Category: UX Review

  • Pixel and Google Photo’s Predatory Practices

    It’s August 12, 2025, yet more things came to light that truly reveal the predatory nature of Google Photo’s practices.

    Quick Background: I switched to a Pixel in mid 2024, I purposefully went for a 512GB Pixel, knowing that Google’s cameras will be creating large photo files. Unknowingly, google automatically backs up my photos to cloud using my free gmail account (15GB) even though I do not prefer to use cloud storage. Within 6 months my gmail account was full, although I still have tons of physical storage.

    Still, after I had paused the automatic upload to cloud storage (99% full!), I expected to be able to use my phone normally. But increasingly, I found that everyday functions that should be accessible to a normal phone user is not the case for a pixel user.

    Here are a list of things I discovered that Google Photos does to force consumer to upgrade to paid cloud storage:

    1. They bind the trash functionality to the cloud! This means if your cloud storage is full (15GB), even if you don’t intend to use the cloud functionality, they will prevent you from restoring the deleted image from your phone’s local trash folder – forcing you to upgrade or lose the accidentally deleted image.
    2. They bind the functionality to create folders inside Google photos to the cloud storage space. This means if your cloud storage is full, they will prevent you from creating local folders in your physical phone and organising your photos. I tried to circumvent this barrier but was unsuccessful.
    3. They bind the search photos functionality to cloud storage space. If your cloud storage is low, they will prevent you from using the google photo search function.
    4. They will display a red ugly warning every time you go into google photos, warning that your storage levels are full.
    5. They will actually send ads to you to upgrade to google cloud within the google photos app if your storage levels are low.

    Case in point, Google is using underhanded practises to force consumers to use and pay for cloud storage, by tying normally free functions in phones to a cloud-based service. Essentially asking the customer to jump through hoops to be able to enjoy what they purchased – a phone that should automatically give you folder, trash, search functions, plus the full usage of 512GB physical storage.

    It was shocking that a decade ago, their motto was “Don’t be evil”. I remember at that time, everyone wanted to work at Google for their innovativeness. But honestly, the first word that popped into my mind was “evil”. There was no other way to describe what I found, and it was a chilling discovery.

  • Google, Do better!

    I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with some of Google’s practices, particularly when it comes to their Pixel devices.

    Last year, I switched to the latest Google Pixel, because I wanted to stay within the Android ecosystem. Unfortunately, the experience has been disappointing for several reasons:

    1. The Google search bar is permanently fixed on the home screen — it can’t be moved or removed, which feels unnecessarily restrictive. And the blatant full colour logo smack on the screen is distracting.
    2. Google Photos only allows 15GB of free online storage, however, it automatically activates online backup. Once that limit is reached – and it is quite easy to reach it these days with our high-fidelity phone cameras – recovering deleted photos becomes impossible, even if you have no need for online backups. It is frustrating and amazing that the “bin” is an online function linked to the backups! I deactivated the online backup, and deleted some cloud files so it wouldn’t interfere with my email functions. Despite that, I still get notifications permanently on my photos app that says:”99% storage used”, and it feels like a trap which forces you to upgrade.
    3. The voice control function requires you to unlock the phone with a password, which defeats the convenience it’s supposed to offer.
    4. The microphone placement at the bottom of the phone often leads to poor voice reception if the device isn’t angled just right – this is evident when I try to use speaker mic and also manifests inconvenience also manifests in the the voice control aspect. It feels like Google is trying to compensate for hardware limitations with software solutions, and the result is often clunky and frustrating.
    5. I really miss having a reliable fingerprint unlock option.

    If it weren’t for Australia’s VOLTE regulations, I wouldn’t have needed to switch from my Mate20 — an old device that, incredibly, I still find superior in many ways compared to the 2024 Pixel.

    This experience has made me reflect more broadly on the direction big tech is taking. It feels like competition in capitalism is only encouraged up to a point — after which innovation stalls, and convenience or user needs are no longer the priority. Without Apple or Huawei or companies that at least have some vision for creativity and innovation, we would – or we already are – being preyed on by moloch (Meditations On Moloch, 2014).

    The interesting thing is, I have expressed my displeasure of the logo on my screen, only to be countered by two of my very logical friends – they countered that it is a functional screen for searching up apps as well as look up information. My old Mate20 Huawei has a much more discreet screen, with a simple swipe of a button the search bar appears for an app search, where you can input immediately without needing to search for the input box, click it, then type. I double checked and realised my latest Google pixel has this function as well, so what’s the point of having an extra unmovable search bar? What’s more, Huawei also allows a search bar to be placed on the screen which is optional – at least it doesnt have a full coloured Google logo in the search bar section.

    The 15GB cap is just the icing on the cake. Combined with the fact that I recently got a macbook air for work, and that I have to open up developer debugging options to export the photos, no doubt deterring a bunch of not-so-techy people, I’m forced to realise it is not only Apple that is protective of their ecosystem. Google, an android-based system, is also making it increasingly hard to share. Not even one year, and I’m fed up with Google.

    It’s disheartening. I used to admire Google for being a place that fostered great ideas and empowered innovation. Now, it just feels like another system that’s lost sight of the vision.