Google Photos Storage Full? Moving Your Photo Library into Degoo

Q: "Do my Google Photos albums survive the move to Degoo?"

"As folders, yes: CloudsLinker maps each album to a folder of the same name in Degoo. What doesn't transfer is Google's smart metadata — face groups, search labels, memories — which lives in Google's index rather than in the photo files."

Q: "Will photos keep their original quality?"

"They arrive exactly as Google stores them. Originals stay originals; anything backed up in Storage Saver mode was already recompressed to 16 MP / 1080p by Google at upload, and no transfer can restore the discarded pixels. Photos from before June 1, 2021 in the grandfathered free tier move like any others."

Q: "Is there a catch with location data in the photos?"

"Yes, a Google-side one: the Google Photos API strips GPS EXIF from downloaded media, so photos fetched by any third-party tool (CloudsLinker included) arrive without embedded location. Takeout preserves location in its JSON sidecar files instead. If geotags matter, Takeout is the route — or accept the JSONs as the archive of record."

Q: "How much Degoo space does a Google Photos library need?"

"Check Settings → 'Manage storage' in Google Photos for the exact figure. Typical phone libraries run 50–300 GB, fitting Degoo Pro's 500 GB at $2.99/mo; heavy videographers cross into Ultimate's 5 TB territory. Degoo's free 20 GB works as a trial slice — with its 256 MB per-file cap excluding longer videos."

Q: "What about Live Photos and Motion Photos?"

"Google stores the motion component inside the file (Motion Photos) or as a paired asset. The still image always transfers; motion parts transfer where Google's API exposes them as files. In Degoo they appear as ordinary photos/videos — the tap-and-hold animation is an ecosystem feature, not a file property."

Q: "Can I keep using Google Photos day-to-day and just archive old years to Degoo?"

"That's the pattern this pairing does best. A date filter — say, everything before January 2024 — moves the historical bulk into Degoo while your phone keeps backing up to Google Photos as usual. Delete the migrated years from Google afterwards to reclaim quota, and repeat annually."

Q: "How does CloudsLinker access my Google Photos, and how do I cut it off?"

"Through Google OAuth at accounts.google.com, requesting Photos library access only. Revoke any time at myaccount.google.com → Security → Third-party access. Google's Photos API also rate-caps requests per day, which CloudsLinker paces to — visible only as a large library taking a few sessions to finish."

Transfer photos from Google Photos to Degoo three ways — Takeout export, phone re-backup, or a direct CloudsLinker copy — with album and quality caveats explained.

Introduction

Degoo is one of the few budget clouds actually designed around photos — its apps are a photo feed first and a file manager second, with an AI 'rediscover' stream and 5 TB of space for $9.99 a month. Google Photos remains the best photo organizer available, but its storage is the shared 15 GB Google pot, and once Gmail and Drive have eaten their share, every new phone backup pushes you toward a Google One subscription priced at $9.99 for 2 TB. Moving the archive — or just the pre-2021 bulk — into Degoo keeps the memories browsable in a photo-native app at less than half the per-terabyte cost. Three routes below, each with different album and metadata trade-offs.

Why Move From Google Photos to Degoo?
Method 1: Google Takeout Export
Method 2: Re-backup from Your Phone with the Degoo App
Method 3: Direct Library Copy with CloudsLinker
Quick Comparison
Practical Tips
Frequently Asked Questions

What is Google Photos?

Google Photos is Google's photo platform — automatic phone backup, face and object search, memories — drawing on the account's shared 15 GB free pool. Paid space comes via Google One (100 GB $1.99/mo → 2 TB $9.99/mo). Photos backed up in High Quality before June 1, 2021 don't count against quota.

15 GB free, shared with Gmail and Drive
Best-in-class search, faces, memories
Storage Saver mode recompresses to 16 MP / 1080p
API strips GPS EXIF on third-party downloads

What is Degoo?

Degoo is a Swedish photo-first cloud: phone backup apps on all major mobile stores, an AI feed resurfacing old shots, and bulk pricing — 20 GB free, 500 GB at $2.99/mo, 5 TB at $9.99/mo. It organizes by folders rather than smart albums, and search is filename-based, not content-based.

5 TB for the price of Google One's 2 TB
Photo-feed UI, AI rediscovery stream
No face/object search — folders and filenames
Per-file caps: 256 MB free / 50 GB subscription

Comparison: Google Photos vs Degoo

Feature	Google Photos	Degoo
Free storage	15 GB (shared account pool)	20 GB (photo-dedicated; 90-day activity rule)
$9.99/mo buys	2 TB (Google One)	5 TB (Ultimate)
Organization	Albums + AI search / faces	Folders + AI rediscovery feed
Max video file	10 GB per video	256 MB free / 50 GB subscription
Export friction	API strips GPS; Takeout for full fidelity	No export tooling (mobile-first)
Connection in CloudsLinker	Google OAuth	Account email + password

Sources: Google Photos: storage policy, Google Photos API limits, Degoo: plans, Degoo Help Center: Account limits.

