GoKawiil
Tech News
An Android Authority writer describes using Google One's built-in Storage Manager tool to clean up nearly 4GB of old photos, large email attachments, spam, and bin items rather than paying for extra cloud storage. The tool, accessible via Drive, Photos, or the web, sorts clutter into categories like large documents, spam emails, and bin contents to simplify cleanup.
Google is piloting a new 'Family' entry at the top of the Settings app on some Pixel 11 phones, according to Android Authority. The hub consolidates family members, shared Google One storage, subscriptions like YouTube Premium and Google AI, shared calendar events, and live location sharing in one place. Currently only a handful of Pixel 11 users have reported seeing it, and Google has not confirmed a wider rollout.
Students who paid to upgrade from free Google AI Plus student plans to discounted AI Pro subscriptions are reporting that Google unexpectedly canceled the upgrades and issued refunds they didn't request. Rather than reverting to their original free AI Plus plan, affected accounts dropped to the free tier, losing prior benefits including expanded Google One storage. One UK student said the cancellation left their storage full, forcing them to pay again to restore capacity.
Google has removed the Gemini Pro model from its $5-per-month AI Plus subscription, limiting those users to the Flash and Flash-Lite models instead. A longtime subscriber says Google notified them by email last week, offering a choice to keep AI Plus, upgrade to the pricier AI Pro tier to regain Pro access, or cancel outright. The subscriber opted to cancel AI Plus but continues using Gemini's free tier.
Code found within Google's apps points to an in-development feature called 'Connected accounts,' which would let users share Google One storage and AI benefits with other accounts without setting up a formal family group. The feature appears to still be under development and has not been officially announced by Google.
Google One's paid plans extend well beyond cloud storage, with higher tiers unlocking tiered access to Gemini AI features across Gmail, Docs, Slides and other Google apps. The AI Plus tier doubles Gemini usage and adds Flash model access, while AI Pro offers four times the free usage limit, the Gemini 4 Argon model, a larger context window, and Deep Research capabilities. The top-tier 30TB AI Ultra plan provides 20 times the Gemini usage of the Pro tier along with the most capable models in Google Flow and Gemini Notebook.
Google has launched Playground, a browser-based platform that lets users 18 and older create custom games by typing prompts rather than writing code. The service, free with usage limits tied to Google One subscriptions, is powered by Gemini, Nano Banana and Lyria models, and lets creators share games via link or publish them to a public gallery. Google also unveiled Unity Spark, a more advanced collaborative AI game-development tool built with Unity, whose outputs can be shared on Playground.
Google's comparison highlights that Photos automatically backs up images to the cloud via a toggle in account settings, while Gallery requires manual backup. New Google accounts created after March 9, 2026 will get only 5GB of free storage by default, down from the current 15GB, though verifying a phone number unlocks an extra 10GB. Storage is shared across Gmail, Drive, WhatsApp and Photos, and additional space can be purchased through Google One starting at $2 per month for 100GB.
Several Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL users report redeeming an additional 12-month trial of Google AI Pro with 5TB storage after their original one-year promo expired. Users found the offer either in the My Pixel app or the Google One app, with reports suggesting it may be limited to certain regions, likely including the US.
Google is shortening the grace period for deleted photos backed up to Google Photos from 60 days down to 30 days, matching the retention limit already used for locally stored images. The company has updated its support documentation and started notifying Android users within the app about the change.
An Android Authority writer found their Gmail account eating up 5.27GB of Google's 15GB free storage tier, largely due to accumulated email attachments rather than message count. Using Gmail's built-in 'Clean up space' tool, they identified and deleted large attachments, then cleared out Spam and Trash folders to recover storage without paying for Google One.
A tech writer subscribed to YouTube Premium Lite hoping for an ad-free experience without bundled services like YouTube Music, but found sponsored videos still appearing throughout the app on both TV and mobile after activation. Despite accepting that ads would remain on Shorts and music videos, they discovered sponsored placements interspersed regularly in their regular viewing feed as well, prompting them to cancel the subscription after just one month.