Google has announced its unlimited photos and videos storage tier is ending for Google Photos, as of June 1, 2021, for new photos and videos you upload.
“This change will not take effect for six months, so you won’t need to change how you use Photos or take any action at this time. After June 1, 2021 over 80% of you should still be able to store roughly three more years worth of memories with your free 15 GB of storage,” explains Google Photos.
“All your existing photos and videos backed up in High quality and any new content you back up in High quality before June 1, 2021 are exempt from this change and will not count toward your Google Account storage,” adds the company.
Exceptions to this change are Google Pixel smartphones from Pixel 1-5. “Photos and videos uploaded in High quality from that device will continue to be exempt from this change, even after June 1, 2021,” says Google.
Starting in June 2021, Google will debut a new free tool in the Photos app to help you manage your photos and videos, tell you which blurry or dark photos and videos you can delete, to free up space.
“This change also allows us to keep pace with the growing demand for storage,” says Google, which adds as of today there are more than 4 trillion photos stored in Google Photos, with 28 billion new photos and videos uploaded every week.
Again, if you want more storage, you’ll need to subscribe to a Google One plan, which starts from $2.79 CAD per month for 100GB, or $27.99 annually (save 16%).
With new Apple One bundles, getting extra storage for iCloud is now also cheaper than before. But it’s sad to see this free backup option to save your new photos and videos will be ending soon. Free never lasts forever and Google so far has benefitted from user data, analyzing photos and videos to advance its AI.