Why Move From Google Photos to Degoo?

Photo libraries only grow, and the reasons to relocate them compound:

The 15 GB pool is a photo problem: photos and video dominate most accounts' usage, so offloading them is the single move that un-fills Gmail and Drive too.
Half the per-terabyte price: $9.99 buys 2 TB at Google One, 5 TB at Degoo Ultimate — the gap widens every year the library grows.
A photo-native destination: unlike a generic file cloud, Degoo keeps the archive browsable as a feed with AI resurfacing — closer to the Google Photos experience than a folder tree in a file manager.
Vendor diversification for irreplaceable data: family photos are the canonical don't-keep-one-copy dataset; a second provider in a second jurisdiction (Sweden) is cheap insurance.
Archive-and-continue works cleanly: old years move out, the phone keeps backing up to Google Photos — no workflow change, just reclaimed quota.

The trade-offs are real too: Google's face search and smart albums don't export, and its API withholds GPS tags from third-party downloads. The method choice below is mostly about which of those you care to work around.

Preparing to Transfer from Google Photos to Degoo

Look up the library's true size (Google Photos → Settings → Manage storage) and pick the Degoo tier accordingly — 500 GB Pro covers most, 5 TB Ultimate covers videographers. Decide the scope: full library, or archive-years-only with a date cutoff. If geotags are precious, plan a one-time Takeout export for the JSON sidecars even if the images travel by another method. Videos over your Degoo cap (256 MB free / 50 GB paid) need flagging; Google allows single videos to 10 GB, so free-tier Degoo destinations will skip many of them.

Method 1: Google Takeout Export

Step 1: Export Google Photos via Takeout

At takeout.google.com, select only Google Photos, choose ZIP segments (up to 50 GB each), and request the export. Albums arrive as folders, each photo paired with a JSON sidecar holding the metadata Google keeps out of the files themselves — including GPS coordinates and album membership.

Google Takeout page with Google Photos selected for export and archive format options visible

Step 2: Download, extract, upload to Degoo

Download every segment before the links expire (about a week), extract, and upload the album folders through app.degoo.com or the mobile app. A 200 GB library means handling four-plus 50 GB archives locally — budget disk space and patience accordingly.

Takeout is the fidelity champion (JSON sidecars preserve everything) and the labor champion in the wrong sense. Use it when metadata completeness outranks convenience.

Method 2: Re-backup from Your Phone with the Degoo App

Step 1: Install Degoo and enable photo backup

Install Degoo from Google Play (or the App Store), sign in, and switch on photo backup. The app uploads the device's camera roll — on Wi-Fi by default — into Degoo's photo feed.

Degoo mobile app Moments screen in English with Upload and Refresh buttons visible

Step 2: Verify coverage against Google Photos

Here's the catch: this backs up what's on the phone, not what's in Google Photos. If you've used 'Free up space' — which deletes local copies of backed-up photos — the cloud-only majority never reaches Degoo. Check Google Photos for items missing from the device before trusting this method with the archive.

Best for fresh libraries still resident on the handset; wrong for accounts where Google holds years of cloud-only history.

Method 3: Direct Library Copy with CloudsLinker

The cloud-only years, moved without touching a phone or a ZIP

CloudsLinker reads the Google Photos library through Google's Photos API — albums and all, including the cloud-only history a phone re-backup can't see — and writes album-named folders into Degoo. Google's daily API quotas set the pace; CloudsLinker throttles to them and keeps multi-day jobs alive automatically, which is precisely the babysitting Takeout makes you do by hand.

Step 1: Connect Google Photos

Click Add Cloud → Google Photos. Approve the scoped grant on Google's consent page at accounts.google.com. Photos access only — Drive and Gmail aren't touched — and the grant is revocable from your Google security settings.

Google Photos OAuth authorization in CloudsLinker showing the Google account consent screen

Step 2: Connect Degoo

Click Add Cloud → Degoo and sign in with the account email and password — the same login as the Degoo app from Method 2, if you tried it. The cached session persists for the annual archive runs this pairing invites.

Degoo login form within CloudsLinker's Add Cloud flow

Step 3: Configure the Transfer

In Transfer, choose Google Photos as source — select specific albums or the whole library — and point the destination at a Degoo folder such as Google-Photos-Archive/.

