Google Photos to stop free unlimited storage from June 1 next year

If you use Google's Google Photo Service for storing a lot of high-quality photos, you will definitely be shocked by this news. The tech giant has announced that after June 1, 2021, the Google photos service will no longer be free. That is, from next year, you will have to spend money to use this cloud service. Let us tell you that any user can now place their unlimited photos in Google Photos and the company does not charge anything for this.

As per tech site The Verge, Google has announced that it will charge users for its Google photo service from next year. However, the company has made it clear that before June 1, there will be no charge on less than 15 GB storage. That is, users can migrate easily to another cloud service by next year if they want.

It may also be noted that all the photos uploaded to Google Photos before June 1 next year will not count against the standard 15GB cap. Only photos uploaded after June 1 will begin counting against the storage.

"Today, more than 4 trillion photos are stored in Google Photos, and every week 28 billion new photos and videos are uploaded. Since so many of you rely on Google Photos to store your memories, it’s important that it’s not just a great product, but also continues to meet your needs over the long haul. In order to welcome even more of your memories and build Google Photos for the future, we are changing our unlimited High quality storage policy," read Google's blog post.

While Google already counts 'original quality' photo uploads against a storage cap, the “high quality” upload allows you unlimited storage of photos and video as they are automatically compressed for more efficient storage. 

It may also be noted that those who own Google Pixel devices will still be able to upload high-quality (not original) photos for free after June 1, which is a little bonus for those who buy Google’s devices.

Defending the move, Google says that it still offers more free storage than others, The Verge's report said. You get 15GB instead of 5GB that Apple’s iCloud gives you — and it also claims that 80 percent of Google Photos users won’t hit that 15GB cap for at least three years.

Google has said that it will start sending alerts when a user begins to approach that storage cap. New storage management tools are also being put into Google Photos, including a tool that makes it easier to find and delete photos you might not want anyway, like blurry images or screenshots

Not just photos, Google is also introducing new policies for its accounts, which will be effective from June 1 next year. If you have been inactive for two years on Gmail, Drive or Photos, then the company can remove your content from those products. The new policies are for consumer accounts that are either inactive or are exceeding the storage capacity limit on Gmail, Drive (including Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms and Jamboard files), the company said.