Great and easy guide. One thing to be mindful of when working with a Pixel first generation is older phones tend to get really, really hot when you push them, especially with apps that are updated to work with current phones. I ran into this issue moving hard drives worth of photos to Pixel. But easy solution: Running a fan on the pixel, brought temperature back to normal & colder electronics are the more efficient they work.
My original Pixel actually bricked because it got too hot transferring too many photos (not via Syncthing). So I'm taking extra caution on my next Pixel to make sure I'm watching how hot it gets.
i UNFORTUNATELY just bought a new pixel 6 which to my massive disappointment will not allow unlimited uploads anymore, even at "high" rather than original. google support even told me that pixels before the 6 will allow unlimited. but the 6 wont... SO thankfully i kept my pixel 1 from 2016, so looks like i will be setting up this system! appreciate you making this vid for those of us pixel owners who have been let down by the lack of google support in new devices.... thank god i kept the pixel 1
Well, this is a much faster method than me using files by Google or the nearby system to transfer photos every few days for my Pixel 6 to my original pixel! I think the next thing for me to figure out is if there is an external raid system with an NFC module so I can just drop my phone on top of it. It have it sync my watch folder while wirelessly charging my phone. That's my dream setup 😁
is this still working for people? On my OG Pixel it shows "Your Android version only grants Syncthing readonly access to the selected folder" when I try to "Receive" files from Camera folder from my other phone. Anyone able to get through this?
Thank you so much for this! it's the only video I found explaining how to synch from Android to Android phones (the others are how to synch to your PC). It took a few tries but got it working. Synching to OG Pixel and backing up to Google Photos!
@@dev.surya.satyam the phone. I was transferring photos from my camera while the phone was charging then it went dead. Won't turn on til then. Not even the battery sign when charging. 😭
Great video thanks, when i delete the photo from my new phone my old Pixel 4xl also deletes the photo from its gallery and it disappears from the google backup. How do i fix this ? thanks
Thanks for this video. I'm looking at different methods and this seems the easiest. Though would this method work: Plug phone into pc>send/copy photos to a folder> disconnect/ Plug pixel into pc>transfer photos to pixel>disconnect/ Assuming pixel is set to backup and sync, it'll work just the same right? Only downside would be more work from the user, but hardly much. Maybe 10 minutes?
Yeah but if you're backing up multiple phones then it's a lot more work. This way it's just always doing it in the background and my wife also has access to the pictures right away
@@MiteshShah07 Thanks for the response. Happy to know it would work and yea I get it would be extra steps. I just wanted to see if it was a method for non tech savvy people.
@@tmayvaian Its tedious but works fine. A couple minutes of waiting but transfering and uploading between phones isn't hard. I think I might swtich over to the easier method mentioned in this vid.
thanks for the great video :) the only thing is, I already have a pixe 5, which backs up all my media in 'Storage Saver" quality. I havant deleted the original files from my pixel 5 (around 40GB!) and I dont want to create duplicates so what should I do? Should I setup the pixel 1 with a different Google acocunt, and store the original quality photos there? also, when I synch the files, which then are uploaded to Google photos via Pixel 1- are the dates and times saved, or pixel 1 will consider the date of the photos as the date they were uploaded on? Thanks!
Is there a way to auto delete already uploaded files from pixel, also once deleted the same file should not be copied from another phone to pixel 1. How did you achieve that?
I think that'll depend on if the metadata is downloadable from iCloud, but I assume it is. In that case it will upload with correct metadata to google photos.
Did everything in this video but then REVERT LOCAL CHANGES has popped up and now its disconnected.. did somethign change from the video upload 3 years ago?
Are you still using the Pixel XL backup method? I'm wondering if there's a way to extend the battery life given the Pixel XL has a bad rep for battery life to begin with.
Many many thanks for this video!!! Looks like a great setup for me. But, can this method be used with a Pixel phone setup for multiple users? Basically, can family members share the same Pixel phone to free save their original quality photos and vids to their individual accounts based on which user the Pixel is actively running at backup time?
The short answer to my own question is yes! I picked up an old Pixel XL and was able to set it up with an additional account and switch back and forth within the Google Photos app. I deleted all my already uploaded photos and videos from the Pixel XL prior to this test so I didn't accidentally push any of my stuff into the other account. Whichever account it's set to gets the 'free' original quality upload. When I switched back to my account, my test video uploaded there as well, automatically. So, be extra careful if there's anything you need kept hidden. I have not tried the specific method in this video yet so I don't know how that method could work with multiple users. For my test, I just used a PC to USB cable copy a large 6 GB video file directly onto the phone in a folder I'd already setup for uploads. The down side to this method is you have easy access to all of someone else's already uploaded photos and videos if you are sharing a phone to upload since you're still logged into their Google account. I'd get a separate Pixel for each person who needs one and keep this sharing method for emergencies. If you use multiple Google accounts yourself, this is a perfect way to get by with one Pixel.
Is there any tutorial transferring photos/videos from PC -> Pixel1 -> Google Photo? All the tutorial I saw is always from another phone to Pixel1 to Google Photo.
