How to Free Up Space in Google Photos When Storage Is Full

Google gives every account 15 gigabytes of free storage — but that storage is shared between Google Photos, Gmail, and Google Drive. If you use Google Photos to back up your pictures and videos automatically, that 15 GB can fill up faster than you expect, especially if you have had the same Google account for several years. When your storage is full, new photos stop backing up, and you may even stop receiving emails.

To check how much storage you have left, open Google Photos on your phone, tap your profile picture in the top right corner, and tap "Manage storage." This shows you how full your storage is and offers suggestions for freeing up space. The easiest fix is to let Google "clean up" your photos by converting full-quality pictures to "Storage Saver" quality — this slightly reduces image size in a way that is almost invisible to the eye but frees up a lot of space. Google will offer this option in the storage manager.

You can also delete items you do not need: videos take up the most space, so look through any old videos you do not want to keep. Duplicate photos and blurry shots are also good candidates for deletion. Deleted photos go to a Trash folder and are permanently removed after 60 days, so you have time to change your mind. If you find you need more storage, Google offers affordable plans starting at a few dollars per month through Google One. But for most people, cleaning up old videos and switching to Storage Saver quality will free up enough space to keep going for years.