Now that Google Photos no longer offers free unlimited storage, managing your photos is more important than ever. Whether you’re moving all your pictures to iCloud or switching to one of the many Google Photos alternatives, you’ll have to clear some storage. So if that’s what you’re wondering, here are the best ways to free up space on Google Photos.
Free up space in Google Photos (2021)
You can use the new Google Photos storage management tool or the tool offered in Google One to manage your cloud storage. We have included instructions for both and you can choose the one that suits your needs. Without further delay, let’s get started with the necessary steps to remove unwanted media from Google Photos. As usual, you can use the table of contents below to navigate to the relevant section for your needs.
Use the storage management tool in Google Photos Mobile
Whether you are using an iPhone or an Android device, you can clean up your photo library by following these simple steps.
- Open the Google Photos application and tap on your profile photo present in the upper right corner of the application.
- From the pop-up window that now appears, tap on Account Storage. You can also access account storage from Settings -> Photo Settings -> Backup & Sync -> Manage Storage .
- Now you will see some options to review and delete your photos and videos. Google Photos groups potentially unwanted media files into these categories: large photos and videos, blurry photos, screenshots, and other applications. It is worth noting that only photos and videos that are taken into account for your Google account storage will be displayed here. .
- Tap on any of the categories mentioned above that you would like to review and select the ones that you no longer want to keep. Once selected, press the trash can icon in the upper right cornerto move the files to the trash.
- Once the files are in the trash, visit the Trash section of Google Photos and hit the Delete All buttonto permanently delete these files and free up space on Google Photos.
Use the Google Photos web storage management tool
If you’re trying to clear your Google Drive account storage, you don’t really need to pick up your phone to delete your photos. You can also do it from the web application. That’s how.
- Open Google Photos on the web and switch to the Storage section of the left sidebar. You can directly access the storage quota management section from this link.
- Once you are here, you will see the options to review and delete photos, just as you would in the mobile app. Click on one of those options to review the media in that category.
- Select the images and videos that you no longer need and click the ‘Move to Trash’ button in the upper right corner to delete them.
- Google will permanently delete the files from the Trash after 60 days, but you can visit the Trash section on the left sidebar and click the ‘Empty Trash’ buttonto delete it immediately.
Use the Google One Storage Management Tool
You can also use the Google One storage management tool to free up space on Google Photos or your Google account. Follow these steps to get started:
- Open the Google One website and click on the ‘Free up account storage’ option. You can directly access the storage management tool from here.
- From the Google One Storage management tool, you can free up space on Gmail, Google Photos, and Google Drive. Click the ‘Review and Free x MB’ buttonunder ‘Large Photos and Videos’ to review files.
- Now, go through the images you no longer need and click the trash button to free up your Google Photos storage space.
- You’ll find trash files in the trash section of Google Photos. Click Empty Trashto permanently delete the files.
Delete images and videos from Google Photos
Well, this is how you can free up space on Google Photos and make room for new files. You can use the built-in tools to quickly and easily get rid of duplicate or unwanted photos or videos that are consuming your storage. Also, I would recommend that you take a look at your Gmail storage because it could be consuming a lot of your account’s storage quota. Regardless, if you need more storage, you could consider getting a Google One subscription that starts at $ 1.99 (Rs. 130 in India) per month for 100GB of storage.
