No, Google is not ending its 15GB of free Gmail storage policy — it's testing a 5GB initial limit that jumps to the full amount if you add a phone number
Google is testing a new storage policy for new Gmail accounts in select regions, initially offering 5GB of free storage instead of the standard 15GB. Users can unlock the full 15GB by adding a phone number to their account. This change does not affect existing Google accounts and is currently only a trial.
- ▪Google is testing a 5GB initial storage limit for new Gmail accounts in certain regions.
- ▪Adding a phone number to a new account increases the free storage from 5GB to 15GB.
- ▪The 15GB storage policy remains unchanged for existing Google account holders.
- ▪The company says the test aims to improve account security and data recovery.
- ▪Users are not required to provide a phone number but receive less storage if they choose not to.
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| Original publisher | TechRadar |
| Canonical URL | https://www.techradar.com/computing/websites-apps/no-google-is-not-ending-its-15gb-of-free-gmail-storage-policy-its-testing-a-5gb-initial-limit-that-jumps-to-the-full-amount-if-you-add-a-phone-number |
| Publication time | Sat, 16 May 2026 13:30:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-16T13:35:18.602Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-16T13:35:18.602Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | hPrTSrqvw9He |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
Rights status (four layers)
WeSearch handling by dimension
| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Computing Internet Websites & Apps No, Google is not ending its 15GB of free Gmail storage policy — it's testing a 5GB initial limit that jumps to the full amount if you add a phone number News By David Nield published 16 May 2026 Stay in touch When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The rules around Gmail storage are changing in some regions (Image credit: Ascannio / Shutterstock) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Google is changing its storage policy for new Gmail accountsNew accounts in some regions will only get 5GB of free storage spaceAdding a phone number…
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