Google Counts All Android Backups Toward 15 GB Storage, Adding About 40 MB on Average

Q: As Android backups eat into free storage, is Google signaling the end of its generous 15 GB free tier?

Not yet, but Google is clearly tightening how the free tier works and testing ways to make it less generous for some users. The Android backup change itself is modest. Google says counting SMS, call history and device settings against account storage will add about 40 MB on average. For most people, that alone will not meaningfully erode 15 GB. The bigger practical pressure on storage still comes from Google Photos, Drive files, Gmail attachments and large app backups such as WhatsApp. What makes this more significant is the broader pattern. Google already ended unlimited free Google Photos storage years ago, and it is now testing a policy in some regions where new accounts start with only 5 GB unless the user verifies a phone number to unlock the full 15 GB. Existing accounts are not being broadly cut, but that test shows Google is willing to put conditions on what used to be a straightforward free allowance. Google’s public explanation is transparency, easier device restoration and more user control, and the new backup toggles support that. But commercially, the direction also fits a steady push toward Google One, especially as more services share the same storage pool. So the 15 GB free tier is not ending today for most users. But the signal is that Google is becoming less willing to leave storage outside its quota system, and more willing to narrow free usage at the margins. For users close to the cap, this is another sign that free storage is getting tighter, not looser.

3 articles · Updated · 9to5Google · Jul 6

Starting July 7, new Android backup users will have all backup data—not just Photos uploads and MMS media—count against their Google Account storage cap.
The change newly includes SMS text, call history and device settings, which Google says should raise backup size by about 40 MB on average.
Google is pairing the policy shift with new backup controls, adding toggles for SMS and MMS, call history and device settings alongside existing per-app options.
Those settings are rolling out over the coming weeks, while the storage-counting change reaches existing Android backup accounts in the coming months.