Google Moves Android Backups Against Your Storage Cap Starting July 7 and Uses Search Uploads to Train AI

Two Google policy shifts have taken effect or are set to take effect this week.

Android Backup Data Hits Your Storage Cap Starting July 7

Beginning July 7, all Android backup data will count toward the storage limit on a Google account, according to Engadget. Previously, only media uploaded to Google Photos and photos or videos inside MMS messages counted against the cap. Everything else in an Android backup — app data, device settings, call history, SMS messages — was free.

New Android users see the change immediately. Existing users will have it rolled out over the coming months, Google told Engadget.

The average increase is about 40MB per account, according to a Google spokesperson quoted by Engadget. That's a small number, but it's not the only pressure on storage right now. In May, Google began testing a reduced default free storage limit for new accounts, cutting the ceiling from 15GB to 5GB unless the user links a phone number. Stack those two changes and new users are working with a third of the old storage baseline before they've saved a single file.

Google is adding new controls alongside the change. Users can access a backups menu to exclude device settings, call history, and SMS/MMS messages from backups, plus toggle individual app data on or off.

Search Uploads Are Now Feeding the AI

Google has introduced a change allowing it to use media users upload to its Search-related tools for AI training. This covers images, files, audio recordings, and video recordings, according to Engadget citing a TechCrunch report. If you photograph something and run it through Google Lens, upload audio through a voice search, or submit a file to Google Translate, Google can now use that media to train its AI platforms.

Every user is automatically opted in. Google Photos is currently excluded from this particular policy, but the Search product suite is not.

Opting out requires two separate steps. First, go to the Search Services History page and uncheck the "Save Media" box. Second, visit the Search Services Personalization page and confirm nothing is being saved there. Both steps are necessary; doing only one does not complete the opt-out.

The Case for Google's Position

The strongest argument in Google's favor is straightforward: AI systems require enormous volumes of real-world, diverse data to improve, and user-uploaded media from actual search queries is exactly the kind of grounded, varied input that synthetic datasets can't replicate. Google is also providing an opt-out path and, in the backup case, adding granular controls that didn't exist before. A 40MB average storage increase from backup changes is genuinely small. The company could argue these changes are disclosed and manageable.

That's a reasonable position as far as it goes.

What Makes This Pattern Worth Watching

The problem isn't any single change in isolation. It's the accumulation. Google has cut default free storage for new accounts from 15GB to 5GB (May); moved backup data against the storage cap (July 7); and added Search upload media to AI training data. Each individual policy adjustment is technically disclosed and technically opt-outable. Taken together, they represent a systematic narrowing of the no-cost, no-data-harvest Google account that hundreds of millions of people built their digital lives around.

The opt-out process deserves scrutiny here. Requiring users to navigate two separate settings pages to stop their uploaded search media from feeding AI training is not the same as asking them to opt in. Most people will never know this change happened. Google introduced it quietly; it took a TechCrunch report for the change to get wide attention, per Engadget's account.

Automatic opt-in for AI training on user content is increasingly common across major tech platforms. That doesn't make it neutral. It shifts the default in favor of data collection and requires active effort from users who may not follow tech news closely enough to know what to do.

What to Do Right Now

For users who want to limit their data exposure under these new policies:

• Android backup controls: Go to your phone's backups menu and deselect categories you don't want backed up (device settings, call history, SMS/MMS).
• Search media training opt-out: Visit the Search Services History page, uncheck "Save Media," then visit the Search Services Personalization page and confirm no saving is active.
• Storage pressure: If you have a new or recently created Google account, verify whether your free storage ceiling is 15GB or 5GB, since the reduced default has been in testing since May.

The unresolved question is whether Google will eventually extend AI training data collection to Google Photos itself, which is explicitly carved out for now. The company's spokesperson did not address whether that exclusion is permanent.