Claim: Google is a company.

Google Photos is a photo sharing and storage service developed by Google . It was announced in May 2015 and spun out from Google + , the company 's social network .   Google Photos gives users free , unlimited storage for photos up to 16 megapixels and videos up to 1080p resolution . The service automatically analyzes photos , identifying various visual features and subjects . Users can search for anything in photos , with the service returning results from three major categories : People , Places , and Things . Google Photos recognizes faces , grouping similar ones together ; geographic landmarks -LRB- such as the Eiffel Tower -RRB- ; and subject matter , including birthdays , buildings , animals , food , and more . Google implements different forms of machine learning into the Photos service , particularly its recognition of photo contents , as well as enabling features including automatically generated albums consisting of the best photos taken during an event or trip , automatic animations in which similar photos are combined into a quick video , surfacing past memories at significant times , and automatic white balance correction and video stabilization . In May 2017 , Google announced several updates to Google Photos , including reminders for and suggested sharing of photos , shared photo libraries between two users , and physical albums , with Photos automatically suggesting collections based on face , location , trip , or other distinction .   Google Photos received critical acclaim at its launch in May 2015 . It was declared `` the best '' in cloud photo storage by some reviewers , and Google 's decision to decouple the Photos service from Google + was praised . Reviewers liked the updated Photos service for its recognition technology , search , apps , and loading times . Nevertheless , privacy concerns were raised , including Google 's motivation for building the service , as well as its relationship to governments and possible laws requiring Google to hand over a user 's entire photo history . Shortly after release , Photos incorrectly marked a photo of two African Americans as `` Gorillas '' , and Google issued an apology . Google Photos has seen strong user adoption . It reached 100 million users after five months , 200 million after one year , and 500 million as of May 2017 , with Google announcing that over 1.2 billion photos are uploaded to the service every day , with the grand total of all uploaded content measuring over 13.7 petabytes of storage .