Google Photos question

searchlight123

My wife recently got a new Motorola phone to replace her ageing iPhone 6. The iphone 6 stored her taken pics on the phone (all 6,000 of them), The new Moto G31 phone doesn't have a phone stored gallery as such as any pics taken can be viewed on the Google Photos app. My question is, do these photos count towards her Google Photos free limit or are they just viewed thru the app but stored somewhere else on the phone and not sent up to the cloud?

Many thanks.

flaneurs_lobster

If you are using the Google Photos app then you are viewing photos that are in the Google cloud and contributing towards the (free) 15GB limit. Unless they have been cleared manually then they will still be on the phone, viewable via the camera app or using the Google Files app. 

Jenni_D

As above.

You can also configure a setting in the Photos app which determines the quality of the image that is copied to the cloud.

Click on the account image (top-right)
Click on Settings
Click on Back up and sync
Check the setting for Upload size ... mine is set to Storage saver (slightly reduced quality) ... I think this setting means that photos don't count towards the account storage limit

flaneurs_lobster

'Fraid not Jenni, everything backed up to Google Drive now counts towards Google Account storage limit (unless you've got a Pixel 5 or earlier).

https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6220791?hl=en-GB&co=GENIE.Platform=Android#zippy=,storage-saver-previously-named-high-quality,original-quality,express

Jenni_D

Does that still apply for legacy (long term) Google accounts? The reason I ask is that if I look at the details for the Original size it says free storage up to 17GB (in my case, rather than 15GB), whereas for Storage saver it makes no reference whatsoever to storage limits.

I do note the following in your link:

Important: Any photos or videos that you’ve backed up in High quality before 1 June 2021 won't count toward your Google Account storage.

And I did at one time have a Nexus 4.  

flaneurs_lobster

Think so, I've had this here Google account since (at least) 2005 and I can't see those exceptions. Could you have preserved rights from a previous Google purchase? Might also be that I pay for extra storage which might negate the extra "free" storage.

Jenni_D

flaneurs_lobster said:

Could you have preserved rights from a previous Google purchase?

Maybe - I did once buy a Nexus 4 phone. 🤷‍♀️

flaneurs_lobster

An aside, Amazon Prime members have unlimited photo storage at original quality. I've got the app running alongside Google Photos on my phone and they seem to play nice w/ each other.