What happens when the pixel is full and you delete all the photos already backed up on gphotos? Syncthing will try to download everything g from your main phone again without knowing what's already on the cloud
How do you access all your photos on your phone once you delete them? Are they fully accessible in Google Photo's only?, but they won't be in DCIM on the phone itself?
Great video...! Can I enable automatic backup on Google Pixle phone and disable the automatic backup on another phone for the same account? Is the automatic backup setting at account level ot at the device level? Did you use two separate google accounts on both the devices?
The backup setting is at account level. It's up to you how you want to handle it, you can either setup an entirely new account just for photos or just use an existing account. You should disable it on your main phone and turn it on the og pixel for the account you want the photos to backup to
Would this be correct?: So if I have the same google account on both phones (pixel 6 and pixel 3) I would disable the automatic upload of my camera folder from my pixel 6 and enable the automatic backup of X folder in my pixel 3. Then I just need to sync my pixel 6's camera folder to the X folder via the app right? (Just in case I know the pixel 3 unlimited is with reduced quality) And just to overcomplicate a bit: instead of an X folder, could i sync my pixels 6's camera folder to the pixel 3's camera folder? Is the auto backup setting in google photos for the folder "Camera" at the device level?
@@xGODSPEEDx Pixel 6 (no unlimited storage) - Disbale Autobackup in google photos Pexel 3 (Unlimited high quality) - Enable Autoback in google photos and also, using Syncthing, sync your Pixel 6 camera folder to Pixel 3, so any pictures clicked on Pixel 6, wil be transferred to Pixel 3 and from there it will be uplaoded to google (assuming you have selected the folder for backing up). Hope this helps.
Thanks for this! Though what about pics from previously used phones on the Google photos cloud that still count against the limited storage? Can one simply downloaded them and re-uploaded them from the pixel? What's the best workflow for that? Any issues with them appearing in different order/current date or such? Thanks a lot!
So for photos you previously had uploded at original quality, you can download them all and re-upload them. There won't be any issue with ordering since it downloads all the metadata with the pics and puts them in the correct order. I would just manually put them on the OG pixel and clear the storage once they are uploaded.
I think they're well aware of this loop hole but I don't think they sold enough Pixel 1s/expect enough people to care about this to try to spend the amount of time it would take to stop people from doing it. 😁
@@MiteshShah07 I think you are spot on in your assessment because a while back ppl were using android emulators like blue stacks to emulate pixels and get unlimited backups that way. As that had potential to be using by almost everyone anyone with a pc, Google put a stop to that really quick with the next update that rolled around. This approach with a physical Pixel is constrained by not only a limited number of phones but also most of those phones are "elderly" now. The first Pixel I ordered from ebay worked only for a few days then wouldn't charge. They sent me a replacement but Im pointing it out as it further supports your assessment that it essentially isn't worth google's time or money.
@@neorock6135 I guess that's the only real problem. My pixel also barely holds a charge but does work flawlessly for hours if it's plugged in. I don't it'll last much longer and I'm assuming Google is thinking the same thing.
is it going to be a problem if for example, my main phone has 130GBs of photos and videos and my backup phone would only have 16GBs of internal storage? I'm planning to get a cheap phone that can be installed with a custom ROM.
If my Google account is logged into my pixel one and my pixel 6, will every photo I take on my pixel 6 automatically back up as full resolution for free or would I need to send it to the pixel one?
Is there a way me and my wife can both back up our photos on my Google pixel one. We want them to be backed up in our own Google accounts? Or can we only back up in one Google account?
Thank you so much! Once the backup has taken place, one needs to manually delete the files on the phone that is used to take the pics/videos, is this correct?
Hey can you make a tutorial of this but using the same account in 2 phones and the procedure!! That's pixel device and another phone I mean will be taking photos in non pixel phone but wanna sync it to pixel phone but same account will be switching off the backup and sync in non pixel device but it will be on in pixel device, just wanted to know if this will work and can you a video on this
Hi dude, it takes me 12 hours to upload a #8 minute 4k video 📹 to Google photos 2.85Gb. I use a pixel 1 OG Is this normal or is my internet just slow? Thanks G 😎
Great Video Mitesh. One confusion though- If I delete any photos from the current phone, it will still sync that change with OG Pixel. At some point we need to be able to break this sync and clear both phones and start all over?? OR is there an easier way to be able to delete the pictures from current phone that are already backed up on OG Pixel? Can we just keep clearing the device storage on OG pixel every week because sync setting is set to receive only? And it should not resync the already backed up photos? And then if we delete the already backed up photos from current phone, it should not effect the OG pixel. Let me know if you figured this out.
So its exactly as you say. If you delete a photo off of your phone it won't delete it off the OG pixel, if you delete the photo off the OG pixel, then syncthings will ask if you want to override changes if you open the app, but you don't have to push the button and it will still back up your new photos. So yes, you can just clear out the OG pixel every week and it'll be fine. All the syncs will still work perfectly fine.
Hey Mitesh I’m planning to buy this phone just for this feature , I recently read a comment that the phone no longer supports unlimited storage only the data saver could you confirm . I’m relying on your response to buy the phone
hello. do you know if i transfer my photos from iphone to pixel and backup to google photo. will it take up spaces for my google drive? i noticed that the photo format from iphone is HEIC not the format like jpeg or png from the android phone. thx
It looks like once a picture has been backed up to google photos, it can only be uploaded once. I deleted the picture in the cloud but google seems to know it was uploaded once and will not upload again even if new name. Any workaround?
