New Google Photos 'feature' will completely erase your photos twice as fast

Published Sep 7, 2026, 10:27 AM EDT I've been writing about Android since 2011, with a focus on device reviews, Samsung and Google Pixel hardware, and the latest happenings in the ecosystem. In my entire writing career, I've reviewed more than 75 Android phones. Carrying both a Samsung or Pixel flagship and an iPhone as a daily driver provides me with deep insight into how Android works and how it compares to iOS. I have been writing for Android Police since 2021, covering news, how-tos, and features. You can find my previous work on Neowin, AndroidBeat, Times of India, iPhoneHacks, MySmartPrice, and MakeUseOf. When not working, I tend to mindlessly scroll through X, play with new AI models, or go on long road trips. You can reach out to me on X or drop a mail at rajesh@androidpolice.com. Sign in to your Android Police account You’ll now have to be more careful about the pictures and videos you delete from your Google Photos library. Google is cutting the time backed-up photos and videos stay in the bin from 60 days to 30 days, giving you half as long to recover anything you delete by mistake. Until now, Google Photos has kept deleted backed-up pictures and videos in the bin for 60 days. This was different from Gmail and Google Drive, both of which only keep deleted content for up to 30 days in their recycle bin. Once that time period is up, both services automatically delete trashed content to free up storage space in your account. Google is now bringing the same policy to Photos with a 30-day deadline for deleted content. This also means backed-up photos and videos will follow the same rule as items that were never backed up, which already had a 30-day recovery window. Do note that this 30-day grace period only applies to binned photos and videos if you don't manually delete them from the trash. If you do the latter, they will be deleted immediately and won't be recoverable. Be careful of what you delete from your Google Photos library now Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police While this is a small change, it also means you will now have to be more careful about the media you delete from Google Photos. The shorter recovery window makes it worth checking your bin after a major cleanup. When deleting pictures in bulk, you could accidentally remove a favorite shot and not notice it’s missing until weeks later. By then, the 30-day deadline could have passed, leaving you unable to recover it unless you have another copy saved elsewhere. If you regularly delete photos or videos only to restore them later, consider archiving them instead. This hides them from your main Photos view without deleting them, and you can still find them through search or in albums you’ve added them to. Google has not officially announced this change, but it has quietly updated the Google Photos support page to reflect the new 30-day timeline. You will also see a notice about this change the next time you delete a photo or video from your Google Photos library.