Google Photos adds undo device backup feature for Android

Google Photos backups can quickly eat up your Google account's storage space. While it's great for saving memories, you can run into problems when you run out of space. This update to Photos now lets you free up that space for more important files without deleting photos from your phone.

• Google Photos can now detect AI-enhanced images

Delete backed up photos and videos while keeping them on the device

The company first introduced the Undo device backup feature on iOS in December 2024, via an announcement on Google Photos Help. The latest update to Google Photos brings the feature to Android, so you can now easily clean up your backups and free up space on your account.

Here's how you can clean up photos in your backup and get more cloud storage:

1. Open the Google Photos app and tap your profile picture.
2. Tap Photos settings > Backup .
3. In the Backup menu, scroll down and tap Undo backup for this device .
4. Review the important information in the next window. Once done, tap the checkbox next to "I understand my photos and videos from this device will be deleted from Google Photos" .
5. Click Delete Google Photos backup .

Once complete, all of the photos and videos backed up to Google Photos will be deleted. This will free up your cloud storage space, but it will also remove them from the Google Photos app. They will then only exist on your phone.

Warning : If you don't back up your photos and videos elsewhere after doing this, losing your phone means you'll no longer have access to your photos and videos.

If you still want to back up your most important photos but don’t want to pay for extra cloud storage, you can choose which folders to back up in Google Photos instead of choosing everything. You can also check out these other ways to free up space in Google Photos , like converting photos to a lower quality and deleting unsupported videos.

Finally, if you're looking to stay away from Google services, you can choose any one of these privacy-focused Google Photos alternatives to protect and back up your memories.