The cloud storage service will be deprecated next year
Amazon is much more than just a shopping destination you can pick up a brand spanking new microwave oven from — it actually has something of an ecosystem of its own with both software and hardware products that give even the likes of Google and Microsoft a run for their money sometimes. Obviously, not all see success thanks to the intense, cutthroat competition in their respective categories. One such venture is a cloud storage application that’s very similar to Google Drive. Chances are you haven’t even heard of Amazon Drive until we brought it to your attention. If you’re curious about dropping your files onto the service, though, it’s probably too late.
With an email sent out to users on Friday, Amazon announced that its cloud storage service will no longer be supported from December 31, 2023 (via 9to5Google). The retailer says this move will help it focus its efforts better on photos and video storage with Amazon Photos.
Users’ existing media on Drive have already been saved to Photos, where the company guarantees they’ll be accessible even after the deadline. As for anything that isn’t a picture or video, clients will need to download and move them or end up losing them. If you’re an Amazon Drive user and run into any trouble downloading your files from Drive due to limited space or if you just have way too many files, Amazon recommends using the Amazon Photos Desktop app for the process.
The Amazon Drive app for Android and iOS will be taken off their respective app stores on October 31. No new uploads will be permitted onto servers starting January 31, 2023.
Amazon Drive launched 11 years ago as a “secure cloud storage service for Amazon customers to back up their files” and competes against Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Dropbox. Prime members will continue to benefit from unlimited backups of full-resolution photo and videos of up to 5 GB per file on Amazon Photos. Non-members receive 5 GB of all-purpose storage.
