How to turn OFF Google Photo Backup

Modified on Tue, 7 Sep, 2021 at 2:08 PM

A change in Google policies means that you're now paying for photo storage: 

"As of June 1, 2021, any new photos or videos you back up in High quality (now named Storage saver) or Express quality will count toward your Google Account storage or any additional storage you may have purchased as a Google One member."


Google has an interesting way to monetize your photos:  automatically suck every photo from your phone into its backup system. This rapidly eats up your free storage, and soon you're paying $1.99, $4.99 or even more to store many photos that your don't even want. Here's how to turn off the automatic backup on an Android:

  1. Turn back up and sync on or off
  2. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Photos app .
  3. Sign in to your Google Account.
  4. At the top right, tap your account profile photo or initial.
  5. Select Photos settings. Back up & sync. 
  6. Tap "Back up & sync" on or off.

At dotphoto, we know from experience that most people would rather keep a curated group of photos that you can select and edit. That's why we make it easy to upload from any device, and provide unlimited storage for one, low annual price that works out to just $1.67 a month. 

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