Important Google Photos storage policy changes rolling out in June

It's no secret that Google will no longer offer unlimited free photo and video backup at “high quality” come June 2021. The Mountain View company announced late last year a change to its high-quality storage policy, which will drop as early as June 1.

So, starting next month, Google will roll out the new changes so that any new photos and video users back up will count toward the free 15GB of storage that comes with every Google Account or the additional storage purchased as a Google One member.

However, there are a couple of things that Google Photos users should know before the new storage policy change comes into effect on June 1. First off, any photos or videos that you backed up in high quality before June 1, 2021, will not count toward your Google Account storage. Yes, these photos and videos will remain free and exempt from the storage limit.

Another important aspect that Google Photos users should be aware of is that Google estimates that more than 80 percent of its users should still be able to store roughly three more years of memories in high quality with the free 15GB of storage.

If your storage nears 15GB, you'll receive a notification from Google directly in the app, as well as via email. All Google Photos users should see an estimate that takes into account how frequently they back up photos, videos, and other content to their Google Account.

Furthermore, Google announced it will roll out a new tool in the Photos app that will help users manage the photos and videos they've back up that count toward their storage quota. The new storage management tool will display photos and videos that can potentially be deleted due to being blurry or too large.

Last but not least, to make it less confusing for Google Photos users, the search giant will rename its high quality storage tier to Storage saver. Until this change is deployed, all photos and videos will continue to be stored at the same high quality.