iPhone users have long been plagued with space shortage. Fifty-fifty later clearing out unused apps and old text conversations, y'all frequently discover yourself forced to beginning paying for iCloud. At present, thanks to Google Photos, you won't take to anymore.

I know what you're thinking, why practice I need another app for my photos?

Boasting a suite of unique features, Google Photos for iPhone has one that's arguably improve than every other app's offerings: unlimited cloud storage for all your pictures and videos, for free.

Offset using Google Photos on your iPhone

Let's spring into how to use Google Photos, and cover things like how to handle duplicates and how secure information technology actually is to take your memories floating around in the cloud.

Preventing duplicates in Google Photos

Before you start uploading with reckless abandon, you want to brand sure your photo library is not 50% useless. You don't desire to ataxia upward your new photo storage with multiple copies of the same shot, fifty-fifty if that storage is unlimited and gratis.

Google Photos does check for duplicates when y'all upload photos. The downside is that it only checks for exact copies of the same motion-picture show, while photos that are similar to one another get undetected. So you might still finish up with those five identical photos from your vacation, where you could catch your eyes open in only ane of the shots.

Here'due south what you can do to prevent duplicates in Google Photos:

  1. Download Gemini Photos on your iPhone. This app finds similar photos along with screenshots, blurred pics, and other clutter yous don't demand.
  2. Launch the app and grant it access to your Photos library
  3. Gemini Photos will group its findings into Similar, Clutter, and Other
  4. Sift through each of those categories. Keep the pictures you like and go rid of the ones you don't.

Once y'all've gone through all those photos, your library should be not bad and prepare to go to Google Photos. It'south of import to run this cleanup earlier uploading your library, because there'due south no easy way to delete duplicates in Google Photos once they become at that place.

How to upload photos to Google Photos from iPhone

After you download and install the app on your iPhone, you'll be prompted to do the following:

  1. Sign in with your Google Account. If you've used any other Google products, such equally Gmail, you tin can utilize those aforementioned credentials to log in. But make sure you use the account you want your photo library continued to.
  2. Turn on Support & Sync. This uploads your entire photograph library equally well equally automatically uploads new pictures every bit you take them.
  3. Set up the quality. The caveat to Google'south "unlimited" storage is that you can only upload compressed, high-quality photos. If you upload pictures to Google at original quality, information technology will count towards your Google Drive storage limit.
  4. Tell it when to support. You can give Google Photos permission to upload photos over a cellular connectedness using your data plan, or tell information technology to look until you're connected to Wi-Fi again.
Screenshots: How to set up Google Photos on iPhone

If you have an all-encompassing photo library, there are a couple of things yous might want to look out for when y'all support for the first time.

  • Turn off uploading over cellular for this start upload, and so you don't eat through your data programme. You can always plow it dorsum on later on.
  • This initial fill-in could take some time. Depending on the size of your photograph library, yous may demand to expect patiently.

After your first Google Photos sync is over, you'll want to confirm all your photos and videos are truly uploaded. A peachy way to exercise that is to check photos.google.com on another device.

Pics uploaded. Now, how do I apply Google Photos?

Now that you've got your library online, information technology'due south time to check out the residual of Google Photos. When y'all open up it up, you'll come across four tabs at the bottom of the screen:

  • Photos
  • Albums
  • Assistant
  • Sharing

The get-go 2 tabs will look similar to what you're used to in the native Photos app on iPhone. Simply the latter two are where Google Photos separates itself from the pack.

In Assistant is where you'll detect curated videos and animations the app has made from your photos. And in Sharing you'll find your shared albums, suggested photos to share, and more than things nosotros'll go over later on.

Screenshots: Albums and Assistant tabs in Google Photos on iPhone

How to free upwards iPhone space using Google Photos

Now your photos are both in Google Photos and on your iPhone. If your initial goal was more iPhone storage, one last stride is left: deleting pics from your device. Google Photos made it very easy to clear space on your iPhone:

  1. In Google Photos, tap on the card icon in the acme left corner
  2. Tap Gratis Up Space
  3. When prompted with a confirmation message, tap Delete

That's it! You'll want to repeat this process from time to time as you accept new photos and videos.

Note: For those new pictures and videos, you might desire to have an extra step and turn off iCloud Photograph Library, and then you're non uploading everything to both iCloud and Google.

