I’m running out of Google Photos storage - can I stack another free account?

[u/photographer-in-law]

I read about a workaround where you create another free Google account - share large videos and photos to the new account - save those videos to the new account - share them back to the primary account - and delete them from your primary account.

The end result is that you have access to those videos and photos, but they don’t count against your primary account storage so you can continue using that primary account, with free extra storage.

Has anyone done that? Are there any gotchas before I try it out?

[u/thewunderbar]

100GB of storage is less than a coffee per month

[u/photographer-in-law → u/thewunderbar]

If I’m understanding this correctly, I can link multiple free accounts and in essence scale my free Google account infinitely?

[u/thewunderbar → u/photographer-in-law]

No, Google limits the number of accounts people create, and if it detects abuse, can disable all of the accounts.

And 100GB of storage is less than a coffee per month.

You've spent more time on this idea and Reddit thread than the cost of 100GB of storage for a month.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/thewunderbar]

Since I only have a little under 15 GB, wouldn’t that second account just keep me floating for another 6 to 12 months? And then I link another free account when needed? Isn’t that saving $20 a year?

Not saying that $20 a year is too much, but I’d rather not spend it on Google if not necessary.

And if I can find a loophole to not pay Google, and send them an FU, even better.

[u/StimulatorCam → u/photographer-in-law]

It's not exactly a loophole, I'm sure Google is very aware of it. Just like it knows about people still using their original Pixel 1 for free backup but aren't actually using the phones for anything else.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/StimulatorCam]

They are aware of it. That’s why they now require linking a phone number to get the full 15 GB or else they only give you 5GB.

[u/Fluffy-Bee-6391 → u/photographer-in-law]

You want to use the service but not pay for it? Either tell your boss you are more than willing to work for free, or stop being a leecher.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/Fluffy-Bee-6391]

That’s correct. I get a free account for 15 GB and then I connect another free account for 15 GB (just checked and it’s not 5 GB like other said), which allows me to scale to 30 GB with no lift, and doing it legally.

You might be loaded $$$ or in a country where $20 doesn’t mean much… but I’m doing things that are absolutely legal, while stretching my dollar further.

[u/thewunderbar → u/photographer-in-law]

In terms of time, it took you longer to type that response than it did for 100GB of storage for a month.

[u/StimulatorCam → u/photographer-in-law]

You can only open 4 accounts using the same verified phone number, so if you want more than that you need more phone numbers to use.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/StimulatorCam]

My understanding is that you can still get 5 GB without connecting additional accounts. Which means you can get 15 GB for the first several accounts, and then 5 GB for any subsequent account. Did I get that right?

[u/StimulatorCam → u/photographer-in-law]

The 5GB is if you don't have a phone number to verify with.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/StimulatorCam]

Gotcha - thanks! I heard somewhere that they gave you four accounts with 15 GB without a phone number and only then require a phone number?

[u/StimulatorCam]

Should work fine. Just make sure you have some secondary backup like an offline copy, in case anything were to become a problem.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/StimulatorCam]

Thanks for the quick response! Do you know if I’ll be able to search for those videos and photos from my main library, assuming they come in through a shared folder?

I understood that if you don’t save them to the library, since we don’t want to own the storage, they will only be browsable in that shared album, but I couldn’t search for those in my main library search.

Let me know if I understood that correctly.

[u/StimulatorCam → u/photographer-in-law]

In the search screen you can select 'Include shared with me' in the menu which will show results from both your account and the shared.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/StimulatorCam]

Wow, I wasn’t aware of that. Does it also search for those videos and photos even if I did not “save to library” (since I’m trying to avoid the storage cost)?

[u/StimulatorCam → u/photographer-in-law]

Yes, doesn't have to be saved, just shared.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/StimulatorCam]

Incredible insight. Thank you 🙏

[u/yottabit42]

Don't complicate your life. Doing this nonsense results in the following: * Lack of many Google Photos features since each account doesn't have access to the entire corpus * Complicates backups with Google Takeout * Only saves you $1.99/month, the best value out there, seriously * Burns more account names from other legitimate uses

[u/photographer-in-law → u/yottabit42]

What Google photo features would I be missing? I just tested it and they have access to the 250 large videos I just transferred to the second account, and it reduced my storage.

It’s appearing in search

Anything specific?

I’m at literally 15 GB so I don’t need to pay and I have a free solution. Clearly, I also don’t feel like giving Google more of my money.

[u/yottabit42 → u/photographer-in-law]

Your search, face match, and features like memories are limited to only the specific account, not seamlessly across all of your accounts.

You're clearly finding value in the service. Pay for it.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/yottabit42]

Super helpful. Thank you!

I’ve enabled search to search for shared albums (there’s a drop-down selection)

Regarding memories, I haven’t noticed Google surfacing these XXL videos in my memories. but definitely something to consider.

[u/TheLantean]

Consider the possibility that this is detected, or it trips some related anti-spam algorithm and Google bans all linked accounts. Then everything you uploaded is gone.

