards photos and videos from my photographic camera whorl?

If y'all prefer, you can sign up to one of the best deject storage services which may offer even more storage or – better still – a lifetime plan which means y'all pay once for a set amount of storage and there'southward so no subscription fee to pay afterwards that.

An example is pCloud which offers 500GB for a i-off payment of £175 or 2TB for £350. Both are 65% discounts on the normal prices.

The pCloud app for Android and iOS offers automatic backups of your camera roll too, so you won't have to do anything – simply like Google Photos.

Apparently you lose the groovy features of Google Photos mentioned before -  plus the photos and video editing tools. Which is why you might prefer to pay for Google One storage instead.

Unfortunately, there are no costless services which are equivalent alternatives to Google Photos. If y'all have a NAS drive, y'all can probably utilize it to back up your camera roll. As for online services, iCloud isn't gratis and neither is Flickr (which at present limits free users to 1000 photos).

For more than details on those, see our roundup of the best alternatives to Google Photos.

If yous decide to motion to a new storage solution, don't worry - there's an easy manner to download all your photos and videos from Google Photos in ane go, and so that yous can re-upload them to your new fill-in.

We discussed the changes in our weekly podcast Fast Charge, which you lot can watch right here:

Related articles for further reading

  • How to stop Google Photos backing up photos
  • Facebook now lets you lot transfer your photos and videos to Google Photos
  • How to move photos to your new telephone