Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- PCWorld reports that Google quietly reduced free storage from 15GB to 5GB for new accounts created without phone number verification.
- This policy change affects Gmail, Drive, and Photos storage for new users, though existing accounts remain unaffected.
- Google confirmed this is a security test, with users able to restore full 15GB storage by adding phone verification later.
For years now, Google has provided users with 15 GB of online storage free of charge. But that era seems to be ending. Going forward, you’ll only get 15 GB of free storage if you give Google your phone number—and this is for your Google account, meaning it affects Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos.
Anyone signing up for a new Google account must now provide a phone number during registration to get 15 GB of free online storage. Anyone who doesn’t provide a phone number will only receive 5 GB of free online storage. This was spotted by affected users on Reddit and it seemingly only affects new users, not existing users.
Why does Google need a phone number? It’s for verification of new accounts. Once verified, you are no longer considered an anonymous user—and thus you’re privileged to 15 GB of storage.
According to GoogleWatchBlog (machine translated), this phone number verification can be completed at a later time. That means you can sign up without a phone number, then add it to your account later to bump up your cloud storage capacity from 5GB to 15GB.
If you want more cloud storage on your Google account but absolutely don’t want to give away your phone number, you can pay for a Google One plan that starts at $19.99/year for 100 GB and goes up to $99.99/year for 2 TB (with first-year discounts available).
Google hasn’t officially issued a statement or announcement about this change, but this support page states: “Your Google Account comes with up to 15 GB of cloud storage at no charge.” According to 9to5Google, this page previously said “Your Google Account comes with 15 GB of cloud storage at no charge” and was stealthily changed at some point in March 2026, verified using Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
Updated on May 18th, 2026: In a statement to Android Authority, one Google spokesperson said:
We’re 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.
This article originally appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.