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Background about Original Quality Storage on Pixel Phones
Google introduced unlimited original Quality phones on the Pixel devices when it released the first pixel in 2016. It was an option till 2018 for Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL. Starting from Pixel 4 Series, google stopped this perk of free original quality storage on google photos. Recently on January 31, 2022 Google ended the last set of pixel devices Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL that had free original quality storage. Free unlimited storage on Pixel and Pixel 2 devices were ended in January 2020.
How can I continue saving my images in Original Quality
Google provides 15GB of Google Photos Storage to save your images and videos in original quality on all Pixel Devices. Once you fill up the 15GB limit, you can still continue saving your backup images in Google photos. But the backup would be of lower quality called as storage saver quality. It means images might be compressed and lose some go its fine details to save storage space. You need to purchase more storage just like you purchase storage from apple on iCloud. Google’s storage plan is called Google One and its has 3 plans.
- 100GB starting at $1.99/month or $19.99/year
- 200GB starting at $2.99/month or $29.99/year
- 2TB starting at $9.99/month or $99.99/year
Can I use Google Photos backup on iPhones
Yes you can use the google photos app on iPhones just like its used on Pixel or Android phones. You will get a 15GB limit of free storage space. Unlike Pixel phones, you will not be getting unlimited “storage saver quality” backups on iPhones. Since June 1, 2021 every backup file on your google photos will be counted towards 15GB limit of free storage. For iPhones a better option would be to buy iCloud Storage rather subscribing for Google One Storage.
Unlimited Storage Backup exclusively for Pixel Phones
Google provides unlimited google photos storage(with a reduced quality though) exclusively for Pixel Phones. So it’s one of the selling point for Pixel phones as most other competitors are charging for the cloud backup options.
Why Original Quality Storage is Important
Original Quality Photos preserve more details of the image and it helps a lot in editing. If you are doing any post processing these finer details are important to do corrections or add additional effects. For an average user, this will not be a big deal but for photographers and people who wants to take prints of those photos will be missing out those finer details. Storage saver quality will reduce the pixels and compress details of the image. Visibly it doesn’t make much difference when you see it on a mobile screen or a smaller screen.
Final Thoughts
As Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL’s unlimited original quality backups ended, none of the pixel phone has this feature currently. As far as the storage saver unlimited backup is available for pixel users, all Pixel owners can make use of their free unlimited Google Photos backup.
