Photos or videos you back up in Storage saver, Original quality, or Express quality will count towards your 15 GB of Google Account cloud storage or any additional storage you may have purchased as a Google One member. If you're inactive in Google Photos for 2 or more years, or if you're out of storage, your Photos content may be deleted.
Maintain your activity in Google Photos
Important: Activity is considered by account, not device. Make sure you use Google Photos in all accounts on which you wish to remain active.
The simplest way to keep your account active is to visit Google Photos on the web or through the app. Make sure you're signed in and connected to the internet. Examples of activity include:
- Signed in and online activity in Google Photos on Android, iOS, or web. For example, using the app to:
- View your backed up gallery
- Share a photo or video
- Create an album or photo book
- Back up a photo or video
You're also exempted from the deletion of your photos and videos if you have an active Google One membership with no outstanding payment or quota issues.
If you're inactive in Google Photos for 2 years or more, your content may be deleted from Google Photos. Before that happens, we will:
- Give you notice using email. We will contact you at least 3 months before content is eligible for deletion. If you're notified that your account is inactive, follow the link in the email to sign in to Google Photos to keep your account active.
- Give you the opportunity to avoid deletion (by becoming active in the product).
- Give you the opportunity to download your content from our services. Learn more about how to download your Google data.
If you stay inactive for 2 years or more:
- Your photos and videos are deleted and sent to trash.
- Backed up photos and videos deleted due to inactivity will stay in your trash for 60 days before they’re deleted forever.
- Your locked folder backed-up items are permanently deleted.
You can restore the photos of an album if they're still in your trash. Learn how to restore your photos.
Review your settings if your account has been inactive for 2 years or more. After your content is deleted because of inactivity, settings like Backup and notification preferences are unchanged. Other settings, like partner sharing and face groups settings, are reset. Learn how Face Groups works.
Back up items previously deleted because of inactivity
After your content is deleted due to inactivity, local copies of photos and videos won’t be backed up.
To re-enable Backup:
- On your iPhone or iPad:
- Uninstall, and then reinstall the app.
- Sign in to Google Photos.
- Turn on Backup.
- On your Android device: Sign out of Google Photos, then sign in again.
Learn about the inactive Google Account policy.
Manage your storage
Important:
- Each Google Account includes 15 GB of storage which is shared across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.
- If you have a Pixel 5 or earlier, you receive unlimited storage for photos and videos backed up from your device at no charge. Learn more about your storage options.
- Any photos or videos backed up in High quality or Express quality before June 1, 2021 don't count toward your Google Account storage.
- Photos and videos backed up in Original quality count toward your Google Account storage. Learn more about photo and video backup options.
- Photos backed up in Original quality and then compressed to Storage saver quality (previously named High quality) count toward your Google Account storage.
You can use the storage management tool to know how much storage space you have left, clean up storage, and get more storage.
Specifically, you can:
- Find out how much storage you have left.
- Estimate how long your storage may last based on how often you back up items to your Google Account.
- Review items that count toward your storage that you might want to delete, like blurry photos, screenshots, and large videos.
- Buy more storage with a Google One plan (where available).
An estimate of how long your storage may last may not be available if:
- You haven't consistently backed up content over the past few months.
- You're close to your storage limit and we can'tprovide an accurate timeline estimate.
- Your account is provided through work, school, family, or another group.
- You're out of storage.
If you're out of storage or over quota, you won't be able to back up additional photos and videos. If you're over quota for 2 years, your content in Google Photos may be deleted.Learn more about your storage quota. You can always free up storage space through thestorage management tool,Google One storage manager, and within Google Photos.Learn how to manage your Google storage space.
If you want more storage space for your memories, you can expand your storage through Google One (where available). In the US, plans start at $1.99 per month for 100 GB of storage.
Learn how your Google Storage works.
Get help with your Google Photos activity & storage
About G Suite/Workspace inactive accounts
If you have a Workspace account, you are exempt from the deletion of your photos and videos.
Know when your content will be deleted
If your account is subject to this policy change, we'll give you ample notice (at least 3 months) before your content may be deleted. We'll attempt to reach you via your email address and notifications. Learn more about managing email addresses for your Google Account.
Preserve content from a loved one when they pass away
We recognize that many people pass away without leaving clear instructions about how to manage their online accounts. Google can work with immediate family members and representatives (in certain circ*mstances) to provide content from a deceased user's account. Learn more about our process for requesting a deceased user's data.
To prevent deletion due to inactivity, let us know how to manage your data in the event of death or prolonged inactivity. Learn more about Inactive Account Manager.
Reset your password for an inactive account
If you can't remember your password for an account you infrequently use, verify your identity and reset your password with Google Account Recovery. For more help to sign in successfully, refer to Account recovery tips.
Related resources
- Choose the upload size of your photos and videos
- Manage your storage
- Back up photos and videos
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