One thought I had was you could turn off backup from the phones, download then delete your entire library of photos and then then let your phone upload everything again. It's time consuming but thorough.
@@MiteshShah07 thanks for the video!! coming from pixel 2xl and 4a5g I always enjoyed the free photos backup..with Pixel6Pro I'm missing the free photos backup now.
hey man can you cover a bit on the compression. ive put the compression to never so that i have my photos in the right dates...itd be great if you could explain what compression means in syncthing app..thanks
This is amazing! After syncing from a phone and PC through the pixel 1 with syncthing, how do I get Google to take the photos count off my Google account storage?!
You can go to this URL: photos.google.com/quotamanagement/large on the account you want to free up, and download the videos and photos then delete them. It will only show you photos and videos that count against your storage.
Can i only view the uploaded photos on pixel 1? I wouldn't be able to view them on google photo on my laptop? Is thay correct? Can i use my current google accoint to set up? Or do i need a separate new account? Also if the phone dies, i lose all the pics and vids? Never able to recover those again?
The whole point is to back them up to Google Photos which can be accessible on any device. You can use your current account. If the phone dies you'll still have all your photos on Google photos.
@MiteshShah07 @wonked I have 100Gb google one. The photos uploaded from my non pixel phone will count toward it. But pics and vids uploaded from pixel will not. And all pics will displayed simultaneously on my google photo app? The pics and vids uploaded from pixel 1 will not count toward 100Gb limit? Can I download my pics and vids to my laptop, then use USB cable to download to pixel 1 then upload to google photo app? Will that achieve same result?
The only pixel that has unlimited storage for google photos is the pixel 1? I heard it is available in pixel 1,3,4 and 5 , not the 5a and up… is that true?
So when I sign into my pixel one I should be using my current Google photo account? I'm getting a 6a tomorrow and I currently have the 4a but I'm trading it in I just have a lot of photos backed up
So I just tested this and what happens is that it doesn't resync them by default. It will keep syncing new photos but will only resync the old photos if you click `override changes` button on the phone you're syncing photos from. From my usage, I normally clear out both phones at the same time, but you don't need to.
After uploading to Pixel1, if I open Google photo on another phone (same regular account) to view the photos, will it still show unlimited original quality? Or is it 15G space?
The unlimited photos isn't tied to an account, instead it's tied to the hardware of Pixel 1. So you can't upload photos as t original quality from other phones. Once they're uploaded from the Pixel 1 they are in original quality forever on Google photos.
@@MiteshShah07 If I upload more than 15G photos from pixel1, will I not be able to see and edit those extra photos because the other phone only has 15G of space?
@@wozcs22 no if they're uploaded from a Pixel 1 they don't count against the 15gb free storage. You can do anything you want with them without it impacting your storage.
We re doing this for iphone13. Pictures work but videos being a .mov file doesn't seem to back up. Google photos don't recognize .mov files. Anyone has similar xo?
With most othe pixel phone you'll only get the compressed version of Google photos backup for free, not the original quality one. That's reserved for the Pixel 1 only.
How would you do this if you have an iPhone? Apples cloud storage is so limited. My wife just changed from a pixel 3 to an iPhone and I'm trying to figure out a way to get her iPhone photos automatically moved onto the pixel... Not sure if this is possible?
@@FlowersPowerz Bro ik u dont know who i am but u have helped me significantly by mentioning this app Thank you so much for saying this or i would have never been able to transfer from iphone
@Mitesh Shah I was curious about this same question, any ideas? Thanks to you I have been using this setup for several months, and I appreciate you making this video! But wondering if I can use the same older Pixel with a secondary newer device, and ideally sync to a second Photos account? Meaning I have the old pixel (A) syncing to a new device (B) and uploading to Photos (1). Can I add another device (C) to sync and upload to a second Photos account (2)? Sorry, confusing! Again, thank you.
Mobius sync, but it will be partly manual. You’ll have to “share” the media from Photos to a sync folder under Mobius. And automatic sync isn’t immediate like it is in Android. It syncs every so often (maybe hourly)
How do you automatically delete the pictures when they are done backing up?
Год назад
Very easy. Just share the whole DCIM folder with the old pixel phone as read/write, but instead don't use the whole DCIM of the old pixel. Instead, create a suborder named "sync" for example. Then, when you want the remove the pictures just free space on Google photos on the old pixel, and you have freed spage on both phones
@@MiteshShah07Thanks for replying. Can I ask you 2 more questions? 1) If I want the syncing to be ON DEMAND (meaning there is no syncing going on unless I EXPLICITLY initiate it) can it be done? If so, how? (Cause the "uploading" phone would be off most of the time until I need to upload a new batch of media) 2) Can I sync the SCIM/camera folder TO THE SAME folder on the "uploading" phone? (As to consolidate the files instead of having a bunch of folders uploading) Thanks in advance for your reply.
