Storing files on devices is fairly uncommon since most people save their documents and photos online. Several services allow you to store your items in the cloud, such as OneDrive and Dropbox, but each has a unique set of features. There’s a broad spectrum of services in this space, from those that give you a place to store files to those that add features on top of storage.
Cloud storage is useful, and many of these services are optimized to work on a variety of devices, including our favorite Chromebooks. Google Drive may be the first Google service that comes to mind in this space, but Google Drive is managed by Google’s extensive cloud storage solution, Google One. Read on to learn about Google One, how it works, and what additional services it offers.
What is Google One?
Google One is a cloud storage service that comes with a set of cloud-based data management tools that seamlessly tie into Google’s ecosystem. As part of owning a Google account, you automatically get 15GB of free cloud storage through Google One. Storage space on Google One is shared across Google’s range of products, including Drive, Gmail, and Photos, so data stored in these individual services contributes to your total storage used.
Google One also offers paid subscriptions for expanded storage in case you run out of the free 15GB or want more space. These paid subscriptions include additional features that improve other Google services and Android devices.
What do you get with Google One?
While limited to 15GB, the free storage you get from Google One is useful if you don’t have a large photo library or a multitude of PDFs to store. It gives you a place to back up your phone settings, store emails, and save important documents. A benefit to this storage is that you can access the backed-up files and data on any platform whenever you need it.
Google One’s regular paid monthly subscription comes in three flavors: Basic for $1.99 with 100 GB of storage, Standard for $2.99 with 200 GB of storage, and Premium for $9.99 with 2 TB of storage. If 2TB isn’t enough for you, there are larger monthly plans of 5TB ($25), 10TB ($50), 20TB ($100), and 30TB ($150) available to current subscribers.
Google offers a discount for your subscription if billed annually, coming in at 100GB for $19.99, 200GB for $29.99, and 2TB for $99.99. Above 2TB, there is no annual billing discount. Each tier grants improved storage for emails, cloud backups, and general file management. You also get access to other benefits that might not be obvious at first glance.
The Basic tier provides 100GB of storage, Pixel-exclusive photo filters, AI-powered photo-editing tools to add to the regular Google Photos editing tools, and 24/7 live chat, email, or phone support from Google Experts. Going up one level to the Standard plan expands storage to 200GB while maintaining the other benefits of the Basic plan. Things get more interesting with the Premium plan, which bumps the storage to 2TB and grants access to Google’s VPN and Google Workspace premium.
Google One subscribers in Australia, Canada, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. are eligible for cash back on select purchases from the Google Store. Members of the Standard plan are eligible for 3% back on purchases made through the Google Store (in the form of store credit). Members of the Premium and higher plans are eligible for up to 10% back.
Google One VPN
As of June 2022, the Google One VPN is available for Android and iOS. While it is restricted to a small list of countries, Google is slowly expanding the availability of its VPN service to new territories. If you’re looking for a VPN to avoid geo-blocking on the likes of Netflix or Amazon Prime, you’re out of luck. Google’s VPN only allows you to toggle it on and off, which automatically connects you to the nearest server in your country.
Google’s VPN is mainly marketed as a security and privacy service as opposed to some of the best VPNs for Android that allow manual location selection and further customization. Being security-focused, Google’s VPN encrypts your device traffic, hides your IP address, and logs a small amount of anonymous user data, which ensures a fast and stable connection when using the VPN.
If you subscribe to Google One’s 2TB Premium tier and haven’t used the VPN, try it out, even if it’s only to keep your connection secure when using a coffee shop Wi-Fi. Use our guide on how to use the Google One VPN to get started.
If you want to get nerdy about the VPN, Google released a white paper detailing how the system works, wherein the company claims that the VPN will never be used to collect or sell user data. Google also heavily emphasizes that the VPN is audited by a third party to ensure that there are no shenanigans or privacy concerns.
Pixel 7 and 7 Pro owners also get access to the VPN for free. If you purchased a Pixel 7 series phone, open the Google One app and scroll down to the VPN tile on the Home tab. Click Get Started and follow the steps to activate. You’ll be surfing the web safely in no time.
Managing Google One storage
Your Google One storage quotient ties into all your Google services, meaning all items you save when you use Gmail, Google Photos, Drive, or back up your Android phone count toward this total.
The Google One app, available in the Play Store, is Google’s hub for managing your cloud storage. The app gives you access to features that free up cloud storage space, manage the family sharing settings you enabled, and access the 24/7 live support included with the paid subscription. You can also manually clear up storage by deleting files, such as mass deleting emails in Gmail.
The Google One app may come preinstalled on your Android device. If it isn’t, you can install it from the Play Store or by using APKMirror.
Google One family sharing
The paid Google One subscriptions come with a family sharing feature, allowing you to share your Google One benefits with up to five other individuals, regardless of your subscription tier. Enabling family sharing doesn’t mean that the people in your family can access your information or personal files. You still have to grant them permission. Your family members can only take advantage of your Google One benefits but on their account.
When you share your Google One storage space with a family member, they need to fill up their personal 15GB of free Google One storage before it eats into your paid quota, meaning your storage is only used when necessary. However, Google allows each user to use as much of the storage in a family group as they like, with no usage limit. Be prepared to duke it out with your cousin for more space to store memes.
To enable family sharing on Google One, all the members of the family group need to be in the same country.
Rewards, offers, and perks
In addition to the features mentioned above, Google One has a rotating list of rewards, offers, and perks for subscribers. There are offers for money off a stay at certain hotels, free Nest hardware (Premium plan), free Google Play Store credit, and more. The current offers available to you can be seen in the Benefits tab of the Google One app.
Canceling or changing your membership
If you subscribe to a Google One plan and decide you need more or less storage than anticipated, it’s helpful to know how to modify your plan.
- In the app, click the three lines in the upper-left corner and select Membership plans. You’ll see the plans available to you and at what cost. To cancel your membership, tap Settings and select Cancel membership.
- On the web, go to the Google One website, log in to your account, and click Upgrade at the top. Then, modify your plan to the one that best suits your needs.
If you want to cancel your membership, go to one.google.com, click Settings, and select Cancel membership.
Google’s one place for cloud storage
Google One is Google’s way of managing your Google account storage. The service offers unique features such as a VPN and photo editing, making it a good buy for those integrated into Google’s ecosystem. Google Drive is one of the main contributors to Google One’s storage quotient, so make sure you know how to get the most out of Google Drive.
