There's not much reader consensus about the Google Photos storage changes
Everyone seems to have their own solution to the Google Photos storage changes.
- Android Central readers recently responded to a poll asking them what they planned to do when Google ends unlimited uploads to Google Photos next week.
- The responses were almost perfectly equally divided among the choices offered, but the most popular response was to switch services.
- Even though it was left off as a question, many respondents wrote in to tell us they're sticking with Google Photos regardless.
Here in the U.S., we're eagerly anticipating a three-day weekend as we celebrate Memorial Day, but as we all head back to work next Tuesday, we've got a somewhat unpleasant deadline to look forward to. That is the day - June 1st - that all subsequent photos backed up to Google Photos will start counting against our Google account storage limits.
Earlier this week, we asked our readers what they planned to do with their pictures moving forward, and we've included the results of that Google Photos poll below. While we should have provided five choices instead of four (the fifth being "stay with Google Photos"), the responses were pretty evenly split between the choices on offer. Nearly 28% said they planned to switch to another online photo service such as Amazon Photos or Microsoft OneDrive, over 26% said they'd be using a local storage solution such as a NAS, nearly a quarter weren't aware that anything was changing and presumably had no plan. Just over 22% said they wouldn't be affected because they don't use or rely on Google Photos in the first place.
What are you doing to prepare for the end of unlimited storage on Google Photos?
As you might imagine, this was one of our more popular polls over the past week, and it generated a lot of discussion on the post and on our social media channels.
AC reader Gerarabara said they are using Microsoft's OneDrive.
(I'll) back up to OneDrive. This is done automatically on my Android devices. Plus, this is where I back up my "real" camera photos.
Some of our readers are opting to use a combination of backup services, including alternate cloud backups like Amazon Photos, and a NAS solution.
(My) phone is backed up to the NAS, which in turn is backed up to Amazon Photos. I never liked the fact that Google's free tier compressed my shots, and Amazon not only gives me raw files for free, it treats the PSDs as free as well. Now that they finally have a decent upload client, it's really the best of both worlds.
Of course, many readers have elected to just stick with Google Photos moving forward, believing the benefits outweigh the costs.
Reader beno51079 said:
I'm sticking with Google Photos and have already upgraded to Google One. I have way too many photos that stretch back years, and I like Google Photos. Plus, when I get my Pixel 4a 5G, I'll have unlimited storage again anyway.
Reader atypicaluser agreed:
Buying another Pixel and Google One. Google Photos is one of my favorite Google products and will only get better.
And then of course is the obvious answer (which this writer neglected to include in the poll):
your poll is missing the option of "I'm sticking with Google Photos and happy to pay for it"
- Geoff Quattromani (@GQuattromani) May 24, 2021
You still have a few days to decide what you're going to do before future uploads count against your Google account storage. Do you have a plan?