@@sideskroll 1. The easiest way to control it would be to not run sync thing on the primary phone until you're ready to upload. 2. Yes you can consolidate everything to one folder on the uploading phone. That's what I do I have everything just syncing to downloads folder on the pixel 1.
Thank you so much for your video! One question I have is I've done this procedure and all the photos I've taken the past week were uploaded on the date as today. Is there a way to get them all sorted so they're on the correct dates?
This is an interesting issue, Google listens to the metadata from the photos like the date taken. Seems like your photos are getting their dates stripped but not sure there's anything in syncthings that does this. These are photos from another phone or a computer?
@@MiteshShah07 thanks for your reply! I am transferring from pixel 6 to pixel xl. From your reply I remembered that these were from the LINE messenger app, and I downloaded an album that was shared to me via LINE days after they took these photos. And immediately I transferred these photos and videos to my pixel XL. The result is Google photos marked these these photos and videos as the day I downloaded them from the LINE app, instead of the day they were actually taken. I might need to look into manually editing these photos to change these dates. Thank you!
First, I appreciate that you made a video about this. I've read about this Syncthing option and have a step-by-step page on the web -- but visual is always good/better. A couple of things that would really have helped me (I'm an experienced smart phone user, pretty competent computer user, and have done lots of my own computer fixes (software/hardware) over the years. 1) Talk slower (I don't know how to slow down the audio on RUclips? -- only on podcast apps, etc) 2) Label the two phones so that from the viewer's view, you know which phone is which (without reading the phone title on the menu in your phone). Would be easy to label them FROM and TO? 3) Edit out the mistakes you make or slow down and explain what you accidentally hit and are undoing -- and also, speak to the "what ifs?" in case our experience isn't exactly as yours is. (E.g. when you said we'd get a prompt to allow the receiving phone to sync -- I didn't see one/get one. I had to figure out that there was too long of a wait to respond (so the message disappeared and was not in notifications) and so turned my sending phone's toggle switch off then back on -- and quickly went to the receiving phone and then saw and responded to that message. (Same thing can happen when I'm doing bluetooth pairing, etc.)
Great and easy guide. One thing to be mindful of when working with a Pixel first generation is older phones tend to get really, really hot when you push them, especially with apps that are updated to work with current phones. I ran into this issue moving hard drives worth of photos to Pixel.
But easy solution: Running a fan on the pixel, brought temperature back to normal & colder electronics are the more efficient they work.
My original Pixel actually bricked because it got too hot transferring too many photos (not via Syncthing). So I'm taking extra caution on my next Pixel to make sure I'm watching how hot it gets.
i UNFORTUNATELY just bought a new pixel 6 which to my massive disappointment will not allow unlimited uploads anymore, even at "high" rather than original. google support even told me that pixels before the 6 will allow unlimited. but the 6 wont...
SO thankfully i kept my pixel 1 from 2016, so looks like i will be setting up this system! appreciate you making this vid for those of us pixel owners who have been let down by the lack of google support in new devices....
thank god i kept the pixel 1
Buy up to pixel 5.
Well, this is a much faster method than me using files by Google or the nearby system to transfer photos every few days for my Pixel 6 to my original pixel! I think the next thing for me to figure out is if there is an external raid system with an NFC module so I can just drop my phone on top of it. It have it sync my watch folder while wirelessly charging my phone. That's my dream setup 😁
is this still working for people? On my OG Pixel it shows "Your Android version only grants Syncthing readonly access to the selected folder" when I try to "Receive" files from Camera folder from my other phone. Anyone able to get through this?
Thank you very much for this wonderful tutorial🙏! I'm still learning how to use syncthing! Hopefully you will offer a written tutorial one day!🙏☺
Thank you so much for this! it's the only video I found explaining how to synch from Android to Android phones (the others are how to synch to your PC). It took a few tries but got it working. Synching to OG Pixel and backing up to Google Photos!
I wonder how long this will last until either Google stops this or until the phone itself won't be able to function enough to allow this
Mine stopped working 😭😭 breaks my heart
@@TheMoonValleywhat stopped working? The phone or the unlimited storage backup service by Google?
@@dev.surya.satyam the phone. I was transferring photos from my camera while the phone was charging then it went dead. Won't turn on til then. Not even the battery sign when charging. 😭
Great video thanks, when i delete the photo from my new phone my old Pixel 4xl also deletes the photo from its gallery and it disappears from the google backup. How do i fix this ? thanks
Thanks for this video. I'm looking at different methods and this seems the easiest. Though would this method work:
Plug phone into pc>send/copy photos to a folder> disconnect/
Plug pixel into pc>transfer photos to pixel>disconnect/
Assuming pixel is set to backup and sync, it'll work just the same right?
Only downside would be more work from the user, but hardly much. Maybe 10 minutes?
Yeah but if you're backing up multiple phones then it's a lot more work. This way it's just always doing it in the background and my wife also has access to the pictures right away
@@MiteshShah07 Thanks for the response. Happy to know it would work and yea I get it would be extra steps. I just wanted to see if it was a method for non tech savvy people.
How's this working out for you? I'm looking to do the exact same
@@tmayvaian Its tedious but works fine. A couple minutes of waiting but transfering and uploading between phones isn't hard. I think I might swtich over to the easier method mentioned in this vid.
