Google I/O 2015: Google launches Photos app with unlimited storage

As widely predicted, the company has separated image hosting and sharing from its floundering Google+ social network.

Google-Photos-Photo-AFP

As widely predicted, the company has separated image hosting and sharing from its floundering Google+ social network.

But as well as being completely separate from Google+, Google Photos, which is compatible with Android, iOS and desktops, will offer unlimited storage.

Demonstrated for the first time at its annual I/O developers conference, which kicked off Thursday, director of Google Photos Anil Sabharwal confirmed that the new serivce can host both images and videos and can handle individual pictures of up to 16 megapixels plus footage shot in full 1080p HD without having to resort to compression.

Unlimited storage will be a huge draw for many potential users, but the feature that could well ensure its success is that Google Photos is compatible with the social networks that consumers actually use -- such as Facebook -- so that sharing and posting as well as storing is simple.