Google may soon lock some of Google Photos best features behind a paywall

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Google Photos is awesome for keeping up with your photos, storing them, and even editing them, all for free. But it seems like some of the features may soon be behind a paywall – more specifically, they might require a Google One subscription.

According to XDA, which looked into the code of the APK for Google Photos, some of the more premium editing features included with Google Photos have prompts that lead them to believe that they will soon be locked behind a paywall. This comes from prompts they found that state things like: “As a Google One member, you get access to extra editing features,” “Get extra editing features with a Google One membership,” and other similar prompts.

Some users are already seeing this prompt on one of the photo editing filters, Color Pop. According to Engadget, Google has clarified this, stating that it will only require a subscription for photos that lack depth of field information (think Portrait mode). Having a Google One subscription will allow more users to access this feature.

As a quick refresher, Google One offers users different tiered plans that provide storage for photos, contacts, and videos, as well as more storage for things like Google Docs. Most recently, the subscription started offering a free VPN to subscribers.

What do you think? How do you feel about Google One? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.