How to Get More Storage on Google Photos and Free Up Space

If you're running low on storage space on Google Photos, don't worry, there are ways to free up some room. You can delete old photos and videos to make more space available.

Google Photos automatically backs up your photos and videos, but it also keeps a copy of every photo you've ever uploaded. This can quickly add up and eat into your storage space.

To give you an idea of just how quickly storage space can fill up, consider this: the average smartphone user takes around 1,000 photos per year, which can easily add up to 10GB of storage space or more over time.

To make the most of your Google Photos storage, it's essential to understand how the service works and what factors contribute to storage usage.

If this caught your attention, see: Add Storage Google

To free up space in Google Photos, you can start by checking your storage usage on Google's Storage page. This will show you how much space you've taken up across Drive, Gmail, and Photos. You can also sort your Google Drive files by size to see which ones are taking up the most space.

A different take: Google Photos Storage Space

You can also use Google Photos' "Free up space" tool to automatically remove local copies of photos that have a safely backed-up copy in the cloud. This can save you tens of GBs of space. The deletion process can take anywhere from three seconds to ten minutes, depending on how much is being deleted.

To manage your storage space better, disable photo backup for WhatsApp and other device folders if you don't need them. This will help you save space and avoid cluttering your Google Photos library. On Android, you can do this by going to the Google Photos app, tapping your profile photo, and choosing Photos settings.

Explore further: Recover Storage Google Photos

Google gives users 15 GB of digital storage for free, which includes everything in Gmail, Google Drive, and any uncompressed images stored in Google Photos.

You can check your storage usage on Google's Storage page, which will show you how much space you've taken up across Drive, Gmail, and Photos.

If you're running low on space, you can free up some room by reducing the upload quality in Google Photos. Set your upload quality to Storage saver, which compresses images into Google's own space-saving format.

To free up space in Google Drive, sort your files by size and look for large files or folders in your "Shared with me" folder. You can also use the Storage dashboard to monitor your usage and find files to delete.

Using the "Free up space" tool in Google Photos can automatically remove local files that have a safely backed-up copy in the cloud. This can free up tens of GBs of space on your device.

Here are some ways to disable photo backup for WhatsApp and other device folders:

By following these steps, you can free up space in Google Photos and avoid running out of storage space.

If you have a Google Pixel phone, you're in luck - you don't have to worry about photo limits.

More than 4 trillion photos are stored in Google Photos, with 28 billion new photos and videos uploaded each week.

You can continue to upload as many photos and videos as you want with no cap on your Google Pixel phone.

Adjusting your backup settings in Google Photos is a great way to get more storage space. To do this, open the Google Photos app and tap your profile picture at the top-right corner, then choose Photos settings.

In the Backup settings, make sure the toggle is set to "on" and that you're properly signed into the Google Account you want your images to backup to. This is especially important if you pay for extra storage with Google One.

You can adjust the amount of compression taking place when photos are backed up, as well as if they back up during mobile data usage. This can help you save space on your device.

To choose which folders backup automatically, scroll down to the "Back up device folders" setting. Here, you can turn off folders like screenshots, documents, downloaded images, and images received in Google Messages or other messaging apps.

If you take a lot of screenshots but don't want them taking up cloud space, turn off the "Screenshots" folder. This way, you can still access your screenshots on your device without wasting space in the cloud.

To recover deleted photos, head to Library > Trash. Note that deleted photos only have a limited time before they're no longer recoverable.

By adjusting your backup settings, you can take control of what gets backed up and free up space on your device.

If this caught your attention, see: Google Online Storage Backup

Resizing photos before uploading to Google Photos can save you a substantial amount of space. Uploading 30-40MP resolution photos will take up precious space in your Google account, but reducing the resolution to 20-25MP can make a big difference.

You can bulk resize your DSLR photos in Adobe Lightroom to save space. This is especially useful if you have a large collection of high-resolution photos.

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You can still store about three years of content with the free 15GB of storage on Google Photos, which is great news for most users, as more than 80% of current users should be able to fit that amount of content.

Google will notify you in the app and by email when you're getting close to hitting your 15GB limit, so you can take action to manage your storage.

To better manage your storage, Google has added a new tool in the Photos app that surfaces photos or videos that might be taking up unnecessary space, such as blurry photos or large videos.

Intriguing read: How to Use Google Storage

You can still store about three years of content with the free 15GB of Google Photos storage. This is great news for most users, as over 80% of current Google Photos users should be able to fit their content within this limit.

Google will notify you in the app and by email when you're getting close to hitting your 15GB limit. This way, you can take action to free up space before it's too late.

You can also find a personalized estimate in the Photos app for how long your free storage may last, based on how frequently you back up photos and videos to your Google Account. This is a helpful tool to plan ahead and avoid running out of space.

For more insights, see: Google Workspace Storage Limit

You can free up to 50% of your storage space by deleting unused apps and files. This is especially true if you have a lot of music and video files taking up space.

Consider upgrading to an external hard drive or cloud storage to expand your storage capacity. A 1TB external hard drive can store up to 250,000 photos.

Deleting duplicate files can also make a big difference, with some users reporting a storage space increase of up to 20%. Look for duplicate files in your documents and music folders.

Organizing your files into folders and subfolders can also help you make the most of your storage space. This can help you quickly find the files you need and avoid clutter.

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