How about the photos timestamps? Are they preserved?
thanks for the great video :) the only thing is, I already have a pixe 5, which backs up all my media in 'Storage Saver" quality. I havant deleted the original files from my pixel 5 (around 40GB!) and I dont want to create duplicates so what should I do?
Should I setup the pixel 1 with a different Google acocunt, and store the original quality photos there?
also, when I synch the files, which then are uploaded to Google photos via Pixel 1- are the dates and times saved, or pixel 1 will consider the date of the photos as the date they were uploaded on?
Thanks!
Is there a way to auto delete already uploaded files from pixel, also once deleted the same file should not be copied from another phone to pixel 1. How did you achieve that?
Can I sync my Iphone to the Pixel 1 for automatic upload?
Precious video. How is it going with that Pixel 1, now that almost three years have passed?
Thank you.
Great stuff Mitesh. Any recommendations on how to do this with a massive icloud photo library? Would it keep any of the original metadata?
I think that'll depend on if the metadata is downloadable from iCloud, but I assume it is. In that case it will upload with correct metadata to google photos.
Did everything in this video but then REVERT LOCAL CHANGES has popped up and now its disconnected.. did somethign change from the video upload 3 years ago?
Are you still using the Pixel XL backup method? I'm wondering if there's a way to extend the battery life given the Pixel XL has a bad rep for battery life to begin with.
Is there any waybto automatic sync delete after backup completed?🤔🤔
Many many thanks for this video!!! Looks like a great setup for me. But, can this method be used with a Pixel phone setup for multiple users? Basically, can family members share the same Pixel phone to free save their original quality photos and vids to their individual accounts based on which user the Pixel is actively running at backup time?
The short answer to my own question is yes! I picked up an old Pixel XL and was able to set it up with an additional account and switch back and forth within the Google Photos app. I deleted all my already uploaded photos and videos from the Pixel XL prior to this test so I didn't accidentally push any of my stuff into the other account. Whichever account it's set to gets the 'free' original quality upload. When I switched back to my account, my test video uploaded there as well, automatically. So, be extra careful if there's anything you need kept hidden. I have not tried the specific method in this video yet so I don't know how that method could work with multiple users. For my test, I just used a PC to USB cable copy a large 6 GB video file directly onto the phone in a folder I'd already setup for uploads. The down side to this method is you have easy access to all of someone else's already uploaded photos and videos if you are sharing a phone to upload since you're still logged into their Google account. I'd get a separate Pixel for each person who needs one and keep this sharing method for emergencies. If you use multiple Google accounts yourself, this is a perfect way to get by with one Pixel.
Is there any tutorial transferring photos/videos from PC -> Pixel1 -> Google Photo? All the tutorial I saw is always from another phone to Pixel1 to Google Photo.
I think syncthing→pixel→gp
What happens when the pixel is full and you delete all the photos already backed up on gphotos? Syncthing will try to download everything g from your main phone again without knowing what's already on the cloud
Hi, did you get an answer to this?
M also facing this
it doesn't get full, pixel phones has an unlimited amount of storage for photos and videos
If you have two way sync enabled in syncthing, then when you free up space in OG the backed up media should also be removed from the main phone
Hi
I want to add WhatsApp images and videos to my backups. Do you know how I can add the WhatsApp folder to syncthing?
How do you access all your photos on your phone once you delete them? Are they fully accessible in Google Photo's only?, but they won't be in DCIM on the phone itself?
Great video...!
Can I enable automatic backup on Google Pixle phone and disable the automatic backup on another phone for the same account? Is the automatic backup setting at account level ot at the device level? Did you use two separate google accounts on both the devices?
The backup setting is at account level. It's up to you how you want to handle it, you can either setup an entirely new account just for photos or just use an existing account. You should disable it on your main phone and turn it on the og pixel for the account you want the photos to backup to
Thanks @@MiteshShah07 ...!!
Would this be correct?: So if I have the same google account on both phones (pixel 6 and pixel 3) I would disable the automatic upload of my camera folder from my pixel 6 and enable the automatic backup of X folder in my pixel 3. Then I just need to sync my pixel 6's camera folder to the X folder via the app right? (Just in case I know the pixel 3 unlimited is with reduced quality) And just to overcomplicate a bit: instead of an X folder, could i sync my pixels 6's camera folder to the pixel 3's camera folder? Is the auto backup setting in google photos for the folder "Camera" at the device level?
@@xGODSPEEDx
Pixel 6 (no unlimited storage) - Disbale Autobackup in google photos
Pexel 3 (Unlimited high quality) - Enable Autoback in google photos and also, using Syncthing, sync your Pixel 6 camera folder to Pixel 3, so any pictures clicked on Pixel 6, wil be transferred to Pixel 3 and from there it will be uplaoded to google (assuming you have selected the folder for backing up). Hope this helps.
@@NileshDevmurari Yes thank you, I'll give it try and make a few tests as well, thx for your reply
Thanks for this!
Though what about pics from previously used phones on the Google photos cloud that still count against the limited storage?
Can one simply downloaded them and re-uploaded them from the pixel?
What's the best workflow for that?
Any issues with them appearing in different order/current date or such?
