Google One has quietly turned your Android phone into another subscription

I might be showing my age, but I remember a time when the 15GB of free storage Google bundled in with new accounts felt like it would last forever. Back when Gmail and Google Photos launched, that generous free space was Google’s killer feature.

Today, however, that space runs out in a flash. Android phone backups are bigger, WhatsApp chats count against your limit, and between 4K video backups and high-resolution photography, it’s easy to fill up that free storage in months if not weeks. Running out of room is no longer rare. For most people, it is an annoying monthly reality.

Google One started as a simple backup plan for your photos, documents, and device settings. Over the last couple of years, it has become a central piece of the Android experience. And driven by the recent surge in artificial intelligence, Google is reshaping its subscription service into a key that unlocks better features and cloud smarts.

But depending on how you use your…