Google Photos free storage ends June 1: Key things to know

Starting June 1, Google will start counting photos and videos backed up to your free 15GB storage. Here's what you need to know about this major Google Photos policy change.

Google Photos App Store listing. (Hindustan Times)

Google Photos is going to go through a major change next month that will undoubtedly disappoint a lot of users. Google will no longer offer free backup to Google Photos starting June 1. All photos and videos will be counted towards your 15GB free storage that you get with a Google account.

With less than a week to go for the new Google Photos storage policy, Google has highlighted in a blog post key things you need to know about this change. The first thing to note is that all your photos and videos that have been backed up so far will still remain in the free storage. It will be exempted from the storage limit so you won't lose access to those photos and videos. Google estimates that more than 80 percent of users “should still be able to store roughly three more years of memories in High quality with your free 15GB of storage.” Google also lets you check how long your storage will last based on how frequently you back up photos, videos and other content to your Google account.

Google storage (Google)

Google storage (Google)

Google has also added a new tool to Photos that lets you manage your storage. You can use this to check how much storage has been used, and also how you can clear photos to clear space. It will categorise photos that are blurry, screenshots,large, and from other apps. Google is also renaming the ‘High quality storage tier' to ‘Storage saver'. “While we're updating the name, your photos and videos will continue to be stored at the same great quality,” Google said in its blog post.

These tools may help in understanding your Google Photos storage better but don't necessarily help much. If you still want to keep Google Photos storage then you can purchase a Google One subscription that starts at ₹65/month or ₹1,300/year for 100GB storage.