With smartphone cameras getting better and better, many of us know the difficulty of having a device filled to the brim with vacation photos and family memories.
If you're one of the many people running out of space on their phone, you might want to consider moving your photos to the cloud. This will not only free up space on your device, but it also means that you can easily access photos from your phone or tablet on your computer and vice versa.
Amazon Photo Storage (Opens in a new tab) is one of the best photo storage options in the cloud (Opens in a new tab). In this article, we'll look at the cost, features, support, and security of Amazon Photos to determine if it's the right photo storage option for you.
Amazon has several different plans to suit your storage needs (Image credit: Amazon)
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packages and prices
Amazon offers up to 5 GB of free cloud storage - opens in a new tab - for photos for all members, but if you're a Prime member - opens in a new tab - the offer is even more interesting: Amazon offers Unlimited high-quality photo storage for Premier members.
Of course, Amazon Prime is not free. Amazon Prime costs €14.99 per month or €139 per year. That might be overkill for simple photo storage, but it comes with other Prime perks like free two-day shipping and access to Amazon Prime Video.
If you're not interested in Amazon Prime, you can always use Amazon Photos, paying only for the storage you want. €1.99 per month or €19.99 per year will get you 100GB of storage, while €6.99 per month or €59.99 per year will get you 1TB of storage; 2TB will cost you €11.99 per month and €119.98 per year.
After that, Amazon Photos becomes more expensive than the Amazon Prime subscription, which means that if you only plan to store photos, it's worth getting the Prime subscription for the added benefits. However, full-grade unlimited storage for Prime members only applies to photos: if you want to store videos, you'll need to purchase additional storage, which can go up to 30TB for $1799.70 per year.
Features
Automatically sync photos
Amazon Photos offers an app for iOS and Android that allows you to automatically sync photos from your device to the cloud, which means all your photos will be instantly backed up. In the desktop app, you can schedule automatic backups - opens in a new tab - at times that work best for you.
One big advantage of the cloud is that it makes it easy to share photos. With Amazon Photos, you can share an album with another user, send albums via text or email, and send and react to photos with an in-app messaging feature.
Amazon Photos uses AI to figure out what's in your photos so you can find certain objects more easily (Image credit: Amazon)
You won't have to go back five minutes to find the photo you're looking for: Amazon Photos uses photo recognition to make finding photos easy, which means, for example, you can retrieve all your train photos simply by searching for "train." «. You can also sort photos by location, date, or whether they include a specific person or pet.
With Amazon Photos, you can order prints, postcards, calendars, and more with your favorite photos, right from the app or web browser.
The Amazon Photos app is easy to set up and navigate (Image credit: Apple)
Interface and in use
The Amazon Photos app is easy to set up and sync, though a word of caution: If you have a lot of photos on your phone, it will take a while to download them all. The most tedious part of the process is that the app has to be open all the time, which means you can't use your phone during the hours of your initial photo sync.
Fortunately, the app has a built-in feature that dims your phone's screen so you can keep the app open and in sync overnight.
Amazon Photos is light on superfluous features, making the app and web browser intuitive and easy to navigate.
Amazon Photos has a message board where you can post questions for the community (Image credit: Amazon)
Support
If you're having trouble with Amazon Photos, you can get help in your web browser through an FAQ page or a discussion forum where you can ask questions of the community. The web browser also gives you the option to chat with a bot or customer service representative, or schedule a phone call with Amazon customer service.
The app also has a built-in help feature that searches the database of FAQs and gives you the option to call or email Amazon support if your question hasn't been answered.
Amazon's privacy notice is a bit vague on details (Image credit: Amazon)
Security
Amazon's privacy notice says that it uses encryption protocols as well as "physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards" to protect your data. While that's certainly a good thing, the privacy notice is unfortunately vague as to what those security measures actually are, making it hard to judge their effectiveness.
Google Photos offers an app experience comparable to Amazon Photos (Image credit: Future)
Competition
Google Photos (opens in a new tab) offers users more free storage than Amazon - 15GB compared to Amazon's 5GB for non-Prime members - so if you're looking for the best free storage experience on the cloud, Google Pictures is worth a look. On the paid side, Google Photos is comparable in price and offers a similar app experience to Amazon Photos.
Apple or iOS users may want to consider Apple iCloud - opens in a new tab - as an alternative to Amazon Photos. Native iCloud integration makes it even more convenient to use than similarly priced Amazon Photos.
final verdict
Users who already pay for Amazon Prime for free shipping or streaming video benefits can also view Amazon Photos. While the vague security listed in the privacy policy is somewhat of a concern, unlimited storage of your full-resolution photos for essentially free is a huge plus.
However, in our opinion, signing up for Amazon Prime just for Amazon Photos, or signing up for Amazon Photos only without Amazon Prime, isn't worth it.
While Amazon Photos offers all the basics you'd expect from a cloud storage service, if you're not already an Amazon Prime member, there's nothing special enough to justify choosing it over iCloud, Google Photos, or Dropbox.
Amazon Photos: Price Comparison
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