128 MACWORLD APRIL 2020
HELPDESK MAC 911Google Photos is an easier way to share an entire library than iCloud Photos.
photo and video sharing. The limitation is
that Google Drive in macOS and in some
Google apps, you can’t switch freely
between accounts. If you or others already
use Google features in macOS, iOS, and
iPadOS, this may not work for automatic
synchronization. Instead, you could use a
browser to upload media and view the
contents of a Google Photos library, as you
can switch among accounts in a browser.
Google has an interesting unlimited
media option for Google Photos. If you’re
willing to let very high-resolution photos
and videos be downsampled (go.
macworld.com/dwsm), you can store as
much media as you like. The limit is 16
megapixels for images (roughly 4920 by
3264 pixels for a standard-ratio camera)
and 1080p for video. Above that, it’s
resized to the limit.
To store all unaltered versions of your
media, no matter how large it is, you can
pay Google for additional storage. The
company includes 15GB with a free
account, which covers email, photos, and
Google Drive files. Above that, the charge
is $2 a month for 100GB, $3 a month for
200GB, and $10 a month for 2TB. Google
offers discounts for paying for 200GB or
2TB a year at a time, too. (You can even
get larger quantities, like 10TB.)
One bonus of using Google Photos? Its