Google Photos will cost money in the future

11/11/2020, 23:23

Is there no time now?

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For five years, Google Photos has allowed you to save images from your smartphone for free. From 1 June 2021 it will end.

Google Photos currently offers two storage options. One stores your photos and videos in high quality and is free. High quality means around 16 megapixels for photos and 4K for videos.

There is no more free storage for photos

The other option saves the media files in the original quality provided by the camera. This option has always been chargeable. The required storage space is calculated against the Google One storage space.

From 1 June 2021 there will be only the second option. Google completely forgoes the free storage offer. The company announced this in a blog post.

In fairness, all images uploaded after June 1, 2021 are only counted in storage. All the images you have uploaded for free in the last five years will be saved for free.

15 gigabytes for free, then graduated prices

With each Google account, the company offers 15 gigabytes of One cloud storage for free. This space is used in all Google products. If you take a lot of photos, you won’t be able to bypass a paid membership relatively quickly.

Here, Google offers a relatively large range of different storage configurations. Start with 100 gigabytes for $ 1.99 per month. You can rent a maximum of 30 terabytes for around 150 euros per month. A two terabyte subscription for around ten euros a month should be appropriate. Storage space can be shared with family.

Google offers additional helpers

This tool can help you with sizing. Create an estimate of the likely duration of your existing volume, based on previous use of various Google tools.

From June 2021, Google plans to add another tool to its photo service that will help you identify photos that are not recommended to be saved for various reasons, such as blur or too dark. If every photo costs money, then there are things to watch out for.

Exception for pixel users

Incidentally, nothing will change for users of a Pixel smartphone. Google will also offer free storage here beyond June 2021.

You don’t have to be active at the moment. However, you may want to extrapolate the costs you can expect in the future and make comparisons with other cloud storage services. After all, such a move takes time and needs to be well organized, if you decide to move forward.

Incidentally, the move to Google Photos isn’t the only change to a more paid model. Features in apps are also expected to cost money in the future.

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