Thanks a lot!
So for photos you previously had uploded at original quality, you can download them all and re-upload them. There won't be any issue with ordering since it downloads all the metadata with the pics and puts them in the correct order. I would just manually put them on the OG pixel and clear the storage once they are uploaded.
This is amazing. I hope Google doesn't figure this out and pull the plug on it.
I think they're well aware of this loop hole but I don't think they sold enough Pixel 1s/expect enough people to care about this to try to spend the amount of time it would take to stop people from doing it. 😁
@@MiteshShah07: I hope you're right 😁 I'm so glad I didn't sell mine.
@@MiteshShah07 I think you are spot on in your assessment because a while back ppl were using android emulators like blue stacks to emulate pixels and get unlimited backups that way. As that had potential to be using by almost everyone anyone with a pc, Google put a stop to that really quick with the next update that rolled around. This approach with a physical Pixel is constrained by not only a limited number of phones but also most of those phones are "elderly" now. The first Pixel I ordered from ebay worked only for a few days then wouldn't charge. They sent me a replacement but Im pointing it out as it further supports your assessment that it essentially isn't worth google's time or money.
@@neorock6135 I guess that's the only real problem. My pixel also barely holds a charge but does work flawlessly for hours if it's plugged in. I don't it'll last much longer and I'm assuming Google is thinking the same thing.
Still working? In 2022?
Hi Can this be done with google pixel xl ?
Good question. Reply when you know it now
Pixel xl has also unlimited back up, so, yea. I'm using pixel xl
is it going to be a problem if for example, my main phone has 130GBs of photos and videos and my backup phone would only have 16GBs of internal storage? I'm planning to get a cheap phone that can be installed with a custom ROM.
Does it support share photo from ios to pixel?
Was searching for the same thing bruh. Did u find any info?
Still worth it to buy the Phone in 2023?
Will it work on a second hand phone(not the first hand phone). Please suggest
Yes it will work with a used one too
If my Google account is logged into my pixel one and my pixel 6, will every photo I take on my pixel 6 automatically back up as full resolution for free or would I need to send it to the pixel one?
Is there a way me and my wife can both back up our photos on my Google pixel one. We want them to be backed up in our own Google accounts?
Or can we only back up in one Google account?
Thank you so much!
Once the backup has taken place, one needs to manually delete the files on the phone that is used to take the pics/videos, is this correct?
Hey can you make a tutorial of this but using the same account in 2 phones and the procedure!! That's pixel device and another phone I mean will be taking photos in non pixel phone but wanna sync it to pixel phone but same account will be switching off the backup and sync in non pixel device but it will be on in pixel device, just wanted to know if this will work and can you a video on this
Hi, great video. Is the pixel 1 still unlimited original quality right now or is it limited only to "high quality"?
It's still unlimited original quality
Hi guys
When i tried to backup on pixel 1 it directly goes into 15gb limit, could help me slove this problem
how does syncthing work? are the photos transferred over if both devices are on the same wifi, or will they be routed through some third party server.
They are transferred through wifi direct between the phones, nothing goes to a third party sever.
If i buy a second hand pixel device, can i still get unlimited photos
Is there similar app that work across platform with IOS
Hi dude, it takes me 12 hours to upload a #8 minute 4k video 📹 to Google photos 2.85Gb. I use a pixel 1 OG
Is this normal or is my internet just slow?
Thanks G 😎
why do i always get "a folder path must not be empty" error ? I have followed all of the steps and get @3:44 with the previously mentioned error.
iphone to pixel? Does that sync work?
How to understand which photos from the main phone we could delete?
Does syncthink marks somehow synced files?
Great Video Mitesh. One confusion though- If I delete any photos from the current phone, it will still sync that change with OG Pixel. At some point we need to be able to break this sync and clear both phones and start all over?? OR is there an easier way to be able to delete the pictures from current phone that are already backed up on OG Pixel?
Can we just keep clearing the device storage on OG pixel every week because sync setting is set to receive only? And it should not resync the already backed up photos? And then if we delete the already backed up photos from current phone, it should not effect the OG pixel. Let me know if you figured this out.
So its exactly as you say. If you delete a photo off of your phone it won't delete it off the OG pixel, if you delete the photo off the OG pixel, then syncthings will ask if you want to override changes if you open the app, but you don't have to push the button and it will still back up your new photos.
So yes, you can just clear out the OG pixel every week and it'll be fine. All the syncs will still work perfectly fine.
Hey Mitesh I’m planning to buy this phone just for this feature , I recently read a comment that the phone no longer supports unlimited storage only the data saver could you confirm .
I’m relying on your response to buy the phone
Hi, does it matter if it's a Verizon version or the other version for this functionality? I'm thinking about buying one. Thanks!
Nope as long as it's the original pixel, it's fine
hello. do you know if i transfer my photos from iphone to pixel and backup to google photo. will it take up spaces for my google drive? i noticed that the photo format from iphone is HEIC not the format like jpeg or png from the android phone. thx
It looks like once a picture has been backed up to google photos, it can only be uploaded once. I deleted the picture in the cloud but google seems to know it was uploaded once and will not upload again even if new name. Any workaround?
