Your Google One storage quota across Gmail, Drive, and Photos may have been incorrect all year

Oops! In January, Google may have accidentally told you that you were using more storage space than you really were. The company has been reaching out to those affected via email, which admittedly was a small number of users on iOS using the Google One app, to let them know about the error. Photos, emails, and Drive files that were not supposed to count against your storage quota may have been added to it after all.

Don’t worry though – if you purchased a Google One storage upgrade plan because you were told that you were out of space, you should be receiving a refund very soon. The issue spanned from January 8, 2020, to October 20, 2020, but is now resolved. How they went almost an entire year without realizing this is beyond me, but with millions of users, I guess it’s possible? I would be interested in seeing what system they utilize internally to verify storage space, and how this snuck past them, to begin with. More importantly, I’d like to see how they intend on preventing this from occurring again.

This will not affect your Google One subscription status. No action is needed, but you can change or cancel your subscription if you no longer need additional storage. You can log into your account to view your adjusted quota usage. The affected photos and video uploads will continue to be stored in the quality they were uploaded, however, they will not count toward your storage quota.

As the company tries to shape its new identity and ween itself off of ad revenue, there are sure to be some bumps along the way. Though it’s a bit concerning that this happened, to begin with, it’s good that they’re being upfront and honest about it, publicly reporting it despite the backlash that they may receive as a result, and offering refunds to those affected.