Google its changing its policy on its cloud image storage service, Google Photos. Starting June 1, 2021, new photos and videos uploaded to the service will count towards the free 15GB of storage that comes with every basic Google account.

This 15GB of storage is shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos. This is a massive change as Google Photos, since being launched in 2015, has provided free unlimited photo storage for Google users.

Google, announced the move on its blog, Wednesday, November 11, saying that the change allows them to “keep pace with the growing demand for storage.”

Users can purchase additional storage past the 15GB limit.

The move will not affect photos uploaded in “high quality” before June 1, 2021. This means that all previous photos uploaded before that date will not count towards the 15GB of free storage. This policy applies to images uploaded in “high quality.” Users have always had the option to upload images in their original quality but this has always counted towards the storage limit.

In order to see your backup quality settings, open the Google Photos app, and go to the back up and sync settings. There you can toggle the upload quality for images.

People who use Google Pixel phones are exempt from the policy change. They will continue to get free, unlimited “high quality” photo storage.

Google also it will be launching a new tool in the Photos app in June 2021 that will “help you review the memories you want to keep while also surfacing shots you might prefer to delete, like dark or blurry photos or large videos” and help users manage storage. – Rappler.com