One thought I had was you could turn off backup from the phones, download then delete your entire library of photos and then then let your phone upload everything again. It's time consuming but thorough.
Let us know if you find a workaround :)
Likewise please
Does Pixel 1 has the Nearby Share? instead of using 3rd party app for sync? Will have to buy one only for photos backup.
Yes nearby share does work on the Pixel 1. I use it from time to time with phones I don't feel like setting up syncthings on. Works great.
@@MiteshShah07 thanks for the video!!
coming from pixel 2xl and 4a5g I always enjoyed the free photos backup..with Pixel6Pro I'm missing the free photos backup now.
Will the photos synced into the pixel phone have the same metadata? Especially the date and time. Thank you
yes
hey man can you cover a bit on the compression. ive put the compression to never so that i have my photos in the right dates...itd be great if you could explain what compression means in syncthing app..thanks
This is amazing! After syncing from a phone and PC through the pixel 1 with syncthing, how do I get Google to take the photos count off my Google account storage?!
You can go to this URL: photos.google.com/quotamanagement/large on the account you want to free up, and download the videos and photos then delete them. It will only show you photos and videos that count against your storage.
Hey if I root pixel xl will the unlimited storage go with it ? Or it will stay ?
Does it work for pixel 2/3
No, only the pixel 1 gets unlimited original quality backup
How do I sync my photos from my iphone over to my google pixel 1?
I don't think you can without having to do it manually. The app I used Syncthing, is not available in iOS from what I can tell.
Can i only view the uploaded photos on pixel 1? I wouldn't be able to view them on google photo on my laptop? Is thay correct? Can i use my current google accoint to set up? Or do i need a separate new account? Also if the phone dies, i lose all the pics and vids? Never able to recover those again?
The whole point is to back them up to Google Photos which can be accessible on any device. You can use your current account. If the phone dies you'll still have all your photos on Google photos.
@MiteshShah07 @wonked I have 100Gb google one. The photos uploaded from my non pixel phone will count toward it. But pics and vids uploaded from pixel will not. And all pics will displayed simultaneously on my google photo app? The pics and vids uploaded from pixel 1 will not count toward 100Gb limit? Can I download my pics and vids to my laptop, then use USB cable to download to pixel 1 then upload to google photo app? Will that achieve same result?
@@sonnymkim yeah I'm pretty sure you will achieve the exact same result that way
does this still work?
The only pixel that has unlimited storage for google photos is the pixel 1? I heard it is available in pixel 1,3,4 and 5 , not the 5a and up… is that true?
simply put - no
1 is the only lifetime original quality
Thanks for the tutorial. It was not working for me so I had to go to the Web Mode of the app, after that it worked perfectly.
So when I sign into my pixel one I should be using my current Google photo account? I'm getting a 6a tomorrow and I currently have the 4a but I'm trading it in I just have a lot of photos backed up
Yes you should sign into your account.
But what about when the storage is full on the pixel, will deleteing them cause them to resync the files from the other phone?
I have the same question, hope it will be answered
So I just tested this and what happens is that it doesn't resync them by default. It will keep syncing new photos but will only resync the old photos if you click `override changes` button on the phone you're syncing photos from. From my usage, I normally clear out both phones at the same time, but you don't need to.
After uploading to Pixel1, if I open Google photo on another phone (same regular account) to view the photos, will it still show unlimited original quality? Or is it 15G space?
The unlimited photos isn't tied to an account, instead it's tied to the hardware of Pixel 1. So you can't upload photos as t original quality from other phones. Once they're uploaded from the Pixel 1 they are in original quality forever on Google photos.
@@MiteshShah07 If I upload more than 15G photos from pixel1, will I not be able to see and edit those extra photos because the other phone only has 15G of space?
@@wozcs22 no if they're uploaded from a Pixel 1 they don't count against the 15gb free storage. You can do anything you want with them without it impacting your storage.
@@MiteshShah07 that's cool ! thanks a lot !
Also does the Pixel 1 google photos loophole for unlimited still work?
Yes it does. I'm still using it and it's awesome.
Ye I got one and it’s great! Thanks
only the google pixel 1 or also the xl?
Xl also, that's actually the one I have.
We re doing this for iphone13. Pictures work but videos being a .mov file doesn't seem to back up. Google photos don't recognize .mov files. Anyone has similar xo?
Thank you for this very helpful tutorial!
Nice Video! Is it also possible on a Google Pixel 4a or other Pixel Phones?
With most othe pixel phone you'll only get the compressed version of Google photos backup for free, not the original quality one. That's reserved for the Pixel 1 only.
@@MiteshShah07 Okay good point. Thanks for the fast response! :-)
@@MiteshShah07 Only those photos are free, that are captured from a pixel 1 device.
@@SouravDatta98 no any photo uploaded from the Pixel 1 is free. It can be captured on any device even DSLR cameras
How would you do this if you have an iPhone? Apples cloud storage is so limited. My wife just changed from a pixel 3 to an iPhone and I'm trying to figure out a way to get her iPhone photos automatically moved onto the pixel... Not sure if this is possible?
