New iCloud Shared Albums Use Your Storage. What It Means for Your Photos

Apple began rolling out iOS 27 and its other version 27 software on September 14, 2026, according to Apple. Shared Albums created on it keep photos at full resolution, and every item in them, including what friends and relatives add, counts against the album owner's iCloud storage. New shared albums are no longer free overflow space, so it pays to know what iCloud, Google Photos and Amazon Photos do when storage fills, a subscription ends or an account sits unused.

Key takeaways

Under Apple's Shared Albums limits, albums created on version 27 software count toward the owner's iCloud storage; older albums do not, and keep photos at 2,048 pixels on the long edge.
Google Photos counts uploads since June 1, 2021 toward a free allowance of "up to 15 GB" shared with Gmail and Drive; content can be deleted after 2 years over quota.
Amazon Photos gives Prime members unlimited full-resolution photos plus 5 GB for video; if Prime ends, the account drops to 5 GB, and files over the limit can be deleted, newest first, after 180 days over quota.
Apple's iCloud terms let Apple close an account that has been inactive for one year, after 30 days' email notice, which is the shortest inactivity window of the three.
With Optimize iPhone Storage on, the originals of items the phone has optimized exist only in iCloud until you download them.
A 2 TB portable hard drive at roughly $60 to $120 costs 0.5 to 1 year of a $9.99-a-month 2 TB plan, but 1.7 to 3.3 years of the $2.99 200 GB plan.

What it means for you

iPhone users who share albums: new or upgraded Shared Albums use your iCloud space for everyone's contributions; older albums stay exempt until upgraded.
Google Photos users: both Storage saver and Original quality uploads use your allowance. Google is also testing a 5 GB starting allowance for some new accounts without a verified phone number.
Amazon Prime members: photos are free and unlimited only while Prime is active; videos share a 5 GB cap. See "When you stop paying or go quiet".
People switching ecosystems: Apple and Google run direct transfers both ways, but Live Photos and some metadata stay behind.
Families sharing libraries: an iCloud Shared Photo Library and a new-style Shared Album both draw on one person's storage.
People who stop paying: Apple stops uploading, Google starts a 2-year clock and Amazon a 180-day one; a local copy made first removes the pressure. Accounts left unused face separate limits: 1 year at Apple, 2 years at Google and Amazon.

How each service counts photos

Service	Free storage	What counts against it	Paid plans (US, checked Oct 14, 2026)
iCloud Photos	5 GB	All photos and videos in iCloud Photos; new-style Shared Albums count toward the owner	50 GB $0.99, 200 GB $2.99, 2 TB $9.99 a month
Google Photos	Up to 15 GB, shared with Gmail and Drive	Original quality at any date; Storage saver and Express uploads made after June 1, 2021 (some Pixel phone uploads exempt)	100 GB $1.99, 2 TB $9.99 a month
Amazon Photos	5 GB (photos and videos)	Prime members: videos only, with 5 GB included; photos unlimited	Shown in the account's storage page

Prices come from Apple's iCloud+ plans page and Google One's plans page; taxes may be added and prices change, so confirm before you buy.

iCloud: optimized phones and the new Shared Albums

With Optimize iPhone Storage turned on, Apple says the device keeps space-saving versions while full-resolution originals stay in iCloud, starting with the items you open least when space runs short. The setting saves space on the phone, not in iCloud.

Shared Albums created on version 27 of Apple's software keep originals at full resolution, limited only by the owner's available storage, and items added by up to 99 other participants count toward the owner. New temporary shared albums do not count. Albums from version 26 or earlier still use no storage but cap each album at 5,000 items and shrink photos to 2,048 pixels on the long edge.

Upgrading an older album is optional. According to Apple's upgrade instructions, existing items in an upgraded album still do not count toward storage; only new items do. Apple keeps a copy of each pre-upgrade album in Shared Albums settings for six months, then deletes it permanently.

Google Photos: quality settings and the 15 GB promise

Google's backup-quality page lists Original quality (unchanged files), Storage saver (photos above 16 megapixels resized to 16 MP, video above 1080p cut to 1080p) and, in some regions, Express (3 MP and 480p). All three count toward storage. With Storage saver, the cloud copy is smaller than the original, and Google's "Free up space" feature deletes device copies of backed-up items, so using both can leave only the compressed version.

