Google to stop automatically syncing your images between Photos and Drive

In the interest of simplifying, Google is reportedly removing the long-standing optional link between Photos and Google Drive.

According to Android Police, Google says that many users found the connection between the services confusing.

Since nearly the beginning of Photos, users could choose to have their backed up images appear in Drive — there was a setting in Google’s cloud storage platform to make Photos folders visible in Drive. The feature allowed users to upload pictures through Photos and also add new ones with Drive.

However, starting next month, that feature will go away. New pictures and videos added to Drive won’t automatically appear in Photos, and likewise, Photos content won’t appear in Drive. Plus, if you delete content in one app, it won’t disappear in the other.

While this will no doubt help out some users who struggled to manage both interfaces, it could also impact the workflows of Drive users. For me, I’m happy about the change — I prefer to keep my photos and documents in separate spaces.

Additionally, Android Police reports that Google will keep the ability to upload images to both services in its Backup and Sync app. If you’re uploading in ‘original quality,’ then each image will count against your storage cap once, even if uploaded to both services.

Further, pictures previously synced between both services will remain in both places.

For those who still want to move content between Photos and Drive, the former will get a feature called ‘Upload from Drive’ so you can manually import thing into Photos.

Source: Android Police