Sharing in Google Photos

If using Google Photos up until this point has seemed easy, wait until you start using the Sharing features—it gets even easier!

Is Google Photos safe and private?

First things first, let's talk virtually privacy on Google Photos. Is it individual? Yes. By default, everything you upload tin only exist seen by yous. For whatever of your photos' permissions to be changed, yous need to log in and adjust them yourself.

That being said, information technology's ever best to exercise circumspection and common sense when uploading and using any cloud-based service, and Google Photos is not exception.

How to share photos and albums in Google Photos

As mentioned earlier, sharing with Google Photos could not be easier.

To share a photo:

  1. Open Google Photos
  2. Select the photograph or video you want to share
  3. Tap the Share button
  4. Type in a contact's name, phone number or e-mail

To share an album:

  1. Open Google Photos
  2. Tap Albums
  3. Select the album you want to share
  4. Tap the Share button
  5. Type in a contact's proper name, phone number or e-mail

Google does offer the option to share your unabridged library with someone. Still, at that place's a limitation: yous can just share information technology with 1 person. This is how y'all do it:

  1. Open up Google Photos
  2. Tap Sharing > … >  Set upward shared libraries > Get Started
  3. Enter an electronic mail address. Yous tin can but invite someone with a Google business relationship.
  4. Choose what you want to share:
    • All photos
    • Photos of specific people (lets you share photos that only feature that i person)
    • Only show photos since this day
  5. Tap Next
  6. Make certain everything looks expert and then tap Send Invitation

How to stop sharing a Google Photos album

You may decide for whatever reason that you lot no longer want to share a specific album. To stop sharing a Google Photos album:

  1. Find the anthology, either nether Albums or under Sharing
  2. Tap the ellipses in the top correct-hand corner
  3. Tap Options and then turn off Share Anthology

When you cease sharing an album, it removes all photos and videos other people take added to it, removes all comments, and, manifestly, makes the album private.

How to delete Google Photos

Perchance later all was said and done, y'all didn't like Google Photos, it just wasn't for y'all. That'south okay. But earlier y'all but delete the app and move on with your life, you might want to make sure y'all as well delete everything you lot've already uploaded to Google Photos.

In that location are iii steps to accept before you lot bid Google Photos adieu:

Stride ane. Unsync your photos from Google Photos

Stride ii. Delete the Google Photos app

Stride iii. Delete all Google Photos content

How to unsync your photos from Google Photos

To unsync the native Photos app on your iPhone from Google Photos:

  1. Open Google Photos on your iPhone
  2. In the peak left corner, tap the carte du jour icon
  3. Select Settings > Back up & Sync
  4. Switch off Back upwards & Sync

When you unsync your photos from Google Photos, you lot're merely removing them from the app on your iPhone. The pictures and videos y'all previously synced still live in the cloud. If you desire to leave them in that location, just in case one day you take a change of heart and return to Google Photos, and then all that's left for you to is delete the app from your iPhone.

If you'd rather remove all traces of your content from the Google Photos system, read on to larn how to delete the rest of your photos.

How to delete all Google Photos content

This part may be quicker to exercise from a figurer browser, but information technology can all the same be done from your iPhone browser:

  1. Open up a browser (Safari, Chrome, etc.)
  2. Go to photos.google.com
  3. Select all the content you don't want to keep in Google Photos
  4. Click the trash can in the top right-hand corner of the screen
  5. Click the bill of fare icon in the top left-hand corner
  6. Go to Trash
  7. Click Empty Trash

Notation:Google does accept a limit of 500 photos you can delete at one fourth dimension. Then yous will more than than likely have to delete photos from Google Photos in batches.

Can I delete my Google Photos account?

The short answer: no. There is no way to delete or turn off only the Photos functionality in your Google account. If y'all no longer wish to use Google Photos, your best option is to follow the steps above and delete all content from Google Photos. But leave information technology empty and pretend it never existed.

Now that you've got a handle on using Google Photos, go do it! Play around with the app and check out all the clever features it has to offer. Nosotros've only barely scratched the surface here with what Google Photos is capable of doing. And the all-time part of it is, you don't have to commit to anything to try it out. If you don't like it, you know how to remove all your photos and delete the app. But then again, maybe you'll really beloved it and utilise it equally a free fashion to back up your photo collection.