Google Photos to end free unlimited storage on June 1, 2021
Photos and videos uploaded to Google Photos in high quality will begin counting toward users' 15GB of Google Account storage next June.
When Google Photos launched in 2015, the tech giant had originally offered users the ability to upload an unlimited amount of photos at "high quality." The company has announced that starting on June 1st in 2021, photos will once again count toward your overall Google Account storage limit of 15GB.
Google tweeted out the change from the official Google Photos Twitter account on Wednesday.
Google claims that the reason for the change is to provide users with a higher quality experience and plans to further develop Google Photos in the future.
Only photos uploaded after June 1, 2021, will count toward the 15GB limit that comes with every Google Account or toward the additional storage that has been purchased via Google One. The company points out that Google Account storage is shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos, meaning that your new photos will compete for space with email attachments and any documents you've stored in Google Drive.
Pixel users are the only ones who will not need to worry about the change. All high-quality videos and photos will continue to be exempt from the change after June 1, 2021.
Google is offering users a personalized estimate that may explain how long the storage will last, stating that it takes into account how often users back up photos and video content.
In June 2021, Google will release a new tool in the Photos app that will allow users to manage photos and videos. The tool will analyze a user's videos and photos and suggest deleting anything that appears to be too low quality.
Google suggests that users who need more space could consider purchasing extra storage through Google One, where plans start at $1.99 per month for 100 gigabytes of storage.
Those with an Apple ID may want to consider backing up their images through iCloud. For $0.99 a month, users can get 50GB of storage that syncs across all Apple devices. For $2.99 a month, users can get 200GB of storage. For those who have a truly massive amount to back up, a $9.99 per month tier offers 2TB of storage.
Apple One subscribers can expand their limit even further by purchasing the Apple One Premier plan and an additional 2TB of storage, which costs $34.94 per month, includes 4TB of storage and comes bundled with Apple Music Family, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and Apple Fitness+.
When Google Photos launched in 2015, the tech giant had originally offered users the ability to upload an unlimited amount of photos at "high quality." The company has announced that starting on June 1st in 2021, photos will once again count toward your overall Google Account storage limit of 15GB.
Google tweeted out the change from the official Google Photos Twitter account on Wednesday.
Starting June 1, 2021, new photos and videos uploaded in High quality will begin counting towards your 15GB of Google Account storage.
Learn more here: https://t.co/SuS34HFjAu-- Google Photos (@googlephotos)
Google claims that the reason for the change is to provide users with a higher quality experience and plans to further develop Google Photos in the future.
Only photos uploaded after June 1, 2021, will count toward the 15GB limit that comes with every Google Account or toward the additional storage that has been purchased via Google One. The company points out that Google Account storage is shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos, meaning that your new photos will compete for space with email attachments and any documents you've stored in Google Drive.
Pixel users are the only ones who will not need to worry about the change. All high-quality videos and photos will continue to be exempt from the change after June 1, 2021.
Google is offering users a personalized estimate that may explain how long the storage will last, stating that it takes into account how often users back up photos and video content.
In June 2021, Google will release a new tool in the Photos app that will allow users to manage photos and videos. The tool will analyze a user's videos and photos and suggest deleting anything that appears to be too low quality.
Google suggests that users who need more space could consider purchasing extra storage through Google One, where plans start at $1.99 per month for 100 gigabytes of storage.
Those with an Apple ID may want to consider backing up their images through iCloud. For $0.99 a month, users can get 50GB of storage that syncs across all Apple devices. For $2.99 a month, users can get 200GB of storage. For those who have a truly massive amount to back up, a $9.99 per month tier offers 2TB of storage.
Apple One subscribers can expand their limit even further by purchasing the Apple One Premier plan and an additional 2TB of storage, which costs $34.94 per month, includes 4TB of storage and comes bundled with Apple Music Family, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and Apple Fitness+.
Comments
I have no interest in subscribing to anything. I do ONE streaming service (Netflix, because they were the first & still have good content) on top of my bare-minimum life expenses. Not just because I can’t afford anything more. It’s also because I’m sick of this perpetual grab for more money whilst giving less in return. The “services model” is mostly Wall Street BS. Bait is why anything is ever offered with “free” tiers. The more space people think they need, the more likely they are to add yet another monthly debit from their income.
I maintain my own storage and only use iCloud for cross-device necessities. I also moderate my data hoarding. No one needs 5 terabytes of snapshots. I keep what’s worth keeping and will be likely used/enjoyed later.
Professional photographers might need that storage for huge raw files, but a good, self-owned archival system is better than relying on any cloud service which has zero guarantee or accountability.
As for streaming services... We already went through this with cable television “premium channels” (another thing I won’t ever buy). Let me know when some company offers a “package deal” of all the disparate streaming services (all trying to all cram their fingers into the same pie), under “one convenient bill”...
...and I STILL won’t subscribe.
i still need to get myself the hell out of gmail dependence. It’s hard to not get suckered into free shit and they did get me with that one. That’s my own personal learning lesson.
tl;dr That license doesn't mean what you think it means.
Regarding hard disks, I think the first hard disk I owned would hold about 3 MP3 files, as long as the bitrates weren't too high. A music library consisting of 3 songs - woo hoo! Put it on shuffle and enjoy ...
Data mining technology improves exponentially with time. What users may think unrealistic to be able to glean from photos today will be essentially trivial and cheap to accomplish in a few years.
Relevant excerpt: Our Services may allow you to submit or post materials such as comments, ratings and reviews, pictures, videos, and podcasts (including associated metadata and artwork)... You hereby grant Apple a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, nonexclusive license to use the materials you submit within the Services and related marketing, and Apple internal purposes. Apple may monitor and decide to remove or edit any submitted material.
edit: And no, Apple does not state if a user deletes their data, it is in fact deleted as you claim in your edit.
Here's FB: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/previous
Relevant excerpt: For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License).
Here's MS: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/copyright/default#o10
Relevant excerpt: However, by posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting ("Posting") your Submission you are granting Microsoft, its affiliated companies and necessary sublicensees permission to use your Submission in connection with the operation of their Internet businesses (including, without limitation, all Microsoft Services), including, without limitation, the license rights to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your Submission; to publish your name in connection with your Submission; and the right to sublicense such rights to any supplier of the Services.
Here's Google: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/res/webmmf/en/eula.html
Relevant excerpt: You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.
Here's the much longer more detailed version of Google's ToS detailing this topic. https://policies.google.com/terms
Like I said, they all use a boilerplate Creative Commons license. I've sourced my claims. I doubt you can source yours.
A phrase I used on my Youtube channel describing this sh** service.
explain how Google developed, Google Lens to identify objects in photos, do you think google had employees running around taking millions of photos and only using them.
My understand this came from the Captchas project and founders of this company when bought by Google said they used the 100's millions of photos google stored on their servers to improve the image recognition software. Based on founders own statements over the years I think we can agree they were using users photos. I do not think they ever paid a user for the use of their photos or the work users provided to identify objects. Yes, I am aware they also use photo from street view, so it was not 100% user photos.
BTW, do you think all those photos in this Captchas were generated by Google employees or google paid for the use of them. This is what google meant by perpetual worldwide royalty-free licensing when you post images to their servers.