Google Photos, one of the best ways to store and back up all your photos to the cloud, is adjusting how its storage works. While the app used to allow for an unlimited amount of data to be stored on it, that intangible number is dropping to just 15GB. It’s still a decent amount of storage space for images but certainly not as much as “infinity”. Okay, that might be excessive. Still, whatever word you want to use, it’s a downgrade.
This policy of limiting storage space doesn’t just apply to Google Photos; Drive and Workspace will also have documents and files count against the same storage cap. You still have some time to make use of all the unlimited storage options as the change will only be implemented on 21 June 2021. All files uploaded before then won’t count towards your eventual 15GB limit, so that’s something.
15GB isn’t anything to turn your nose up at though as it’s more storage than plenty of other cloud options such as Apple iCloud. Google also confirmed that it will begin deleting data off users’ accounts if they haven’t logged in for more than two years. All those dead people hogging the cloud storage will finally not be a problem anymore.
Google will also send out alerts for when you’re running low on storage, just to remind you to head out and purchase a new hard drive. Or just sign up for its subscription service…
Google One is the likely culprit…
Now, this is just speculation but one has to assume that the implementation of this storage restriction has something to do with Google One, the company’s subscription service that grants users more benefits than a free user. Just this week it was confirmed that certain editing features in Google Photos would be kept behind the paywall.
Google One provides users with a suite of different options to choose from, all providing more storage capacity. The cheapest option comes in at $2.00 a month for 100GB while the most expensive is a ridiculous $150.00 per month for 30TB of cloud storage.
While folks might not be happy to have their unlimited cloud storage taken away from them, it’s to be expected. Google has been extremely generous with the service and sooner or later it would have caught on to the fact that it could monetise that generosity. Best get uploading now instead of putting it off until June 2021.
(Source: The Verge)