If you realize how precious the storage capacity of your phone or computer is, you know that Google’s announcement – that it will soon impose data limits on its popular accounts – is great news.

In one blog post, Google Photos said, “As of June 1, 2021, brand new the photos and videos you upload will count towards the free 15 GB of storage that comes with each Google Account or to the additional storage that you purchased as a Google One member. Your Google Account storage space is shared between Drive, Gmail, and Photos. “

In this article I will tell you what Google Photos ad means for your storage needs. I will also list some cloud storage solutions that could help you save space on your devices.

Google Photos storage limit: what you need to know

First, let’s understand what Google is saying about the new storage limits: the company is ending its policy of free and unlimited downloads.

Any New photos and videos you add from June 1 will count towards your 15 GB of free storage. The good news is that all content already stored in your Drive, Gmail and Photos accounts will not be affected.

Silver expert Clark Howard says it’s a good opportunity to upload your images and videos to Google Photos if you haven’t already. “I find that very few iPhone users know or use Google Photos and pay Apple a fortune for photo storage,” he says.

Once you go over your 15 GB of free storage, you may be tempted to purchase a Google One subscription plan, which starts at 100GB of cloud storage for $ 1.99 per month.

But the Clark team doesn’t want you to pay for cloud storage if you don’t have to. Read on to see how you can save money.

4 free or cheap photo storage solutions

If you covet free cloud storage as much as I do, you may be considering your next move. Your first priority may be to save as much cloud storage space as possible.

Here are some ways to optimize your storage on your Google accounts.

1. Save lower quality photos by going to “High”

Google Photos typically saves your content in its original quality, which keeps it at maximum resolution. But a simple change can pay off.

Instead of the original quality, click on the “High quality” option to save space. High-quality photos and videos use less storage space than the original quality. Unless you’re a photographer or using your content for media-related work like movies and television, the difference to the naked eye is minimal.

To edit your images in high quality, go to Google Photos and click on Settings in the top right corner (look for the gearbox icon).

2. Delete old files that you no longer need

There is an easy way to find and remove large attachments from Gmail account.

In the Gmail search bar, type “larger attachment: 5M” to view items larger than 5 megabytes. You can reduce the number to 1 and browse for large files to delete until you free up significant space.

3. Move photos to an external hard drive

Clark says that because so many businesses increasingly see cloud storage as a profit center, storing your photos on some form of local media, whether it’s a hard drive or from a zip drive, makes perfect sense.

I recently bought this SanDisk USB stick with 254 GB for my Macbook Pro and it works fine.

“You can even use it as a primary or secondary backup for your photos,” says Clark.

4. Try another free / cheap storage service

Google’s announcement may prompt you to look for a cloud competitor to store your data.

Drop box (2 GB free) and OneDrive (5GB free) are two well-known cloud services, but there is more to choose from. Here are some of the best cloud storage services.

Final thoughts

Remember, if you have a lot of storage space on your Google Account, Clark wants you to take advantage of the 15GB of free storage before the limits go into effect.

And look for ways to save storage space on your devices. If you have the app for Google Photos (or a competitor) on your mobile phone, you can set it up to upload photos from your iPhone or Android device to the cloud.

More resources on Clark.com: