Google Slashes Free Storage for New Accounts

Google is reportedly altering its free storage policy for newly created accounts. Previously, all new accounts received 15GB of free storage. However, recent observations suggest this amount may be reduced to 5GB unless users link and verify their phone numbers.

This change appears to be reflected on Google's support pages, where the promise of "15 GB" has been updated to "up to 15 GB." These wording modifications were noted between February 4 and March 23. While linking a phone number is typically a standard step, this shift might affect a few scenarios where it was previously not mandatory, such as sign-ups on certain Android devices.