Google Photos to end its free unlimited storage starting June 2021: What this means?

New Delhi: Google Photos is ending its very enticing free unlimited storage benefit and will start charging for the storage space your photos and videos take over the 15GB quota. From next year, if you upload high-quality images or videos, then those will be counted toward your Google Drive storage limit. Google on Wednesday asserted in a blog post that to “welcome even more of your memories,” the company needs to change its policy.

No free uploads from June 1, 2021: What this means?

As announced via a blog post, Google will stop providing free unlimited storage for high-quality photos and videos. Starting June 1 2021, all the new media uploaded to Google Photos will be a part of the 15GB of free storage offered to every Google account user. This will be also applicable for any Google One subscription you have subscribed to.

While Google has announced a surprising change for the users, it has also announced some reliefs. Google has suggested that the photos and videos backed before June 1, 2021, won’t come under the new rule and will remain free on the platform. Media stored in original quality will also remain free from the storage rule and will be as usual included in the 15GB of storage. Further, Pixel users will have a slight advantage over here as the media they upload on Google Photos will be exempted from the new rule.

What is the current Google storage policy?

Currently, Google is offering the unlimited backup option for “high quality” photos and videos. However, the pictures are automatically compressed to 16MP and videos to high definition. There is also an Express option, which gives free unlimited storage, but compresses photos by 3MP and videos to standard definition.

Launched in 2015, Google Photos gained huge popularity among smartphone users, thanks to the free storage benefit it offered. Google highlights in its blog post that over four trillion photos are stored on Google Photos, with 28 billion new photos and videos uploaded every week.

Google says that the new update won’t bring any major change for most Google Photos users as over 80 percent of its userbase “should still be able to store roughly three more years’ worth of memories” using the free 15GB storage allocation. Some alerts and warnings will also be provided through the Google Photos app once a user reaches near the limit.