Google Photos is the best way to back up all the photos and videos you take from your Android phone. But it's not the only media backup service out there. OneDrive, Dropbox, and other cloud storage services also allow you to import your photos and videos to the cloud. Many Android smartphone manufacturers also bundle their own in-house cloud storage service with their devices. Xiaomi offers 5GB of free storage on Xiaomi Cloud for backing up contacts, messages, device settings, photos, and videos. But the Chinese company could soon be shutting down the Gallery Sync feature.
See also: Xiaomi will release its self-driving car in 2024
Kacper Skrzypek, a popular name in the MIUI community, has found an upcoming announcement from Xiaomi to its cloud customers informing them of the closure of Gallery Sync later this year. To ease the transition for its customers, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer will partner with Google Photos and provide a way to migrate your media content to the latter. And if you don’t use Google Photos, there will also be an option to download the content to your Xiaomi device or computer . Other Xiaomi Cloud features will not be affected by this shutdown.
If you were paying for additional cloud storage on Xiaomi Cloud, the company plans to stop charging you later this year and will issue a full refund immediately after.
See also: Will Xiaomi 12T and 12T Pro be released soon?
The message from Xiaomi has placeholder dates, indicating that the shutdown timeline hasn't been fully finalized. But it does confirm that the Gallery Sync shutdown will happen later this year. And at some point in 2023, all of your photos backed up to Xiaomi's cloud service will be deleted , and you won't be able to migrate photos .
See also: The new Xiaomi 12S Ultra will take smartphone photography to another level
Xiaomi appears to be planning to shut down Gallery Sync in phases across regions divided into three groups. Similarly, the Google Photos tool and cloud data will be deleted on three different dates for the groups in 2023. Apparently, Xiaomi will only be ending Gallery Sync in countries outside of China, hinting that it may be removing the feature due to low user uptake.
Information source: androidpolice.com
