Google Photos Backup

Since June 2021, any photos uploaded to Google Photos on the free tier count against your standard 15GB Google Drive storage limit. If you have the free tier, the service compresses your photos to 'Storage saver' quality to save space. To maintain original resolution, you must purchase a Google One subscription plan.

Yes, the AI automatically groups photos of the same person together using facial recognition, but this feature is restricted in certain regions like Illinois and the EU due to privacy laws. In areas where it is enabled, you can assign a name to a face group and search for them by typing their name. This makes finding old photos of family members incredibly fast.

By default, Google Photos does not delete your photos after backing them up, ensuring you have both a local and cloud copy. However, you can manually use the 'Free up space' tool, which will delete photos from your phone's local storage that have already been safely uploaded to the cloud. This tool is completely safe as long as your cloud backup is fully completed.

Yes, Google Photos automatically converts Apple Live Photos into standard still images accompanied by short, looping MP4 video files. You will see a play button on these backed-up photos indicating the motion is preserved. However, the audio is often stripped out during the conversion process.