ChatGPT got better: OpenAI added a new feature called Connectors that lets the bot work with apps like Google Drive, Dropbox and SharePoint. You can now ask it to do things like “Summarize all the PDFs in my Dropbox,” and it’ll pull the info for you. The catch? It’s only available to Pro users at $200/month. Yikes.
Free cloud storage: What you really get and what to do when it runs out
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You set your phone to back up photos, turn on file sync, and next thing you know, you get a message: “Storage full.” Wait, what the heck happened?
Let’s clear up your cloud storage confusion.
🎁 What you get for free
- Google (Drive, Gmail, Photos) → 15 GB
Shared across your Gmail inbox, Drive files and Google Photos. That’s enough for a few thousand photos and emails. But once it’s full, Gmail might stop working.- To see how much space you are using, go to Google Drive > Storage.
- Price: 100 GB for $1.99/month or $19.99/year.
- Apple iCloud → 5 GB
Shared across your iPhone backups, photos, files, email and more. For most people, a single phone backup eats up 3–4 GB. Add a couple hundred photos, and boom, you’re over the limit.- Price: 50 GB for $0.99/month.
- To see how much space you are using, go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Storage.
- Amazon Photos → Unlimited full-resolution photo storage
But only if you’re a Prime member. Videos are limited to 5 GB unless you pay. If you have Prime, this hidden gem is worth using.
📸 How fast does it go?
I want you to have an idea of how much space your stuff takes.
- 1 minute of HD video = ~100 MB
- 1,000 photos = ~2–3 GB
- iPhone backup = 3–6 GB
- Gmail inbox = 1–10 GB over a few years
So if your monthly costs for iCloud or Google storage are higher than you want, get in there and start removing duplicates, screenshots, old backups and movies. I was guilty of having a bad Nicolas Cage movie in my backups so I could watch it offline. Why, I have no idea.
🧠 The smart approach
You want to sync what matters and vault the rest. Keep only the essentials on iCloud or Google so you stay under their free limits, or get on an affordable plan. This way, you can use iCloud or Google to sync your everyday stuff like contacts, calendars, emails and device backups.
I pay for iCloud+ and save money by using Apple’s Family Sharing plan, which lets me share cloud storage with up to five other people all without anyone losing privacy or access to their own data. It’s a smart way to avoid each person paying for separate plans, especially if you have lots of photos, videos or device backups.
Google offers a similar setup through Google One, which also allows family sharing for their cloud storage tiers. Both services make it easy to manage storage across multiple accounts, and the shared plans are typically more affordable than buying individual subscriptions.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Use your phone’s Notes app (iPhone) or Google Drive (Android) to scan documents.
📝 No scanner? No worries. On your iPhone, go to the Notes app > create a new note > Attachment button (paper clip icon) > Scan Documents to open your camera. Tap Insert to grab the text. For Androids, open Google Drive > (+) icon > Scan document > Save > Upload, and you’re good to go. Congrats, your phone is now a scanner/copier/fax from 2002.
🗑️ Trash your big files: Running out of space on Google Drive? On the web, click Storage on the left to see your files from largest to smallest. On the Google Drive app, go to Files and tap on Name under My Drive near the top left. Then tap Storage used to sort it by file size. Delete what you don’t need. Ah, space.
Up in the clouds: Before you pay for storage, know that the free versions might be all you need. Google Drive gives you 15GB, Dropbox Basic offers 2GB and OneDrive throws in 5GB. No one says you can’t make a couple accounts …
It went data way: Soon, you can send files directly from Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive to ChatGPT rather than saving them to your desktop and uploading them to the AI assistant. There’s a new ChatGPT feature to make sweet interactive charts and tables from your spreadsheets. And there goes another job because of AI.