{"id":585330,"date":"2026-05-15T10:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T10:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/585330\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T10:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T10:58:12","slug":"google-explains-why-some-gmail-accounts-only-get-5gb-free-storage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/585330\/","title":{"rendered":"Google explains why some Gmail accounts only get 5GB free storage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img class=\"e_rg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\"  title=\"Gmail on smartphone and tablet stock photo 7\"  alt=\"Gmail on smartphone and tablet stock photo 7\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Gmail-on-smartphone-and-tablet-stock-photo-7.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Edgar Cervantes \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n<p>TL;DR<\/p>\n<p>Google has confirmed to Android Authority that it is testing a new storage policy with reduced free storage.<br \/>\nThe test is only applicable to new Gmail accounts created in select regions.<\/p>\n<p>Google\u2019s 15GB free cloud storage may be going away soon. Several user reports from yesterday claimed that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-gmail-5gb-free-storage-test-3667002\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google is offering only 5GB of free data<\/a> to new Gmail users. In a statement to Android Authority, Google has confirmed that it is testing this change.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/andauth.co\/AAGooglePreferredSource\" class=\"e_pn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\"><img class=\"e_rg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\"  alt=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768240152_738_google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png\"\/><img class=\"e_rg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\"  alt=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768240152_238_google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A Google spokesperson said:<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re testing a new storage policy for new accounts created in select regions that will help us continue to provide a high-quality storage service to our users, while encouraging users to improve their account security and data recovery.<\/p>\n<p>While the company didn\u2019t mention which regions are impacted, user reports from yesterday were mostly from African countries. That said, if Google\u2019s tests prove successful, this could possibly become the norm for new sign-ups in more regions.<\/p>\n<p>Would you give Google your phone number to unlock the full 15GB of Gmail storage?<\/p>\n<p>1236 votes<\/p>\n<p>Yes, that&#8217;s fine<\/p>\n<p>20%<\/p>\n<p>No, 5GB is enough<\/p>\n<p>10%<\/p>\n<p>No, but I still want 15GB of storage<\/p>\n<p>42%<\/p>\n<p>I already gave my number to Google<\/p>\n<p>28%<\/p>\n<p>The company could be testing ways to discourage users from creating multiple Gmail accounts to access free cloud storage. However, if you already have a Gmail account with 15GB free storage, it shouldn\u2019t be impacted by this change.<\/p>\n<p>The language on Google\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/googleone\/answer\/9312312?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">support page<\/a> mentions \u201cup to 15GB of storage.\u201d However, it\u2019s a recent change. An <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260204152535\/https:\/\/support.google.com\/googleone\/answer\/9312312\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">archived version<\/a> of the support page from February did not use the words \u201cup to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"e_rg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"Google account storage support page\"  alt=\"Google's support page stating that accounts get up to 15GB of storage.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/google-account-storage-support-page.jpg\"\/><img class=\"e_rg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"Archived Google account storage support page\"  alt=\"Archived version of Google's support page stating that accounts get 15GB of storage.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/google-storage-support-page-archived.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Whether the test has been running since early March or Google updated its language before it ever started the test, it\u2019s evident that the company could roll out the change globally as well.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edgar Cervantes \/ Android Authority TL;DR Google has confirmed to Android Authority that it is testing a new&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,3897,844,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-585330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-gmail","tag-google","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}