Google Photos Is Making A Big Change In August — Here's How To Keep Your Photos Secure

Whether you use Google Photos for free or pay for a Google One subscription to extend storage, the app provides a useful way to back up photos and videos captured with your phone. The app can also back up media saved on a computer to the cloud, but users who rely on this somewhat automated workflow should know there's a big change coming to the Google Photos desktop backup experience they need to prepare for. Google has changed the backup procedure, which will no longer involve the Google Drive app. Starting August 10, 2026, Google Photos users will have to back up their images and clips directly through Google Photos via a web interface instead of using Google Drive as the middleman.

In early May, Google updated a support document to announce the changes. The company also emailed subscribers about the backup change coming to Google Drive and Google Photos. At the time, Google offered two distinct deadlines. On June 15, 2026, users would no longer be able to add new folders to Google Drive which would then be backed up on Google Photos. Older folders would keep syncing. On August 10, 2026, backup support would stop for the old folders that had continued to be backed up since June 15. That means any new content added to these folders after August 10 will no longer back up to Google Photos via Google Drive.

However, Google Photos users should not panic. None of the photos and videos that were backed up via the old process will be deleted from Google Photos. They'll still be safely stored in your Google Photos account. But you should learn the new way of uploading media to Google Photos via your computer in order to keep your library backed up safely.

Using Google Drive as the middleman ensured that the backup process happened in the background. Google Drive would sync new content you added to your folders to Google Photos, as long as that folder was set to sync with Google Photos. That automatic backup process isn't necessarily going away, depending on how you choose to back up photos and videos after August 10. The new procedures involve adding photos and videos to Google Photos manually (via a website) or using the Photos web app to have the content sync to the cloud automatically. The new backup process will apply only to new content in your folders. Everything that was backed up to Google Photos via Google Drive will still be available in the cloud.

To get started with the new Google Photos update, users should go to photos.google.com in a web browser and select the "Back up folders" option. This feature uses the browser as the interface, which means the web page will need to remain open while the backup happens in the background. Google Photos will keep backing up the selected folders as long as the tab is open. The alternative is installing the Photos web app to have the backup process performed in the background. But the Photos web app will also need to be open during the backup.

The second option somewhat resembles the former Google Drive backup process, but it will require remembering to open the web app every time. This may be more convenient than loading the Google Photos web page. You may also want to have the Google Photos web app launch on startup. That way, any new content added to your media folders will be backed up as soon as it's added.