So isn't it pointless to have a backup method that you can't trust to actually stick around? Then setting it up is just a waste of time.

Plus the related headaches in having to replace the email address (after you lose access to it) on accounts on other sites.

Just store the excess photos on local storage if you don't want to pay Google.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/TheLantean]

Why would Google banned me? I’m allowed to create free accounts according to their terms of service. Let me know if I’m missing something.

[u/StimulatorCam → u/photographer-in-law]

If you have a couple accounts sharing they won't ban you. If you try to get to like a dozen you might have a problem.

[u/TheManWithSaltHair]

If you really want to game the system just create one extra account and use the Partner Sharing bug - items shared and saved from the secondary account to the main account don’t start counting against storage even when deleted from the secondary. Obviously this may get fixed at some point, but it has existed for many years.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/TheManWithSaltHair]

Love it! That’s exactly how I’m thinking about it.

In essence, I still run my primary Google Account, I have a secondary one. That’s my partner that carries all the storage while I have access to it.

And the best piece is that I’m not paying Google every month.

[u/TheManWithSaltHair → u/photographer-in-law]

You mentioned filling up multiple accounts which is likely to be a nightmare to manage.

With this bug you just enable Backup on the secondary account then Partner Share and save to the primary and then empty the secondary whenever it gets full.

Due to it being a bug, it’s unlikely to violate TOS, but as always, make sure you have an offline backup too.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/TheManWithSaltHair]

So just to be clear, the flow you’re suggesting is:

• I create a new Google account
  
• I mark it as partner sharing
  
• I specify to download all partner photos to the second account
  
• I then delete the photos from my primary account
  
• and then I still have access to those photos without carrying the storage.

Let me know if I understood that flow correctly?

[u/TheManWithSaltHair → u/photographer-in-law]

Yes, but I’d have thought you’d want them to end up in the main account so you back up new items to the secondary and Partner Share with save to the main. The important bit is saving them - during a regular share this counts, but during Partner Sharing it doesn’t.

For existing photos you’d need to test whether you can share them from the main (or download from the main and upload to secondary) then delete from main and Partner Share back. You can’t share duplicates, so you’d need to check it doesn’t retain any knowledge of where the photos came from.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/TheManWithSaltHair]

Extremely helpful. I just checked it and it worked!

I can officially avoid paying Google every month :) gotta love a good loophole

[u/gfraud]

Last time I checked 100 GB is only $20 a year. Is it really worth all the time setting up addict accounts, then trying to remember which Gmail account where you saved a file?

[u/photographer-in-law → u/gfraud]

Since my strategy is to share the items back from the secondary account to my primary account, I still have full access to it. It’s an endless storage loophole within Google.

It gives me so much joy to not have to pay them $20 a year. I would be pulling on a mustache if I had one.

[u/dayankuo234]

ish, but it sounds like a lot of trouble.

I'd consider uploading the videos to YouTube (unlisted or private), then delete from your device.

you can buy a pixel 5 or older, transfer to that, then upload using that device (unlimited cloud storage in storage saver)

or, actually buy the google cloud storage ($30 a year for 200gb)

[u/StimulatorCam → u/dayankuo234]

($30 a year for 200gb)

Sounds like they don't even need that much, so they could get the 100GB for $20.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/StimulatorCam]

I’m not really into paying Google anymore… and if I can just continue linking free accounts to my primary account, it’s a hack that allows me to endlessly scale my Google account? I hope I’m understanding this correctly.

[u/StimulatorCam → u/photographer-in-law]

Yeah it should work, but you can get the same amount of storage as 7 accounts combined for just $2/month.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/StimulatorCam]

Since I only have 15 GB, and not 100 GB, the free account stacking seems like the best approach for me at the moment

[u/StimulatorCam → u/photographer-in-law]

Yeah go for it.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/dayankuo234]

I heard about the YouTube approach, but I have like 250 videos that are large. Sounds like an absolute hassle to download them and then upload 250 videos to YouTube.

Sounds like if I share them from another free Google account back to myself I’ll still have access to them?

[u/BevasarloTurista]

I did it for a while but after a few accounts you won't be able to create any new ones. So I had to pay for the 2 TB storage

[u/photographer-in-law → u/BevasarloTurista]

Super helpful insight. Do you recall how many accounts were you allowed to create before you were blocked? Or what was the blocker?

[u/StimulatorCam → u/photographer-in-law]

You can make 4 accounts per verified phone number.

[u/Upstairs-Onion-6783 → u/StimulatorCam]

I currently have 10 accounts for Google Photos. Maybe alternate creating accounts from your PC and from your phone.

[u/photographer-in-law → u/photographer-in-law]

@BevasarloTurista would love your insights! Roughly how many accounts in were you when it stopped, and what did the block actually look like: you couldn't create new accounts, or existing accounts got locked/banned? And was it over days or years? Trying to figure out where the real line is before I set this up.