The private and secure Google Photos alternative

Google Photos isn't safe because it doesn't protect your privacy from Google itself. Since it doesn't provide end-to-end encryption, the company retains access to your pictures and can process them according to its policies. Google Photos uses metadata, facial recognition, and AI tools to organize your library, but this same information can be used to build profiles, personalize ads, or train AI models.

For example, your family photos can reveal faces, ages, relationships, and locations. That information can be used to build a detailed picture of your daily life and habits — and that of children, seniors, or anyone who hasn’t consented to being profiled this way.

You also have limited control over what you share and who can access it, and there have been cases where accounts were wrongly flagged and permanently deleted. Because Google Photos isn’t open source or independently audited, there’s no way to verify how your data is handled.

To delete your photos from Google Photos without removing them from your device, first turn off backup and sync on every device linked to your Google Account — to prevent Google from automatically deleting local copies. Then you can delete your pictures directly in the Google Photos app or web interface, and empty your trash to permanently erase them.

When you're ready to switch to private cloud storage, you can easily import your library from Google Photos to Proton Drive.

And when it's time to deGoogle entirely, you can move to our privacy-first ecosystem with secure email, calendar, password manager, authenticator, VPN(new window), AI assistant(new window), and more.

Yes, it costs nothing to sign up for a Proton Drive account. You get 5 GB of private photo storage — enough for more than 1,000 high-resolution photos. Proton is funded entirely by our community of paying subscribers, so there are no ads, tracking, AI training, or data sharing — unlike Big Tech like Google.