You used the "Free up space" feature and it did exactly what it said it would do and you confirmed. Chill. Unfortunately the easiest way to get your photos back on your device (that was full, mind you, so you better figure out a way around that first), is to use Google Takeout on a desktop computer to download all of your Google Photos. You can choose just the YYYY-MM-DD folders and ignore all others (those contain dupes for the albums, which will be counter-productive in your case). Also change the default archive size from 2 GB to 50 GB to ease downloading. After downloading, extract the archives, plug your phone into your computer, and copy all the photos back to the DCIM folder on your phone. You can ignore the JSON files. Now also realize you have no backups if your photos are only in Google Photos, especially if you don't have a copy on your phone. Use Google Takeout occasionally (I do it every 2 months) and store those archives in at least 1-2 safe places. Answer from yottabit42 on reddit.com
Google Support
support.google.com › photos › answer › 6193313
Back up photos & videos - Android - Google Photos Help
Back up device folders · Important: ... folders, or turn “Backup” on or off for individual device folders. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Photos app ....
Google
google.com › intl › en_us › photos › about
2025 Google Photos Recap: Organize, Edit, & Backup Memories
2 weeks ago - You can automatically save your photos and videos to your Google Account when you turn on backup. You can enable backup while setting up your Photos app or if you go to the Settings page and turn backup on. You can also manually backup your photos.
How can I download all my photo back on my phone ?!
You used the "Free up space" feature and it did exactly what it said it would do and you confirmed. Chill. Unfortunately the easiest way to get your photos back on your device (that was full, mind you, so you better figure out a way around that first), is to use Google Takeout on a desktop computer to download all of your Google Photos. You can choose just the YYYY-MM-DD folders and ignore all others (those contain dupes for the albums, which will be counter-productive in your case). Also change the default archive size from 2 GB to 50 GB to ease downloading. After downloading, extract the archives, plug your phone into your computer, and copy all the photos back to the DCIM folder on your phone. You can ignore the JSON files. Now also realize you have no backups if your photos are only in Google Photos, especially if you don't have a copy on your phone. Use Google Takeout occasionally (I do it every 2 months) and store those archives in at least 1-2 safe places. More on reddit.com
20
19
February 27, 2024What’s the best way for an individual to backup Google Photos?
Google Takeout. Then just store them wherever you want (like a backup hard drive). More on reddit.com
11
8
August 7, 2023How do you guys back up your photos outside of Google?
Synology NAS server More on reddit.com
49
28
March 31, 2024How do i manually back up specific photos to google photos while keep everything else in my apple photos?
Copy the things you want in photos to your PC/Mac. Go to the Google Photos website and drag and drop them there. More on reddit.com
4
1
June 28, 2025Videos
05:44
Google Photos Folder Backup - YouTube
08:31
How to Backup all of Your Photos to Google Photos or Google One ...
01:30
How To See Backup Photos In Google Photos? - YouTube
09:14
How To Change Your Backup Account On Google Photos - YouTube
08:19
How to Use Google Photos step by step - YouTube
Google Support
support.google.com › photos › answer › 9343402
Check your backup - Google Photos Help
On your device, open Google Photos . At the top, check the backup status.
Google
guidebooks.google.com › android › usetheappsonyourphone › syncyourphotos
How to back up photos with your Google Account on Android
We cannot provide a description for this page right now
Reddit
reddit.com › r/googlephotos › how can i download all my photo back on my phone ?!
r/googlephotos on Reddit: How can I download all my photo back on my phone ?!
February 27, 2024 -
So, tonigth I got an alert saying that I had almost no space left on my Google account or something like that. Of course, since the synchronisation is activated I thought that I would simply delete every pics and videos from my "cloud" and keep everything on my phone. Long story short I didn't found how to do so but I saw a message saying that I could free a good chunk of storage by doing something (I really don't remember sorry).
So I do this and all my freaking photos and videos are missing on my phone and are on my Google photo account. I still have very little storage left and so I wanted to redownload everything and even older pictures/videos since my phone have more than enough storage.
I've looked everywhere and tried everything I could but it seems like I can only download 1 pic a time. I can't select everything or only by doing it month by month and if I select more than 1 picture the option to download disappear.
I'm very angry right now and so upset so I'm sorry if I'm not to understandable (I'm not English too so it doesn't help) but if anyone have an answer or a solution I'll be glad to hear it thank you in advance.
Top answer 1 of 9
3
You used the "Free up space" feature and it did exactly what it said it would do and you confirmed. Chill. Unfortunately the easiest way to get your photos back on your device (that was full, mind you, so you better figure out a way around that first), is to use Google Takeout on a desktop computer to download all of your Google Photos. You can choose just the YYYY-MM-DD folders and ignore all others (those contain dupes for the albums, which will be counter-productive in your case). Also change the default archive size from 2 GB to 50 GB to ease downloading. After downloading, extract the archives, plug your phone into your computer, and copy all the photos back to the DCIM folder on your phone. You can ignore the JSON files. Now also realize you have no backups if your photos are only in Google Photos, especially if you don't have a copy on your phone. Use Google Takeout occasionally (I do it every 2 months) and store those archives in at least 1-2 safe places.
2 of 9
2
That sounds like a bummer. I'm guessing you used Google Photo app's "free up space" feature" to delete all local photos that have been already uploaded to Google Photos. I am not aware of an easy way to download all the photos back to your phone. The only way I can think of is to download all the photos onto your desktop PC (through something like Google Takeout) and then manually transfer them over to your phones from the PC, which will probably take a few hours.