Google's storage help page now says an account comes with "up to 15 GB." In May 2026 Google told reporters it was "testing a new storage policy for new accounts created in select regions," in which accounts that skip phone verification start with 5 GB, PCWorld reported. Existing accounts did not appear affected, Google has not named the regions, and reports say adding a number later restores 15 GB, though Google has not announced that.

Amazon Photos: unlimited, with conditions

Amazon's help page lists 5 GB free for all customers and unlimited full-resolution photo storage plus 5 GB of video storage for Prime members. The unlimited part covers photos only, so a library heavy on phone video can still hit the cap.

When you stop paying or go quiet

Google and Amazon publish over-quota deletion clocks; Apple's terms set the shortest window for unused accounts.

Situation	iCloud	Google	Amazon Photos
Storage full or plan downgraded	New photos stop uploading; deleted items skip Recently Deleted and are removed at once	No new backups; Gmail sending and receiving can be affected	Can view and download; uploads and Auto-Save stop
Deletion clock	None stated on Apple's downgrade page	Content eligible for deletion after 2 years over quota, with at least 3 months' notice	Newest uploads deleted first after 180 days over quota, with notice
Unused account	Apple may close an account inactive for 1 year, after 30 days' email notice	Personal account may be deleted after 2 years without use	Email at 18 months; all files deleted after 2 years

Sources: Apple's storage page and downgrade page, which says a lower plan starts after the current billing period and advises downloading what will not fit first; Apple's iCloud terms (revised September 14, 2026) for the one-year rule; Google's storage policy and inactive-account policy, which treats an account used to buy a current subscription as active and does not apply to work or school accounts; and Amazon's file retention policy for the 180-day and 2-year clocks.

For Prime members, Amazon's storage page says that after you cancel Prime you keep 5 GB, and an account holding more becomes over quota. Amazon's pages differ on whether an over-quota account can still share, so download first rather than rely on sharing links. Its terms of use allow deleting or restricting files once you no longer qualify for a benefit such as Prime.

Moving a library between services

Apple and Google run direct transfers in both directions. Both copy rather than move, so the source library stays intact, and both need Advanced Data Protection for iCloud turned off.

iCloud to Google Photos: requested on Apple's Data and Privacy site. Apple says it needs two-factor authentication and enough Google storage, and usually takes three to seven days, sometimes up to 30. Only the most recent edit of each photo is sent; shared albums, smart albums, Live Photos and some metadata are left behind.
Google Photos to iCloud: started from Google Takeout by choosing iCloud Photos as the destination. Apple's page says it needs iCloud Photos and iCloud Drive turned on and enough iCloud storage, is not available to child accounts or Managed Apple Accounts, and can take several hours to a few days. Common formats land in iCloud Photos, RAW and other unsupported files go to iCloud Drive, and Motion Photos, Live Photos and Memories do not transfer. File names, descriptions and locations come along.
Google Photos to your own disk: Google Takeout exports a library in archives of up to 50 GB each and can schedule a repeat export every 2 months for a year. To export only new and updated photos, Google Photos must be the only product selected; scheduled exports are not offered to Advanced Protection Program users.

Location, faces and sharing

Location data in shared photos

Phones usually store GPS coordinates inside each photo. On an iPhone, Apple's personal safety guide shows how to share without it: tap the Share button, then Options, and turn off Location. You can also remove a location from a photo (Adjust Info, Adjust Location, No Location) or stop the Camera from recording it (Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera > Never).

In Google Photos, locations are private by default: new shared albums, links and conversations leave them out unless you switch them on, but partner sharing includes them. The limit is in Google's location help: a location added by the camera cannot be edited or removed in Google Photos, and a downloaded or emailed copy carries the original location your device saved.

Face grouping and biometric settings

Google Photos face groups can be turned off in settings, which deletes the groups, the face models behind them and your labels. Otherwise the models are kept until you delete them or the Photos account is inactive for more than two years, and Google notes they may be considered biometric data in some jurisdictions. Google says the feature is not available in all regions. In October 2025 Google said asking Photos to edit images was unavailable in Texas and Illinois, and 9to5Google tied that to face grouping, which has faced biometric privacy lawsuits in both states.

