Google has announced a pretty significant change to its Google Photos policy on The Keyword. The company has until now offered unlimited high-quality photo storage on the platform for free, but that's going to change as of June 1, 2021.

No More Free Unlimited Storage in Google Photos

Starting in June 2021, Google says that photos stored in Google Photos will be subject to the same 15GB of free storage the company offers all of its free accounts. That means files stored in Drive, emails in Gmail, and backups will be shared with your pictures.

As anyone who takes a lot of photos and videos can attest, 15GB is not a lot of space if you're shooting in high-resolution. That space will go extremely quickly for some users, forcing them to upgrade to Google One to get additional storage.

It's an understandable move from Google, though. With the current Google Photos model, the company stores an excessive quantity of photos in the cloud without generating revenue. In fact, Google says that "more than 4 trillion photos are stored in Google Photos, and every week 28 billion new photos and videos are uploaded."

The company continued by saying, "This change also allows us to keep pace with the growing demand for storage." The company also says that 80 percent of users can store around three years' worth of photos on the free 15GB plan.

If you're unsure whether this is enough space for you, Google has a handy storage calculator that'll help you determine how much space you need for pictures and videos.

Google announced that it would introduce a new tool that will help users manage their storage more efficiently. For example, it would surface dark or blurry photos that you may want to delete and highlight photos it thinks you will want to keep.

If you find that you need more storage, the cheapest Google One plan is $1.99/month in the US, and it gives you 100GB of storage.

What About Existing Photos and Videos?

If you're already an avid Google Photos user, there's some good news here. Google says that all photos uploaded in High Quality to the service before June 1, 2021, won't be subjected to the new policy.

That means you can go nuts uploading every photo and video you own between now and then. Whether you're an average user or a photo-taking machine, you'll want to get those images backed up in Google Photos, as June 2021 will be here before you know it.