Google Photos introduces Storage saver and new tools to reclaim space as unlimited ends

We are officially just one week away from Google taking an axe to its unlimited free storage for Photos and Drive. Having announced it six months ago, it’s hard to believe it’s finally happening. We’ve become so accustomed to free and unlimited storage over the years that now that the company is doing its best to preserve space on its servers, the whole thing is coming as a shock to some. Google did state that most users will remain unaffected though and that the 15GB storage space that comes with a standard, free Google account will be more than enough for the next three to five years for most people.

Today, the company announced that it is adding a new tool to help users manage their storage quota. It will surface blurry photos, screenshots, large videos, and more that you may want to delete in order to reclaim some of your quota and make the most of your free limit. You can see an example of this below, or you can simply visit your own estimate and take a look.

It’s also changing the name of its High Quality storage tier to “Storage saver” as to keep things from being confusing. Your photos and videos will continue to be stored at the same quality as before, but by calling it something different, Google hopes to simplify things and retain user trust as they continue to weight the option of sticking with Photos versus migrating to another service entirely.

I’m personally of the mind that I still love the service, and while I can understand everyone’s frustration with the idea of it becoming paid in some respects, I also see that Google is providing an incredibly innovative and useful product. I think that most people are so used to having free stuff that they forget to give credit where credit is due and fail to realize that a few bucks per month for something like this is more than worth it.