Under Amazon's terms, the "Tag Specific People" feature stores records of faces while it is on and can be switched off in account settings. Apple's Photos privacy notice says face recognition runs on the device and that Apple does not access your photos or videos.

What a local copy costs

A drive at home does not replace the cloud, since a fire or theft can take the computer and the drive together, but it removes the deadlines in the table above. The comparison:

Years of cloud fees one drive costs = drive price ÷ (monthly plan price × 12)
Drive price ≈ capacity in TB × price per TB

Use the smallest plan that fits your library. PCWorld's October 2026 buying guide prices its portable hard drive pick, the WD My Passport, sold in sizes up to 6 TB, at a little under $30 per TB, and puts SSDs at $60 to $80 per TB for comparison. It also warns that a NAND flash shortage has pushed SSD prices up sharply and that many listed prices are already out of date. Smaller drives often cost more per terabyte, so check the price of the size you need.

Illustrative example: a household has a 600 GB photo library. It does not fit iCloud's 200 GB plan, so it needs the 2 TB plan at $9.99 a month, or $119.88 a year and $599.40 over five years. A 2 TB portable hard drive would cost about $60 at $30 per TB, or $120 at twice that rate. That equals 0.5 years ($60 ÷ $119.88) to 1.0 year ($120 ÷ $119.88) of the cloud fee, or 10% to 20% of the five-year total. For a 150 GB library on the $2.99 plan ($35.88 a year, $179.40 over five years), the same drive equals 1.7 to 3.3 years of fees, or 33% to 67% of the five-year total. For a large library the drive is a small extra cost; for a small one, its value lies in removing the deletion deadlines rather than in saving money.

For copying originals to the drive, Apple's download page lists "Download Originals to this Mac" in Photos settings, Export Unmodified Originals to a drive from an iPhone, and iCloud.com downloads of up to 1,000 items at a time. Google Photos libraries come out through Takeout, and Amazon allows downloads even when an account is over quota.

Frequently asked questions

Do photos I backed up in High quality years ago count toward my 15 GB?

No, if they were uploaded before June 1, 2021. Google's storage page says items backed up in Express or Storage saver (formerly High quality) before that date do not count, while Original quality items count whatever their date. Uploads from some Pixel phones in certain qualities are also exempt.

Can I use Amazon Photos for a photography business?

No. Amazon's terms limit the service to personal, non-commercial use and specifically exclude operating a photography business or reselling the service.

Does Apple look at my photos in iCloud to recognize faces or places?

Apple says face recognition runs on the device and that it does not access your photos or videos. A separate feature, Enhanced Visual Search, matches places in your photos against an index on Apple's servers, using encryption that Apple says keeps it from learning what the photos contain. It can be turned off in Settings > Apps > Photos on iPhone, or in Photos > Settings > General on a Mac.

Do family members in an iCloud Shared Photo Library use their own storage?

No. Apple says the person who set up the Shared Library provides iCloud storage for all of its content and can share it with up to five other people. If that person runs out of space, no one can add content, and edits stop syncing. A participant who leaves can keep a copy of everything or only what they contributed.

How long do Google Takeout download links work?

Google's Takeout help says archives expire after about 7 days and each one can be downloaded up to 5 times; after that, you request a new export. Expiry does not affect the photos in your account.

Your photo library checklist

Check each service's storage page: how much is photos, how much is video, and which plan you are on.
Before tapping Upgrade Shared Album on an iPhone, budget for new items using your iCloud storage.
In Google Photos, confirm the backup quality and skip "Free up space" for photos backed up only in Storage saver.
On Amazon Photos, download what exceeds 5 GB before a Prime membership lapses.
Copy full-resolution originals to an external drive, and repeat on a schedule, such as every quarter.
Turn off location in the iPhone share options before sending photos; Google Photos downloads keep camera-recorded locations.
Sign in to any account you rarely use every few months, and never let an iCloud account go a full year unused; Google's and Amazon's inactivity limits are 2 years.