Google Photos will no longer offer free unlimited storage for photos and videos backed up in high quality from June 1, 2021.
“Starting June 1, 2021, any new photos and videos you upload will count toward the free 15 GB of storage that comes with every Google Account or the additional storage you’ve purchased as a Google One member,” Google announced in a blog post.
Google already has this limit on photos and videos backed up in original quality.
The storage cap will be applicable to the content backed up on Google Photos after June 1. Any photos or videos that have been uploaded in high quality before June 1, 2021 will not count toward a user’s 15GB of free storage.
“This means that photos and videos backed up before June 1, 2021 will still be considered free and exempt from the storage limit,” Google said.
Users have six months to decide their options. They can either move to some other cloud storage or can expand their storage through a Google One membership. The tech giant further added that the storage limit will not apply to users who upload photos and videos from its Pixel devices.
“If you have a Pixel 1-5, photos uploaded from that device won’t be impacted. Photos and videos uploaded in High quality from that device will continue to be exempt from this change, even after June 1, 2021,” Google said.
Google is letting users get a personalised estimate of how long their storage may last based on how frequently they back up photos, videos and other content to their Google Account.
Apart from this, Photos will also introduce a new free tool in June 2021 to help users manage their backed-up photos and videos.
“This tool will help you review the memories you want to keep while also surfacing shots you might prefer to delete, like dark or blurry photos or large videos,” read the blog post.