You can install resilio sync, and use the same method
@@FlowersPowerz Bro ik u dont know who i am but u have helped me significantly by mentioning this app
Thank you so much for saying this or i would have never been able to transfer from iphone
can you setup sync from multiple phones to different google accounts? I cant figure out how to do this
@Mitesh Shah I was curious about this same question, any ideas? Thanks to you I have been using this setup for several months, and I appreciate you making this video! But wondering if I can use the same older Pixel with a secondary newer device, and ideally sync to a second Photos account?
Meaning I have the old pixel (A) syncing to a new device (B) and uploading to Photos (1). Can I add another device (C) to sync and upload to a second Photos account (2)? Sorry, confusing! Again, thank you.
Hi, i would like to ask for the unlimited high quality storage also applies to Pixel XL?
The original Pixel XL? Yes it does.
@@MiteshShah07 okay !! thanks also for the reply😇
hi its me again 😅 just wanna ask, do u happen to know the workaround for syncing fromios devices and also from pc??
@@MiteshShah07 is there unlimited high quality storage for pixel 2 xl
Can you recommend ios app that can do same thing like syncthing?
Mobius sync, but it will be partly manual. You’ll have to “share” the media from Photos to a sync folder under Mobius. And automatic sync isn’t immediate like it is in Android. It syncs every so often (maybe hourly)
Can I sync my Iphone to pixel 1?
There are some apps available for iOS to allow you to use syncthing, but I am not as familiar with them.
How do you automatically delete the pictures when they are done backing up?
Very easy. Just share the whole DCIM folder with the old pixel phone as read/write, but instead don't use the whole DCIM of the old pixel. Instead, create a suborder named "sync" for example.
Then, when you want the remove the pictures just free space on Google photos on the old pixel, and you have freed spage on both phones
How about an iPhone?
Does this preserve the timestamps?
It does.
@@MiteshShah07Thanks for replying. Can I ask you 2 more questions?
1) If I want the syncing to be ON DEMAND (meaning there is no syncing going on unless I EXPLICITLY initiate it) can it be done? If so, how? (Cause the "uploading" phone would be off most of the time until I need to upload a new batch of media)
2) Can I sync the SCIM/camera folder TO THE SAME folder on the "uploading" phone? (As to consolidate the files instead of having a bunch of folders uploading)
Thanks in advance for your reply.
@@sideskroll
1. The easiest way to control it would be to not run sync thing on the primary phone until you're ready to upload.
2. Yes you can consolidate everything to one folder on the uploading phone. That's what I do I have everything just syncing to downloads folder on the pixel 1.
does this work with pixel 3xl ?
Yes, it does. I use it everyday only for this
Thank you so much for your video! One question I have is I've done this procedure and all the photos I've taken the past week were uploaded on the date as today. Is there a way to get them all sorted so they're on the correct dates?
This is an interesting issue, Google listens to the metadata from the photos like the date taken. Seems like your photos are getting their dates stripped but not sure there's anything in syncthings that does this. These are photos from another phone or a computer?
@@MiteshShah07 thanks for your reply! I am transferring from pixel 6 to pixel xl. From your reply I remembered that these were from the LINE messenger app, and I downloaded an album that was shared to me via LINE days after they took these photos. And immediately I transferred these photos and videos to my pixel XL. The result is Google photos marked these these photos and videos as the day I downloaded them from the LINE app, instead of the day they were actually taken. I might need to look into manually editing these photos to change these dates. Thank you!
@@allenpting Ah that makes sense. Other messaging apps do the same thing when they restore from backups.
Thanks for watching! In case you want to buy a used pixel check out swappa: swappa.com/buy/google-pixel?ref=miteshshah
Thank you so much.❤
Thanks man!
Happy to help! 🙌
Really helpful! Thanks!
First, I appreciate that you made a video about this. I've read about this Syncthing option and have a step-by-step page on the web -- but visual is always good/better. A couple of things that would really have helped me (I'm an experienced smart phone user, pretty competent computer user, and have done lots of my own computer fixes (software/hardware) over the years. 1) Talk slower (I don't know how to slow down the audio on RUclips? -- only on podcast apps, etc) 2) Label the two phones so that from the viewer's view, you know which phone is which (without reading the phone title on the menu in your phone). Would be easy to label them FROM and TO? 3) Edit out the mistakes you make or slow down and explain what you accidentally hit and are undoing -- and also, speak to the "what ifs?" in case our experience isn't exactly as yours is. (E.g. when you said we'd get a prompt to allow the receiving phone to sync -- I didn't see one/get one. I had to figure out that there was too long of a wait to respond (so the message disappeared and was not in notifications) and so turned my sending phone's toggle switch off then back on -- and quickly went to the receiving phone and then saw and responded to that message. (Same thing can happen when I'm doing bluetooth pairing, etc.)
"pretty competent computer user"
Can't slow down the youtube video... This makes you a non-competent computer user I'm afraid.
Working 6/22/23 🎉🎉
Not for iphone users?
works on iphone. just problem with videos since iphone saves them .mov file. when transferred android wont support .mov file by default
On a rooted phone you can limit charge level by:
adb root && adb shell setprop sys.retaildemo.enabled 1
adb shell setprop persist.vendor.charge.stop.level 70
adb shell setprop persist.vendor.charge.start.level 35
Does it still work?