A date filter carves out the archive years while recent shots stay in Google. Size filtering matters mainly for video on free-tier Degoo destinations (256 MB cap); paid tiers at 50 GB swallow anything a phone produces.

CloudsLinker transfer setup with Google Photos albums listed as source, a Degoo archive folder as destination, and a date range filter set to include photos taken before 2024

Step 4: Start and Monitor the Transfer

Start the job. The Task List shows albums processed and items remaining; big libraries stretch across Google's daily API windows, resuming without attention. When it completes, spot-check albums in Degoo's app before deleting anything from Google.

CloudsLinker task monitoring a photo library migration in progress

Comparing the Ways to Transfer From Google Photos to Degoo

Method	Ease of Use	Speed	Best For	Uses Local Bandwidth	Skill Level
Google Takeout	Laborious (ZIP handling)	Slow — wait, download, re-upload	Full-fidelity export incl. GPS JSON	Yes — heavily	Basic
Degoo app re-backup	Easiest	Phone-upload speed	Libraries still on the device	Phone data/Wi-Fi	Basic
CloudsLinker	Easy	API-paced, unattended	Cloud-only libraries; album-folder mapping	No	Basic

Practical Tips for Moving Google Photos to Degoo

Run one Takeout for the sidecars regardless of method: the JSON files are the only complete record of GPS tags and album membership. Store them in Degoo next to the photos as the metadata archive.
Don't expect Google's search in Degoo: faces, objects, and "photos of receipts" queries are Google-index features. In Degoo you navigate by album-folder and date — name folders accordingly.
Mind video on free-tier destinations: Google Photos holds videos to 10 GB each; free Degoo cuts off at 256 MB. Migrate video only onto a paid Degoo tier.
Archive by year, then repeat annually: a date-filtered job each January keeps Google under quota permanently, with Degoo accumulating the history.
Empty the trash to reclaim quota: deleted Google Photos linger 60 days in trash, still counting against the 15 GB. Settings → Trash → Empty after verifying the Degoo copy.
Keep the Degoo account warm if it's free: the 90-day inactivity deletion is unforgiving to set-and-forget photo archives — a paid tier or a calendar reminder solves it.

Frequently Asked Questions

As folders, yes: CloudsLinker maps each album to a folder of the same name in Degoo. What doesn't transfer is Google's smart metadata — face groups, search labels, memories — which lives in Google's index rather than in the photo files.

They arrive exactly as Google stores them. Originals stay originals; anything backed up in Storage Saver mode was already recompressed to 16 MP / 1080p by Google at upload, and no transfer can restore the discarded pixels. Photos from before June 1, 2021 in the grandfathered free tier move like any others.

Yes, a Google-side one: the Google Photos API strips GPS EXIF from downloaded media, so photos fetched by any third-party tool (CloudsLinker included) arrive without embedded location. Takeout preserves location in its JSON sidecar files instead. If geotags matter, Takeout is the route — or accept the JSONs as the archive of record.

Check Settings → 'Manage storage' in Google Photos for the exact figure. Typical phone libraries run 50–300 GB, fitting Degoo Pro's 500 GB at $2.99/mo; heavy videographers cross into Ultimate's 5 TB territory. Degoo's free 20 GB works as a trial slice — with its 256 MB per-file cap excluding longer videos.

Google stores the motion component inside the file (Motion Photos) or as a paired asset. The still image always transfers; motion parts transfer where Google's API exposes them as files. In Degoo they appear as ordinary photos/videos — the tap-and-hold animation is an ecosystem feature, not a file property.

That's the pattern this pairing does best. A date filter — say, everything before January 2024 — moves the historical bulk into Degoo while your phone keeps backing up to Google Photos as usual. Delete the migrated years from Google afterwards to reclaim quota, and repeat annually.

Through Google OAuth at accounts.google.com, requesting Photos library access only. Revoke any time at myaccount.google.com → Security → Third-party access. Google's Photos API also rate-caps requests per day, which CloudsLinker paces to — visible only as a large library taking a few sessions to finish.

Conclusion

Match the method to what you're preserving. Takeout is the only route that exports Google's album JSON alongside the images — pick it if album structure must be reconstructed byte-perfectly somewhere else. The phone re-backup suits people whose photos still live on the device. For the common case — a cloud-resident library that needs to move without days of ZIP handling — CloudsLinker copies Google Photos into Degoo server-side, organized by album-named folders. Whichever route: verify in Degoo's app before freeing Google storage, and empty Google Photos' trash to actually reclaim the quota.

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