Google could soon revoke its free 15GB of cloud storage ...unless you're willing to share your phone number.
The Californian company has offered 15GB to everyone who signs up for one of its Google Accounts since May 2013, when it combined the 10GB allowance available for Gmail with the 5GB shared across Google Drive and Google Photos. This cloud storage could be used flexibly across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.
For comparison, Microsoft only offers 5GB of storage for files and photos in OneDrive, its answer to Google Drive. However, this is separate from the 15GB available to store emails and attachments in an Outlook.com inbox. Apple offers 5GB as standard with its iCloud accounts, which is shared across your photo library, email, and more.
Google now states that its users benefit from "up to 15GB" of storage at no cost, while paid plans start from £1.59 for an extra 100GB
|GOOGLE | GB NEWS
While individual emails only use a small amount of storage — you could easily store between 100,000–200,000 text-based emails for that total allowance.
However, if you're sending large attachments, like videos or PDFs, that 15GB will quickly evaporate.
More storage-intensive tasks, like storing photographs and videos via Google Photos or backing up your apps and data from an Android phone or tablet to Google Drive, will put that 15GB under even greater strain.
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Reduce that allowance to 5GB, and you'll need to reduce your inbox below 5,000–10,000 emails. And that's before you start thinking about Google Photos, Google Drive, and other cloud services.
Worried about losing access to gigabytes of storage? Don't panic.
If you already have a Google Account, you won't be impacted by the latest shake-up. Google has confirmed it's only testing the reduced storage allowance for new users who have registered for a Google Account for the first time.
Even if you register for a Google Account today, there's a chance you might not be impacted. A spokesperson for Google confirmed to Android Authority that it was testing the smaller storage allocation in some regions. Of course, if the tests prove successful, we're likely to see Google roll out these changes worldwide for all new account-holders.
The spokesperson said: "We’re testing a new storage policy for new accounts created in select regions that will help us continue to provide a high-quality storage service to our users, while encouraging users to improve their account security and data recovery."
Google has refreshed the wording on its Support Page, stating that "each Google Account includes up to 15GB of storage". But the inclusion of "up to" is a relatively new addition, with versions of the same webpage from earlier this year not using that phrase and guaranteeing 15GB for everyone.