It Is Time for Google’s Now-Annual Curtailing of Impressive but Unsustainable Services ⇥ cnet.com

Alison DeNisco Rayome, CNet:

Google Photos is ending its unlimited free storage policy for photos and videos, the company said in a Wednesday blog post. After June 1, 2021, any new photos and videos you upload will count toward the free 15GB of storage that comes with every Google Account. But don’t worry: Any photos or videos you’ve uploaded before that day won’t be part of the cap.

The move is meant to encourage people to sign up for Google’s storage subscription service, Google One. Google One plans start at $2 a month in the US for 100GB of storage and other features, like Google Store discounts.

Casey Newton:

Also seems notable that free Google photo storage helped to drive tons of startups out of this market — Everpix, Loom, Ever, Picturelife. Now that they’re gone, and Google is tired of losing money on Photos, the revenue switch flips.

Notably, photos taken with Pixel phones will remain exempt from storage limits, albeit in “high quality” mode. Around the same time last year, Google ended unlimited full-quality photo backups.