Google Photos allows you to download high quality photos without counting them against your total data storage. If you plan to download high resolution images, this will count against the 15 GB of free storage space, or if you have upgraded to Google One, against the 100 GB or more plan you purchase. Going back to the topic, if you've given in to the temptation to upload high resolution images to Google Photos and then run out of space, the Photos app won't allow you to download photos from your phone. However, Google offers an option for recover storage from Google Photos if you switch to High quality only. We will show you how you can do this.
How to recover storage from Google Photos
- Go to photos.google.comand click on the hamburger menu after logging in with the account.
- Click Settings and go to High quality.
- As soon as you do that, you'll see a prompt "Recover XYZ.abc Go from storage by also compressing existing items (this cannot be undone). "
- Check the box and click the Confirm button.
- Google Photos will begin to reduce the photo size of the downloaded images to match High Quality.
- You should see a message, "High quality photo and video compression. "
Depending on the size of the images and videos downloaded in original quality, this may take time. You can close the windows and come back later to check the amount of storage recovered. You can note the amount of remaining storage space, which is available with the Original radio button option.
Note: You can only restore storage once a day.
Once finished, I suggest you change the backup option of your mobile to High quality. Changes on the web or on any mobile device do not change them on all devices.
- Open the Google Photo app on your Android smartphone
- Tap the hamburger menu at the top.
- Go to Settings> Backup & sync> Backup mode.
- Choose high quality
j & #39; uses Google One Plan, and I accidentally turned on Original again, then I ran out of space. I wasn't ready to pay to upgrade the storage, so this option turned out to be very handy. Congratulations to Google for offering this option, which would otherwise force people to pay for or quit the Google Photos app.
There is another option on the phone for Google Photos called Express backup mode. It compresses photos in 3MP and videos in SD quality. Never use it – as most mobile cameras take excellent quality photos and compressing them to 3 Mp will be a bad idea.