Google Photos
photos.google.com › login
Sign in
Home for all your photos and videos, automatically organized and easy to share.
Google Play
play.google.com › store › apps › details
Google Photos - Apps on Google Play
• ALL YOUR MEMORIES IN ONE PLACE: With backup on, you can easily transfer your photos from other apps, galleries and devices, so all of your content is in one place • YOUR MEMORIES ARE SAFE: Your photos and videos are safe and secure from the instant you store them, protected by our advanced security infrastructure while in storage or when you share them. • FREE UP SPACE: Never worry about running out of space on your phone again.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/googlepixel › what’s the best way for an individual to backup google photos?
r/GooglePixel on Reddit: What’s the best way for an individual to backup Google Photos?
August 7, 2023 -
After a recent post, I’m suddenly paranoid about the sheer number of photos I have in Google. These are often the masters/originals and the only copies I have.
I want to keep original quality (many of them are saved in RAW and JPEG). It’s an issue because I have about 15 years of them, and I know of individuals who have lost access to their Google account, and one friend whose Gmail was vaporised never to return. What do people do to protect against this?
App Store
apps.apple.com › us › app › google-photos-backup-edit › id962194608
Google Photos: Backup & Edit App - App Store
Pretty solid app. Downloaded it because Apple iCloud got full and had less space plus I’m able to use this on any phone unlike Apple photo app I can download google photos on any device and have all my photos no matter if I break a phone or get a new one I’ll always have my pictures.
YouTube
youtube.com › watch
How to See BackUp Photos in Google Photos - View Backed Up Photos - YouTube
How to see backup photos in Google Photos? In this tutorial, I show you how to find and view all backed up photos in Google Photos. This means you can see wh...
Published November 2, 2023
YouTube
youtube.com › watch
How to STOP BACKUP in Google Photos! - YouTube
What to do next when your phone is FULL with GOOGLE PHOTOS! 👇👇👇👇https://youtube.com/watch?v=5G_N4AnLMiM&list=PLtZM4-pHDwPlsripNArvgSMsJmIW-RfZ4How do yo...
Published December 31, 2023
ZDNET
zdnet.com › home › innovation › cloud
How I back up my photos on Android to Google Drive - and why | ZDNET
February 18, 2025 - Open your Drive account, click New, and then tap Folder. Give the folder a name, such as Photo Backup. Show more · Open the Photos app on your phone. Then select all the important photos you want to back up outside of Photos.
MiniTool
minitool.com › home › news › how to fix google photos not backing up on android or iphone
Google Photos Not Backing up on Android or iPhone? Top Tips
November 28, 2024 - By default, the auto-sync feature is enabled. But you may disable it mistakenly, leading to Google Photos not backing up automatically. So, go to enable it. Step 1: Open Google Photos on your iPhone or Android phone.
9meters
9meters.com › technology › software › how-to-see-backup-photos-in-google-photos
How To See Your Backup Photos In Google Photos - 9meters
December 23, 2024 - Install the Google Photos app on your phone. Open the app and sign in. Tap your profile picture and select “Photos settings.” Choose “Back up & sync” and turn on the toggle. Select which folders to back up.
TechRadar
techradar.com › cameras › photography
Google Photos backup: how to back up your snaps to and from Google's photo service | TechRadar
November 28, 2023 - Head to ‘Backup & Sync’ and tap ‘Back up device folders’ to choose which ones you want uploaded. Excessive snapping left you low on smartphone space? In the settings menu, tap ‘Manage device storage’ then ‘Free up space’ to delete photos from your phone that have already been added to the cloud by Google ...
Android Police
androidpolice.com › home › applications › how to manually sync and back up google photos
How to sync and back up your images in Google Photos
June 8, 2024 - But if you're also trying to conserve your phone's battery health, you can opt for manual syncing; this lets you choose the photos to back up and when. To learn how this is done, we outline the steps for turning on automatic and manual image syncing with Google Photos. Follow these steps to sync your pictures to Google Photos automatically: Launch the Google Photos app and ensure you're signed in to the Google account you want to store your backups.
YouTube
youtube.com › app tutor
How To See Backup Photos In Google Photos - YouTube
In this comprehensive guide, we walk you through the step-by-step process of accessing and viewing your backup photos on Google Photos on both iPhone and And...
Published January 18, 2024 Views 11K
Quora
quora.com › Is-it-possible-to-make-Google-Photos-back-up-photos-on-my-new-phone-without-downloading-old-photos-from-my-Google-Photos-library-onto-it-so-I-dont-see-my-old-phones-photos
Is it possible to make Google Photos back up photos on my new phone without downloading old photos from my Google Photos library onto it (so I don't see my old phone's photos)? - Quora
Answer (1 of 2): Well you could Archive all you photos from your old device to your Google drive. Of course do that before you change over devices. Then as you begin to take photos or add photos to your Google photos with your new device,you ...
Business Insider
businessinsider.com › business insider › how to use google photos to back up your photos on all of your devices
How to Use Google Photos to Back up Your Photos
August 23, 2022 - The backup controls are in the Google Photos app — tap the account avatar at the top right, then Photo settings, and then tap "Back up & sync." Google Photos is available on the mobile app for iPhone and Android, and in web browsers.
Wikihow
wikihow.com › computers and electronics › internet › website application instructions › google applications › how to find, view & download backed up photos on google
How to Find, View & Download Backed Up Photos on Google
May 16, 2025 - All you have to do is click the gear icon in the top right corner of Google Photos, then scroll down and click Export your data to expand it. Click Backup to prepare a file to export to your computer or another cloud storage service.