Google photos: How to ensure original quality. How to delete from phone
October 25, 2018 10:27 AM   Subscribe

I have Google Photos on my phone. 1. Even though I keep setting it to original quality, find that from time to time it's gone back to "high quality." I set it back to original. Does it then go back and re-back up everything at original quality that was previously full quality.? How can make sure everything is backed up at original quality. 2. My phone is getting pretty full. But it looks like if I delete pictures off my phone they will delete from the Google Photos backup, too. How do I delete things from my phone without deleting them from the backup (After making sure the backup is full quality). I have enough room in my google account for full quality.
posted by If only I had a penguin... to Computers & Internet (6 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
What phone do you have?
posted by bbqturtle at 10:28 AM on October 25, 2018


Response by poster: Samsung S7 edge.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:35 AM on October 25, 2018


Google photos high quality is up to 16 megapixels so higher than your phone which appears to be 12mp. Phone sensors are small and I asumme you're shooting in jpg so I don't think any additional compression by Google photos will be noticeable.
Therefore I think you should stick with the high quality setting and delete off your phone as required. The Google photos app has a free up space menu option which deletes photos it has already backed up so you won't lose anything.

I personally also copy photos onto a computer every 6 months or so as I don't trust Google enough long term to have the only copy of images.
posted by JonB at 10:46 AM on October 25, 2018


Response by poster: I tend to edit photos in lightroom or photoshop after, so I think I do want full quality without any additional compression. So if the phone is 12MP does that mean that when I choose high-quality it actually is backing up the original photo?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:56 AM on October 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


when you say you have enough space, does Google Drive say that also? Because original size images count against your Google Drive quota, and i'm wondering if a quota issue might be causing google to resort to high quality vs original.
posted by zippy at 12:23 PM on October 25, 2018


Response by poster: Yes, I pay for extra space, so I have enough space.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:23 PM on October 25, 2018


« Older How do I do this thing in Excel?   |   Can I drink out of this mug? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.