Friday, July 2, 2021

Leaving Google Photos: How to Move Your Library

Updated September 2026: in July 2021 I said goodbye to Google Photos after its free storage change, having found a more affordable home for my photos elsewhere. I have rewritten it into a checklist for leaving Google Photos without losing anything.

After months of weighing it up, I decided to move away from Google Photos. Major technology companies were charging for online storage, and I had found an option that suited my family better. Leaving a photo service is easy to start and easy to get wrong, so here is the careful way.

What should you do before leaving?

Choose and set up the new service, with automatic backup switched on for every phone.
Export your library with Google Takeout, including albums.
Download the archives to a computer and check they open.
Fix dates using the data files Takeout includes, if your new service shows wrong dates.
Upload to the new service and compare counts.

What about shared albums?

Shared albums and photos others shared with you are not always included in Takeout in the way you expect. Save any you want to keep to your own library first, then export.

Should you delete your Google Photos library?

Not straight away. Keep it for a few months until you are sure everything moved. Then turn off backup in the Google Photos app, so new photos do not keep filling your Google storage.

What will you miss?

Google Photos' search, automatic memories and editing tools are hard to match. Decide whether the saving is worth that before moving everything.

Can you use Google Photos without paying?

Yes, within the free 15 GB shared with Gmail and Drive, or by keeping only selected albums there.

What is the safest overall setup?

One main cloud service plus an offline copy on an external drive.

How long does a full move take?

Longer than most people expect. A large library can take days to export, download and upload again, and a slow home connection stretches that further. Move one year of photos at a time, check each batch, and only then start the next. That way a failed upload is easy to spot and repeat.