It will be about a year Google made an uncontested decision. TRUE. Google Photos, the gallery app with unlimited (compressed, yes) storage for photos and videos, has stopped offering unlimited storage. Starting June 1, 2021, anything uploaded to Google Photos, Google Photos, Gmail, Drive, etc. will occupy the space of Google One shared between

Personally, I felt like a pitcher of cold water because I uploaded 25,000 photos to the app (all family photos that had been stored on my dad’s old computer until then). Make sure you weren’t alone started looking for alternatives, because there is, there is, which is often said. There are NAS servers, there are cloud storage services, and I think there is the best alternative to Google Photos: Amazon Photos.

And now, a year later, Amazon Photos has become my new best friend.

Amazon Photos, one year later: yes

First of all, let’s stop the i’s: Amazon Photos is neither free nor as complete as Google Photos. Amazon Photos Unlimited requires a paid Amazon Prime subscription (the price has increased recently), and the app is missing key Google Photos features like shared albums. Although there is a nuance that we will see later.

On the other hand, Amazon Photos offers unlimited storage of photos at maximum resolution and quality (no compression, git) regardless of format. Come on, you can upload a JPEG, HEIC, RAW file… As long as the file is an image, Amazon Photos supports it and keeps it as it exits the camera. What it doesn’t offer is unlimited video storage, and that’s important.

With Amazon Prime, Amazon “gives” you 5GB of video storage. 5GB less, very little. When I record the raw videos to make TikTok, which we upload to the official Xataka profile, I do it in 4K at 60 FPS, and the video takes up 1GB of space, roughly a minute and a half. So imagine what it’s like to record video while on vacation. 5GB isn’t enough for a start.

I’ve thought of a few options here. The first was a NAS, but it quickly slipped my mind for different reasons. Second, to go halfway through the Amazon circle and Pay for 1TB of cloud storage alone and only for videos. 9,99 Euros per month which I gladly pay every month.

At the moment I uploaded 8,500 photos and 637 videos that took up 45.2GB, 4% of the contracted tera. Let’s remember a year later. Yes, I buy into the idea that 1TB in the cloud is today’s bread and tomorrow’s hunger, but with some quick calculations I doubt it can fill the space in the short term. When this happens, other options will appear. For now, this works for me. And yes, ten euros to 120 euros a year and 240 euros over two years is enough to get a basic NAS, but that’s an investment for another time.

Shared albums, what I miss most

On the other hand, one of the things I miss is shared albums. Creating the album in Google Photos, inviting your friends and family to the album, and having everyone have the photos on their mobiles was a dream come true. This is not possible with Amazon Photos. What is possible is to create a family file.

What is a family file? Let’s say a folder shared with up to six people (including you). People added to the archive will receive an Amazon Photos account at no additional cost, which includes: unlimited photo storage in said family archive. But the videos will take up the free 5GB we mentioned earlier.

Basically, all additions can upload the photos they want to the family archive and everyone will be able to see them. This is what I did with my daughter to collect all the important photos in one place. For videos, I AirDrops them to me and I upload them.

It’s not as versatile as a shared and collaborative album on Google Photos, but it works. On the positive side, if I make a photo album of a family trip, for example, I can send my parents the link to the album so they can do it too. Download uncompressed photos in maximum qualitywhich is much better than sending them via WhatsApp and whatever (albeit less simple).

My experience after a year

After spending a year using Amazon Photos, I have to admit that as an alternative to Google Photos, convinced me. It has automatic uploading, photos and videos are perfectly preserved (if you pay attention), the hundred search engine is accurate (not as much as the object search engine), it allows you to create albums, a family file with several people, and in short, it helps with what I need : save photos and videos without worry.

It’s not a perfect app, and it’s not quite as complete as Google Photos, whose work is very well done as it is, but it more than fulfills its mission. At the moment, Amazon Photos has become my main lifeline and the vault of my memories.

I like to know that if I shoot RAW photos, I’ll keep them there to edit whenever I want, and I can record vacation videos in 4K at 60 FPS and the app won’t process it to drop a 1GB video. It’s a 50MB clip (which, frankly, because I’m paying tera. In another context, things would be different).

Is the future uncertain? Yes. I’m skeptical as to whether Amazon will cut the faucet at some point. and it will go the way of Google. At the end of the day, it’s still “having stuff stored on someone else’s computer”. If that time comes, we’ll have to look for another alternative and of course it’s time to switch to a NAS. But while this is happening, Amazon Photos is and will continue to be my best friend.